Current Scouts
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Kevin Lehr Location: India Village Capital Partner: Kinara |
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Growing up, his mother and grandparents operated a small family business in Maryland. From what started out as a single kiosk selling jewelry and crafts made by Kevin’s grandmother, his family was able to grow the business into a profitable venture. With this understanding of the power of small businesses as a driving economic force, Kevin pursued a BBA in Finance from the College of William & Mary where he also studied International business in Spain. He went on to receive a Master in Accounting from William & Mary and then spent 4 months living in New Delhi, India working with a local healthcare firm, the Max India Group, to organize health/immunization camps for underprivileged families around the Delhi area. This is where Kevin saw his interests in international development, business & economics crystalize into a passion for improving livelihoods and making real positive change. After returning from India, he worked at a global accounting/consulting firm, BDO, where he worked on a variety of projects with financial institutions, manufacturing firms, and government organizations. Kevin is now looking to refocus his career on international development by taking the business skills he has learned along with his international experiences and applying them as a Frontier Market Scout with Kinara Capital. Kevin also has a passion for travel, surfing, hiking, & guitar. Read Kevin's blog! |
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Myles Lutheran Location: Kenya Village Capital Partner: Eco Fuels, Ltd. |
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Myles is a suma cum laude graduate of Northeastern University where he completed his bachelors degree in Entrepreneurship and Social Enterprise. His entrepreneurial aptitude has led him to play key roles in helping multiple start-ups get off the ground in a number of different industries including online marketing, apparel manufacturing, real estate development, and mobile/enterprise software development. In his time away from work Myles travels to developing countries learn from social enterprises operating on the ground. His ambition to learn how high impact organizations operate has taken him to counties such as Haiti, Bangladesh, South Africa, and the Philippines. |
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Parita Patel Location: Village Capital Partner: |
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Parita has seven years of full-time professional experience working on program development, effective grantmaking, strategic nonprofit planning, and organization and financial management for several community-focused organizations in New York and Boston. Directly prior to the Frontier Market Scouts program, in an effort to further her knowledge on the social change strategies being employed by the corporate sector, she joined the corporate social engagement team of a philanthropic consulting firm and developed recommendations and implemented social impact programs adopted by corporate giving and community involvement departments of leading Fortune 100 companies. She is thrilled to be able to combine her professional experience with her academic interests and join the multi-sector team formed by Sanghata Global to advise on the development of a 125 square mile area, which includes the Jim Corbett Tiger Sanctuary, in Nainital, a popular hill station in the Indian state of Uttarakhand. Parita is looking forward to working alongside private investors and community stakeholders to ensure environmental, social, and legal safeguards are in place during the planning and implementation phase of this ecotourism project. Parita completed coursework in urban sociology of Eastern Europe and the politics of EU enlargement at Corvinus University of Budapest, and holds a BA in Public Policy and Social Change, focusing on comparative and international policy, with minors in business and law from Bentley University. |
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Mei Wa Poon Location: Hong Kong/China Village Capital Partner: One Earth Designs |
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Mei Wa Poon has been working in the financial services industry at a leading global bank for over three years in New York. Outside of work, Mei has served as the Treasurer for UNA-SNY Young Professionals since June 2012, and as the Director of Events and Community Outreach with ALPFA for two years. She has been engaged in Microfinance and Impact Investing space since Women’s World Banking Capital Markets Conference in 2011. Mei was born and raised in Hong Kong and speaks both native Cantonese and fluent Mandarin. She relocated to Florida for high school, consequently obtaining her bachelor's degree in Accounting at the University of Florida. |
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Crystal Lo Location: The Netherlands Village Capital Partner: Village Capital: Netherlands |
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Crystal Gloria Lo is a young professional who aspires to utilize business skills for a social benefit. She thrives on creating positive impact and believes that there is a large potential to use the best practices of the for-profit world to achieve this. Crystal has worked in various capacities in Hong Kong and China in the property arm of an international conglomerate and holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in Global Business and Marketing from The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and a Master of Science in Real Estate from The University of Hong Kong. Read Crystal's blog! |
