Speakers

A social sector professional and team leader with more than 22 yrs of experience in the development sector, Vaijayanti brings expertise in operations management, strategy, planning and documentation. As an Associate Director she is part of the Core Leadership of Educate Girls managing key stakeholders of the organisation including volunteers, NGO partners and strategic donor partners. She led the pilot of Educate Girls’ first NGO partnership in 2017 in Madhya Pradesh and is now heading Project Maitri.

Chloe joined Social Finance in April 2019, and works primarily in the International team. Prior to Social Finance, she was an Analytics Associate at Operation Fistula, an NGO that provides performance-based funding for Obstetric Fistula Surgeons. She also has experience working with Street Child Sierra Leone and Totohealth Tanzania

Louise is co-founder of Social Finance and jointly leads our International team. She advises governments, philanthropies and service providers on the design and delivery of social development programmes. Louise is passionate about driving social impact through rigorous analysis, efficient structures and effective cross-sector partnerships. She has particular expertise in outcomes-based approaches and social investment structures. She co-developed the impact bond approach in 2008.

A social impact leader, Safeena Husain is the Founder and Board Member of Educate Girls, working towards empowering communities for girls’ education in some of India’s hardest-to-reach villages. Most recently, in recognition of her ongoing work, Safeena received an honorary doctorate from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). This adds to her achievement in 2023, when she became the first Indian woman to be honoured as a WISE Prize Laureate for her contributions to girls' education in rural India. Safeena’s desire for bold and ambitious impact is backed by a good sense of ground reality. Her lived experience gives her a unique perspective on the problems she is trying to solve. Under her leadership, Educate Girls delivered the world's first Development Impact Bond in education, an outcomes-based financing model that achieved extraordinary results in both learning and enrolment.

Jonathan is Senior Legal Counsel with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) based in Washington, D.C. He has worked with various USAID portfolios, including Power Africa, the Private Sector Engagement Hub, and the Center for Education. He also served as the Acting Managing Director of the agency’s Innovation Division, which includes USAID’s Development Innovation Ventures team, which applies a tiered-evidence and results-based approach to federal grantmaking.

Prior to USAID, Jonathan was the Global Legal Director of Ashoka: Innovators for the Public, an international NGO known for starting the modern social entrepreneurship movement. Jonathan began his legal career at White & Case LLP in New York as a project finance attorney.

He is currently a Visiting Fellow of Practice with the Government Outcomes Lab and also, an adjunct faculty member at Georgetown Law, where he teaches a seminar on social enterprise, impact investing, and the law. He serves on the advisory board for the NYU Law’s Grunin Center for Law and Social Entrepreneurship, co-leads the D.C. Chapter of the Impact Investing Legal Working Group, and is a vice chair of the American Bar Association’s Public Contract Law Section’s Grant Law Committee.

Marcia is an investment director at LGT Venture Philanthropy Foundation (LGT VP), leading the foundation's global education practice, primarily in Africa and India. She has over 15 years of experience in venture philanthropy, consulting and investment banking. Marcia holds an MA in International Policy Studies from Stanford University and a BA in Economics from the University of Texas at Austin.

Birendra Kumar brings over 20 years of dedicated experience in the social sector in India. Since the founding of Aident, Birendra has been a pivotal leader, deeply committed to uplifting marginalized communities across Bihar, Jharkhand and Odisha. His belief in empowering communities to shape their own futures has driven transformative initiatives in sustainable agriculture, women’s empowerment, sanitation, livelihoods, digital inclusion, and education. Known for his direct, hands-on engagement, Birendra leads Aident with a vision that prioritizes adaptability, scale, and impact. Under his guidance, Aident has grown in both capacity and geographic reach, positioning it for even greater influence in the years to come.