At twelve years old, Roshan Shrestha worked as a street vendor (selling vegetables) in Kathmandu during school, followed by several micro-businesses, including selling tea, working in a pharmacy, poultry farming, newspaper distributor until he finished his graduation. It was not a beginning shaped by ambition, but by necessity. What those years left him with was not spectacle, but discipline, an early understanding of responsibility, effort, and endurance.
In 1988, he entered his professional life as a technician in a water quality laboratory where he established the environment and public health institutions – ENPHO. It was during this period that communities began calling him “The Water Doctor,” a name earned from practical work on water and wastewater management, rainwater harvesting, water and wastewater treatment and reuse.
Rented Home in Kathmandu,
where Dr. Roshan spent his childhood.
Announcement of Mr. Shrestha as the
recipient of the Bill Gates Sr. Award, 2023
His journey later carried him into global service, including his work with the UN Habitat and Gates Foundation. Yet those who work alongside him describe the same qualities that marked his earliest years: steadiness, humility, attentiveness, and an instinct to bring others into the work rather than stand apart from it.
In 2023, he received the Bill Gates Sr. Award, an internal honor recognizing leadership rooted in service, integrity, and human decency. He directed the full charitable award to community initiatives in Nepal focused on health, education, and water access.
By 2025, he was recognized as a Global Leader for Sanitation by the IWA just at the end of his career with the Gates Foundation. Currently, he serves as Chairman of the Board of the World Toilet Organization (WTO), Member of the Board of Trustees and Senior Strategic Partnership for Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) and Resource Mobilization Advisor to the President (AIT).
