I joined the LGT Impact Fellowship because…
After many years of working in logistics in heavy industries, shipping, ports, I am interested to work in agriculture (solve the problem from logistics perspective) industry and a startup organization to see how to combine social impact with a sustainable business model. The Fellowship Program provides me with the opportunity to learn firsthand from an entrepreneur on how to manage such companies effectively and bring my expertise of structured, evolved organizations to startups.
My background
Avi worked for the past 8 years in supply chain and logistics in his home country India. He gathered experiences across various industries such as a steel company (Tata Steel) or the Indian Ministry of Shipping (Mumbai Port and JNPT Port) where he was Assistant Director. He especially joined the Fellowship Program to learn to solve problems from the logistics perspective of the industry and to see how to combine social impact with a sustainable business model as logistics plays a crucial role in terms of increasing margins to farmers and reducing wastage. Avi will manage business planning, strategic projects, digital business development and process optimization by sourcing directly from farmers and supplying to all B2B and B2C channels.About WayCool: The company is one of India’s largest food development and distribution companies, working to positively impact the lives of half a million farmers in India. The company with its 800+ employees is moving 150 tonnes of products per day and across 13 cities in India.
I joined the LGT Impact Fellowship because…
After founding a social enterprise, I am interested on amplifying my knowledge about development from a more comprehensive and global approach. The Fellowship Program provides me an opportunity for sharing my abilities from the role of a business professional and my first-hand social entrepreneur`s experience supporting the social impact capability of a high impact social organization, while it offers me an environment for boosting my impact ability, exchanging good practices and even identifying collaboration opportunities for scaling the impact of my own social enterprise.
My background
Diana decided to leave her home country Colombia to work for mothers2mothers in Malawi. She will support the executive team in the organization`s strategy management and will fundraise resources and propose new revenue streams, that enable empowering more women as role models to help other women and their families to access medical care. In Colombia, Diana worked as CEO for a social business that improves healthcare access for rural communities. She led impact investor relations efforts, managed relationships with main partners such as farmer associations, headed the expansion process to new Colombian regions and fundraised projects from international organizations on oral care, eye care, early cancer diagnosis, and health education. Diana knows the LGT Fellowship Program well, as she herself hosted an LGT Fellow in her social enterprise some years ago.
I joined the LGT Impact Fellowship because…
After a number of years involvement in the international Eco Tourism Sector, I have been striving to find a unique opportunity to share my knowledge, experience, capabilities and support resources in order to make a tangible difference to the models of business currently in play. With my hands on experience and in particular the diversity of having worked both in remote area locations and city environments, the Fellowship Program provides an excellent model and support system in which to make a positive best practice measurable and sustainable impact on the ground.
My background
Born and raised in South Africa, Justin gathered extensive experience in the field of Eco Tourism, Hotel Development, Strategy & Operations. He has opened, directed and managed numerous high-end hospitality properties in a variety of countries. His strong commitment to the core values of Eco Tourism, driving sustainability in Conservation Practices, Community Engagement and Cultural Values led him to join Basecamp Explorers Kenya to strengthen their strategic development.
About Basecamp Explorer: The Foundation was established to fight the extinction of wildlife by teaming up with the local communities. Basecamp Explorer’s responsible tourism business supports projects like reforestation, waste management, empowering women and youth and securing land for wildlife to flourish.
I joined the LGT Impact Fellowship because…
I am motivated to share what I have learned over the course of my career in a large U.S. - based organization and help this younger, very able organization, which has so much to offer the country of China. At the same time, I am motivated to learn about the new culture and context of China, which is such an important country where so many multinationals now manufacture the majority of their goods. The private sector has figured out how to function at a very high level in China and all around the world; it is time for the NGO community to do the same!
My background
Linda is an American environmental toxicologist who has nearly 30 years of work experience. She developed a green supply chain initiative to promote best practice improvements in industrial production efficiency to significantly reduce the use of water, energy and chemicals in manufacturing while saving companies’ costs. In her Fellowship year Linda will work for IPE – Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs in China as her work in the past was already strongly connected to China. In her role she will approach and convince more multinational corporations based in the West to use the IPE database and tools to oversee the factories in their supply chain in China.
About IPE: The Institute is a non-profit environmental research organization, collecting and analysing government and corporate environmental information for their data base which serves clients in the domains of green procurement, green finance and government environmental policymaking.
I joined the LGT Impact Fellowship because…
I want to make an impact. I have started to engage in various volunteering activities in my free time in the past and came to realize that having a social purpose is an important motivator for me. I would therefore like to offer a helping hand to LGT Venture Philanthropy, which I consider to be a foundation that achieves real impact, and take the opportunity to learn from leading professionals in the impact space.
My background
Miriam started her professional path in the hospitality and tourism industry, working in Switzerland, Germany, France and China. Being curious about new learnings, she shifted into the financial sector gathering experiences in client advisory, innovation management, start-up financing and management support for the COO. Moreover, she coordinated the Junior Talent and Key Talent programs, where she was organizing different educational events/activities, coaching talents and acting as a middleman between business units and HR.
Miriam is joining the LGT VP team to assist the Fellowship program management. She will take care of the development and future implementations in addition to monitoring the fellowship cohort. Along with the local Investment Managers Miriam will also work with the various portfolio companies and will spend some months of her Fellowship year in Nairobi/Kenya and Mumbai/India to get further insights.
