If you are interested in social enterprises, impact investing, start-ups, Asia, empowerment, leadership, and stories of unreasonable people committed to make the world a better place, then you may find this blog interesting.
I will explore the intersection of many different worlds that typically don’t intersect. At this emerging intersection where traditional finance meets non-profit, start-up meets government, Silicon Valley meets Dhaka, there is a new type of ecosystem being built to support the development of a capital markets for social good. At this intersection, I have found beauty in such contrasts, where in one conference room, the lady to my left may be a Goldman Sachs executive, to my right, an Indian market weaver, across the table, a member of the Singapore ministry.
This fellowship is made possible by the Women and Public Policy Program (WAPPP) at Harvard Kennedy School and the Roy Family Internship Program. Changing the world, one gender-focused internship at a time, the WAPPP has enabled a small group of us to go forth this summer to “tackle” some of the world’s most pressing social and environmental challenges. As part of my own work this summer with Impact Investment Exchange Asia (IIX), I will be identifying potential areas of influence where IIX can play a role in improving gender equality, whether it be by increasing the number of women entrepreneurs and managers at social enterprises, improving the measurement of gender-related impact metrics, or engaging more capital focused on gender issues.
And finally, I will also try to shed some light on my new home and our headquarters, a city called Singapore, which I have found to be quite a surprising intersection of many different worlds itself. Often referred to as a “benevolent dictatorship”, one might wonder whether Singapore might just be the ideal place to build a seemingly “benevolent capital markets”, a capital markets organized for the purpose of doing good.
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