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Ray Zeng Location: London, United Kingdom Village Capital Partner: Sanghata Global |
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Ray is a young professional greatly passionate in international development, having volunteered at a maternal clinic and an internal displaced persons camp in Kenya, planned and staged an exhibition on US-China relations at the grass root level, and provided environmental business solutions to government agencies. Originally hailing from southwestern China—Yunnan province, she is thrilled to engage in the impact investing space to come up with creative inspirations for public-private-partnerships opportunities in international development. Ray graduated Summa Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Cornell College, with double majors in Economics and Psychology, and an Art History minor. With her “double vision,” she hopes to capture the splendor, passion and hope of her journey. |
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Bonita Yip Location: India Village Capital Partner: SABRAS |
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Bonnie is trying to prove that “any business woman with a heart” can work in Fortune 500 Company to make a positive, social impact. She is a recent full-time MBA graduate from the Simmons School of Management (an all women’s MBA program in Boston, MA), with a focus in sustainability/socially responsible business. Previously, Bonnie spent more than five years in the audit/finance industry. After leading key audits related to the U.S. recession from 2008 through 2010, it gave her the inspiration to make a career change. Also, growing up in the Greater Boston area, she had volunteered at many non-profits that dealt with hunger, homelessness, as well as empowering young adults and women. With this transition, it seems as if her professional and personal life experiences have finally come full circle in order to launch a new career path for social impact. As a Frontier Market Scout, Bonnie intends to gain further subject matter expertise in food sourcing as well as supply chain with her field placement in India. Also, she has been very fortunate to be well-traveled and have lived abroad in Beijing, China, so India will help her gain more insight about key global emerging markets. Besides the valuable work experience in India, it will also be an opportunity for her to achieve an important personal milestone, checking off her “number one bucket list item,” which is to reach the base camp of the Himalayas! To Bonnie, this represents that if she puts her mind and heart into a goal that may seem completely overwhelming to others, she can and will accomplish it! Wish her luck! |
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Rizki Penna Location: Indonesia Village Capital Partner: Satoe Indonesia and Village Capital |
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Rizki is a social entrepreneur focused on developing small-medium businesses in rural areas in Indonesia, who believes in the power of social innovation to tackle problems within the bottom of the pyramid consumers. He has more than 5 years of experience in the social entrepreneurship space in Indonesia, including co-founding and managing Satoe Indonesia, a student initiative turned into a non-profit foundation, which he guided from startup to an established business development and training centre. The foundation also act as a corporate social responsibility (CSR) project consultant, which to date has several clients including Carrefour Indonesia and HSBC Indonesia. In addition to serving on Satoe Indonesia’s Advisory Board, Rizki is a member of Asian Venture Philanthropy Network (AVPN), building a cross-sector network bringing together organizations and individuals from finance, business and the social sector, and a former member of National Coordinating Team of Creative Entrepreneurship Development at The Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs of The Republic of Indonesia, which responsible at taking an inventory list of problems in implementing creative new ventures and provide its solutions through policy recommendations to the minister. Rizki holds a master’s degree in social entrepreneurship from Hult International Business School London, United Kingdom and a bachelor’s degree in management from Institute of Technology Bandung, Indonesia. He also holds a professional certificate in impact investing and social enterprise management from Monterey Institute of International Studies, California and a Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) certificate in sustainability reporting process. |
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Asaía Palacios Location: Colombia Village Capital Partner: The Hub- Bogota |
