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

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

In the wake of Dr. Anne-Marie Slaughter’s article, “Why Women Still Can’t Have it All,” I had been thinking about how to have it all not in terms of balancing children and career, but rather in terms of finding a career that encompasses money and meaning. For many women in our 20s, the tradeoffs between pursuing our passions and supporting ourselves can be perplexing. We want to pursue work that excites us, but we don’t know when, where, or how to start. This is a dilemma I’ve faced myself, as I’ve worked in banking and private equity and am beginning work at an impact investing fund.

I recently had the fortune of catching up with Tahira Dosani, the Director of Global Engagement and Strategic Projects at LeapFrog Investments, to discuss how she’s traversed the worlds of profit and purpose. LeapFrog’s $135m impact investing fund invests in companies that provide insurance and related financial services to low-income consumers in emerging markets in Asia and Africa; it has pioneered the “profit with purpose” model that posits that there doesn’t have to be a trade-off between financial returns and social impact. Tahira previously has worked at Bain & Company, The Bridgespan Group, a non-profit consulting firm, Roshan, Afghanistan’s leading telecommunications operator, and with the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development. She also received an MBA from INSEAD.