NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Rachita Vora is a team lead on the Dasra Girl Alliance, a $14 million initiative in collaboration with Kiawah Trust, Piramal Foundation and USAID, which seeks to create systemic change by improving health outcomes for women, children and adolescent girls in India. Rachita has worked in the areas of financial inclusion, livelihoods development and corporate social responsibility, all with a focus on improving the lives of women from low-income communities. Prior to joining Dasra, she led communications and employee engagement in the CSR department at the Godrej Group. She has also worked at Swadhaar FinServe, among India’s earliest urban microfinance organizations, where she worked on product development, expansion strategy, communications, knowledge management and partnership development. She earned a master’s in business administration degree from the University of Cambridge and an undergraduate degree in history from Yale University.

Inchara Shanthappa is an associate on the Dasra Girl Alliance. She previously worked in the Business Development and Partnerships Team of Dasra, where she helped raise resources for the social sector and implemented partnership projects of corporates, foundations and other stakeholders. Prior to joining Dasra, she worked with the global academic relations team at Infosys, and has also worked in the marketing and strategy team of a real estate company. She has volunteered with several NGOs in the areas of child health, education and environmental advocacy. She earned a bachelor’s of science degree from St Joseph’s College, Bangalore, and a postgraduate diploma in marketing and advertising.