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Asaía grew up in two worlds - on one side, Ecatepec, State of Mexico and on the other, San Antonio, Texas. Both places tell a story. In Ecatepec, organized crime and poverty exist around you while in San Antonio, and in Texas for that matter, first encounters with Mexican immigrants revealing their respective struggles and hardships in the US are all too familiar. Turning negatives into positives, these experiences have shaped Asaía to want to connect with those who are looking to better their lives or the lives of those around them. For this reason, she believes economic and social well-being via a market-based approach (sustainable, innovative enterprises solving a social problem and employing or serving struggling individuals wishing to better themselves) can unlock growth and prosperity. So after graduating from The University of Texas at Austin with a B.A. in Latin American Studies and Government, then teaching English in Prague, Czech Republic, Asaía shifted gears towards strengthening the social enterprise and impact investing effort in Mexico -- first, helping the search-and-selection Ashoka Mexico team in identifying social entrepreneurs in Mexico, then evaluating innovative business models with social impact for seed capital investment and mentorship, and finally, as a liaison for a US startup in Mexico City wishing to provide financing to microentrepreneurs through their crowdfunding and money-management SMS platform. As a Frontier Market Scout, Asaía wishes to continue on this journey, only this time in Bogotá, Colombia where she will be collaborating alongside Hub Bogotá in their efforts to develop a social enterprise acceleration program. Her goal? To one day work for a strategy consulting firm that utilizes design thinking tools to help companies, organizations, and ventures innovate, remain competitive and, most importantly, bring impact into the area of social change as it relates to their business. |
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Pooja Chokshi Location: Mumbai, India Village Capital Partner: First Light Accelerator; Village Capital: India |
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Pooja Chokshi is interested in leveraging her experience in investment management to help social enterprises develop strong business models so that they can attract vital investor funding and grow to make a large-scale positive impact on society. She is currently a Senior Analyst at Goldman Sachs where she is focused on business development for the firm’s Quantitative Investment Strategies. Pooja’s interest in the developing world has motivated her to be a member of the Microfinance Club of New York and the United Nations Association NYC Young Professionals organization. Pooja is also a mentor through the iMentor program where she provides support and guidance to high school students in low-income communities so that they can be college-ready upon graduation. She has also served on the Junior Board of the Books For Kids charity. Pooja earned a BA in Economics, magna cum laude, from Tufts University in 2009. During her time at Tufts she served on the Tufts Senate and Senior Class Council and was a member of the Chi Omega Women’s Fraternity. She studied abroad in Madrid, Spain through New York University in 2007. During her time abroad, she studied European Economics, Art History and Spanish and worked at a financial services firm where she helped service clients from Spain, Portugal and Andorra. Pooja enjoys travelling and has been able to visit numerous countries; among her favorites are Morocco, South Africa, Thailand, Singapore and India. In her free time, Pooja enjoys photography and biking. |
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Jen Clessas Location: Ahmedabad, India Village Capital Partner: CIIE |
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Jennifer Clessas is a recent graduate from Monterey Institute of International Studies (MIIS), completing a Master’s degree in Public Administration and beginning her work as a development practitioner. While at MIIS she participated in the Development Project Be sure to check out Jen’s blog! |
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Sarah Feldmann Location: Nairobi, Kenya Village Capital Partner: Invested Development |
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Sarah is 23 years old and from Denver, Colorado. She recently graduated from Dartmouth College with a degree in Economics modified with Engineering, with a concentration in Developing Economics and Finance. At Dartmouth, Sarah was a member of the Varsity Women’s Soccer team for two years, where she learned of an amazing organization called GrassrootSoccer (“GRS”), a global non-profit that uses soccer as a means of engaging youth and providing them with the knowledge and life-skills to live HIV free. Sarah had the opportunity to complete two separate internships with GRS in Khayelitsha and Port Elizabeth, South Africa, where she developed a passion for social entrepreneurship and international development. Since graduating college, she has been working for an investment consulting firm in Boston, which provides consulting and investment oversight services to a wide array of foundation, institutional, sovereign and private family clients. This experience has shown her the power and importance of investing and has given her valuable knowledge of investing in a wide range of asset classes and markets. Sarah has grown committed to pursuing a career in impact investing because she believes that finding creative ways of engaging private markets to solve social problems historically addressed through philanthropy will ultimately deliver more powerful, sustainable solutions. Sarah hopes to use the Frontier Market Scouts program to launch a career in the impact investing space. |
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Alfredo Gago Location: Brazil Village Capital Partner: |
