Nepal, Jan. 11 -- Sumitra Danuwar, Anita Chapagain and Sushmita Rai first arrived at the Kobold Watch Company's office in Kathmandu in July 2017.

After growing up in a Maiti Nepal hostel, the three girls, all of whom are still in their teens, had just completed their tenth-grade exams and were looking for part-time work. The Pennsylvania-based watch company, run by German national Michael Kobold, had been running a shop out of Babarmahal since 2012 and was looking for help.

Kobold was introduced to Anuradha Koirala, the founder of Maiti Nepal, by former US ambassador to Nepal Scott DeLisi. "Later, we met Kobold at the office of then US ambassador Alaina Teplitz to speak about sending some of our girls to work for him part-time," said Bi...