I joined the LGT Impact Fellowship because…
I love working in development programs especially those that uplift the lesser advantaged in the community. This placement has come as a golden opportunity to grow in an environment where my prior experience in programs will give great impact to the communities and individuals I interact with. Not forgetting the wealth of knowledge and expertise I shall be exposed to while working at the MMWCA, the LGT team and fellows 2019.
My background
Nduta, born and raised in Kenya, is active in community development projects since years. Her focus is on improving capacity through better/wholesome education, an improved healthcare & sanitation, proper food and shelter. Nduta will spend her Fellowship at the Maasai Mara Wildlife Conservation Association (MMWCA) working as a Program Manager. She will assist in planning and implementing programs related to gender and youth affairs.
About MMWCA: The organization is a key player in Kenya's overall national conservancies movement. Through a network of protected areas (conservancies and conservation areas) MMWCA conserves the Maasai Mara ecosystem for the prosperity of biodiversity, wildlife, the local population, recreation and tourism.
I joined the LGT Impact Fellowship because…
I want to work closely with social enterprises that foster long term sustainable change. The LGT Fellowship will help me in refining my understanding of social impact, how it can be financed and scaled. It also gives me the unique opportunity to work with impact focused people who are set to create a footprint on the global stage.
My background
Saumya is an aeronautical engineer who ventured into finance. In the past years he worked as a consultant for governments and multilateral agencies. He helped develop smart cities, strategic plans, policies and financial institutions in Africa and South-East Asia. After consulting two large multinational firms, he shifted to the social sector and worked for a global non-profit organisation in the educational sector. At Varthana he will be responsible for product development, business expansion, process refinement and project delivery of consulting assignments.
About Varthana: The financial service company partners with owners of affordable private schools to substantially increase access to quality education in low income communities as access to loan capital remains a central need for the sector. The loans are used for infrastructure, training, new materials etc.
I joined the LGT Impact Fellowship because…
Simply put, opportunities like this do not come around often in a lifetime. To work with m2m’s passionate and committed experts devising remarkable solutions for one of the world’s most pressing public health concerns — I’ll drop whatever I’m doing to be on that team. It’s humbling to be selected for this fellowship, and also have the honor to engage with like-minded professionals from our cohort and LGT. Together, we are a potent Force of Good in this world!
My background
After 30 years of experience in multinational public relations agencies and as the entrepreneurial founder of a marketing/brand strategy consultancy, Steve being an American citizen, shifted his professional and personal ambitions to support social impact and purpose-driven enterprises in emerging market nations. He joined m2m as he is excited about collaborating with colleagues located in eight sub-Saharan African countries, as well as the UK and US. Steve will work alongside m2m’s CEO in South Africa to devise new strategies for board of director engagement, governance and recruitment.
About m2m: The organisation is bolstering African healthcare systems, while delivering empowerment opportunities for women. Focus of m2m is on prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV and on improving reproductive, maternal, new-born, child and adolescent health.
I joined the LGT Impact Fellowship because…
I wanted the experience of working for a social enterprise with an inclusive business model. My ultimate goal is to stay involved in the impact investing and social enterprise arena, and this is a great opportunity to learn what it takes to be a successful inclusive business. The other reason I joined LGT is because I wanted some work experience in South East Asia, which has some of the fastest growing rural economies in the world.
My background
Sushanta a US American citizen with Indian background started his career working as a product management analyst for UBS AG but left after a couple of years to start a fast-casual restaurant in Brooklyn, New York. After 3 years of launching and growing the restaurant, he was able to successfully sell the business to a restaurant group. Sushanta decided to change his life again and studied at Washington University in St. Louis. He concentrated on social entrepreneurship and impact investing and worked after his graduation as a Program/Product Manager for a startup in India.
About KFI: Kennemer Foods International is a Philippine agribusiness company specializing in the sustainable growing, sourcing and trading of high-quality agricultural crops such as fermented cacao beans sourced from smallholder farmers. The products and programs encompass the complete agricultural value-chain from planting materials, training, Agri-technology to market.
I joined the LGT Impact Fellowship because…
I strongly feel that children are the most vulnerable part of the society and hence the victims of a lot of crimes. I want to do my bit to change that by being a part of Aangan Trust. I am looking forward to being part of the team which is committed to working with children in dangerous situations like child trafficking, early marriage, hazardous work, harm and abuse. I also joined LGT Impact Fellowship to be part of and learn from a versatile cohort of fellows who have tackled and/or hope to tackle similar challenges from the impact sector across the globe.
My background
Creating a positive impact on the learning and development ecosystem of children in India is what made Tracey join the team of Aangan. In her professional career she has taken on multiple roles in the development sector and hence has a diverse set of skills which include facilitating workshops, developing products for the ed-sector, working on complex projects, managing programs, and building strategy for growth and expansion. Tracey will assist the senior management at Aangan Trust as a Management Consultant. She will drive strategies to scale the organization's impact through technology as well as help explore, define and build partnerships.
About Aangan Trust: Aangan works to strengthen India’s child protection system to ensure that the most vulnerable children are safe and supported and assured of a childhood free from trafficking, child marriage, hazardous work, violence and exploitation.
Scaling impact