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Alfredo is a serial entrepreneur that believes in the power of social initiatives to help communities to develop at their maximum potential. In the last years, he has had the chance to meet and learn from social entrepreneurs in diverse countries as Venezuela, South Africa, Brazil and US. With this global approach, Alfredo has learned that when it is about basic needs we all are the same no matter where we come or what language we speak. In fact, he was lucky enough to experience it at first hand by being part of the Venezuelan Survivor reality show in 2002 where he had to live with minimum resources for 8 weeks. On the other hand, Alfredo has trained in Karate for 7 years and was part of the Venezuela National Field Hockey team that won Bronze medal in 2nd Indoor Pan American Cup in 2004, both experiences gave him discipline and the value of teamwork to reach common goals. |
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Kathryn Harrison Location: Peru Village Capital Partner: Lumeter Networks |
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Crazy excited about FMS from her first day on MIIS’ campus, Kat Harrison is currently a candidate for a dual Masters in Public and Business Administration. Having traveled and worked extensively throughout Central and South America, Kat plans to return to the region to help its amazingly talented and hardworking entrepreneurs access the tools and resources they need to be successful. In her spare time (because graduate students have so much spare time), Kat likes to cook, salsa dance and chill with friends over a bottle of wine and a good indie flick. |
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Eleanor Horowitz Location: Bangalore, India Village Capital Partner: Unitus Seed Fund |
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Eleanor is passionate about scientific innovation, technology, and finding scalable solutions to social and environmental challenges worldwide. Previously, Eleanor worked at Mission Markets, a financial marketplace for sustainable investing, where she developed business strategy for environmental credit markets and helped manage the investment pipeline for social enterprises raising capital. Now she is looking forward to working in a new market learning how local startups in India are serving bottom of the pyramid customers for her placement with Unitus Seed Fund, a seed stage venture fund investing in education, livelihoods and basic necessities for low-income families.
Eleanor is a California native, who grew up in New York, studied abroad in New Zealand, has worked in Ghana, speaks French and loves adventures. She graduated magna cum laude from Middlebury College with a joint major in Chemistry and Environmental Studies and a minor in Global Health.
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Andrew Price Location: Uganda Village Capital Partner: UpEnergy |
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Andrew is from Chicago. He is a second-year MPA student at MIIS hoping to focus on small business development and micro-finance. Andrew has been fortunate enough to travel throughout Europe when he studied in Rome. He has also been to Tunisia, Russia, and Estonia for both academic and personal travel. Andrew has worked for FEMA in the Department of Homeland Security, several non-profits, law firms, and the food-service industry. He studies Arabic, and hope to work in North Africa and the Middle East someday. |
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Emily Lantz Location: Ahmedabad, India Village Capital Partner: CIIE |
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Emily has nearly 5 years of professional experience as a Deloitte human capital consultant solving complex business problems for global, Fortune 100 companies with an eye towards people and organizational effectiveness. During a mission trip to South Africa in 2010, Emily’s wheels started turning about charity, aid, and enterprise. This led her on a 6 month sabbatical with a Kenyan non-profit where she helped equip the missing middle with business and leadership training, mentoring, and access to affordable capital, enabling SMEs to become job creators rather than job seekers. In many ways, these experiences changed Emily’s life and trajectory, fueling her desire to help solve the problem of poverty in developing countries through smart, sustainable business models that transform the lives of families and communities.
Emily is from Atlanta, Georgia, where she is a proud Georgia Tech grad.
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Shiraz Khan Location: Istanbul, Turkey Village Capital Partner: The Hub- Istanbul |
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Shiraz is attracted to the promise of social innovation. He is passionate about helping alleviate societal inequities and is inspired by new development approaches, such as social entrepreneurship. Shiraz believes these approaches are innovative because they can foster collaboration between relevant stakeholders (entrepreneurs, civil society organizations, businesses, governments, etc.). This new focus on collaboration is critical to holistically examine social problems and spur much needed systemic change. Within social entrepreneurship, Shiraz is interested in exploring the nascent impact investing industry leading him to the Frontier Market Scouts Program. After working for nearly four years in management consulting, he is excited about applying his experience towards the pursuit of sustainable social impact in Turkey.
Shiraz’s upbringing in Pakistan has greatly influenced his global outlook. He currently lives in Philadelphia - the city of Brotherly Love and home to his childhood/adult hero – Rocky Balboa! He graduated from Penn State University with degrees in Finance and Economics. In his spare time, Shiraz likes to reflect by taking long walks with his MIIS classmates on the beaches of Monterey, California.
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