Episode 104: Rafia Qureshi
Join Lori as she sits down with Rafia Qureshi, Managing Director of Strategic Initiatives at LEBEC, a for-profit organization that’s redefining how we fund change. Rafia shares powerful insights that will resonate with changemakers, nonprofit leaders, and anyone curious about using money more intentionally for greater impact.
Get ready to be inspired by real-world examples of how LEBEC is driving meaningful, lasting change — and why reimagining philanthropy might be the key to unlocking a better future!
Here are the things to expect in this episode:
Rafia’s journey that led her to join the organization
What motivates Rafia to drive meaningful impact through innovative finance and philanthropy
How LEBEC brings capital to high-impact projects and initiatives
The importance of passing on the values of intentional giving and impact to the next generation
And much more!
Rafia’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rafia-qureshi-7331b92/
LEBEC’s Website: https://lebec.co/
LEBEC’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/lebec-co/
Episode Transcript
Speaker 1 00:13
You're listening to the positive impact podcast where we share the journeys of everyday philanthropists as they incorporate philanthropy into their lives. Philanthropy is a personal journey, and the stories we will share here, we hope that it sparks something in you and how you can make your own philanthropic impact in the world. I'm your host. Lori Kranczer, attorney, philanthropic advisor and legacy giving strategist. Together, we're going to explore what it looks like to be an everyday philanthropist and make a positive impact in the world. Before we get started, make sure to subscribe to the podcast so you never miss a new episode posted on Wednesdays. So today we have Rafia Qureshi. She is the managing director at LEBEC. Welcome Rafia.
Speaker 2 00:55
Thank you so much for having me. Lori, as I was just telling you, I've been listening to a podcast, so it's really exciting to be talking to you today.
Speaker 1 01:03
Well, I'm so excited about listening to you, your journey, and also the topic that we're going to be focusing on today is what you're doing professionally. It's something that we haven't really covered too much here. I'm so excited to listen to it, but I'm sure that our listeners will also get a lot from it. So why don't you share a little bit more about who you are and what you do.
Speaker 2 01:23
Yeah, absolutely so as you mentioned, I'm Managing Director of Strategic Initiatives at LEBEC, and I've been in the philanthropy and social impact space for just over 20 years now. I actually started my career often in the private sector, in venture capital. Now I was working 18 hours a day, and whilst my learning curve was very steep, I wasn't feeling as fulfilled and happy also. I just, I feel like I always had a calling towards this space of philanthropy and impact investing. Well, there was no impact investing at that time when I was starting this space, and I always wanted to work in this space from a private sector angle, and by this time, I had interned at the UN I interned at Senator Kennedy's office in Boston, which I absolutely love, by the way, but I saw how all this lacked innovation, which, as I said, is very different. Now there's a lot of great pockets of innovation even in the UN, but this was about 20 years ago when I was going, sort of starting my career. And so at that time, I moved to Deloitte emerging markets, which is a management consultancy, but my clients were all in the public sector, so the likes of USAID, I want to do a deep sigh after that one, as it was called back then, the EU, the World Bank, the multilaterals and the bilaterals. And after three years, I then moved into the corporate philanthropy world, spending a large part of my career at JPMorgan Chase Foundation, growing to manage all of the foundation's social investments in Africa and the Middle East. And then I moved into the private foundation world, working with the Sainsbury family foundations in London to then running a Swiss Family Foundation focusing on gender equity. I then stepped down from that role due to a personal move from London to Munich, where I'm now based. And in between all this, I reconnected with a high school friend at one of these conferences, a Skoll World Forum. And this friend is actually Alix Lebec, who is the founder and CEO of LEBEC, whom I have the pleasure of working with today as a part of the company's founding team. So I would say Lori, life for me has certainly been a bit of a as Forrest Gump mother would say, box of chocolates, because I just didn't know. I couldn't have planned it this way at all. And I'm very happy to be where I am right now. As I said back we are a global firm, and managing the growth of our business in Europe, and also leading some of the strategic initiatives across the firm.
Speaker 1 03:47
So it's been quite a journey, and it's amazing listening to this, but it all makes sense to me. It all feels right that there's nothing that seems completely off from your journey. So I love this so, so tell us a little bit about the actual work that you do at LEBEC right now
Speaker 2 04:06
Yeah. So LEBEC is an innovative finance and philanthropy strategy firm. And Lori, we exist to really mainstream innovative finance, and our mission is to help our clients, who range from visionary entrepreneurs to asset owners really leverage the full spectrum of the different forms of capital that are there and the different financial instruments to drive systemic change. So on one end, we work with entrepreneurs, and for them, we've developed a bespoke growth strategy package designed to sharpen value propositions and also position their ventures for catalytic investment. We also, along the way, provide strategic guidance on innovative financing approaches, and also help to connect the entrepreneurs to key ecosystem stakeholders. And then for asset owners, we support them to build what we call a portfolio approach to impact that moves more capital in the most meaningful ways, whilst also mitigating risks. So to give you an example, we recently helped one of our clients, Reckitt, which is a fortune 500 company based in the UK, and we developed a roadmap that pulls all of their financial assets, including their philanthropy, to work in a strategic and comprehensive way to 10x their impact over time. So they are actually one of the few corporates moving capital towards social impact through many avenues. They do balance sheet investments. They're doing philanthropy, and we brought all this together under a holistic approach that works together for impact at scale, instead of working in silos. So that's a little bit more. Just wanted to give you an example of what it really looks like when we talk about some of this innovative finance and mainstreaming innovative finance.
Speaker 1 05:53
Yeah, for someone that's first starting out looking into this area, what is a good way to start? Because I know you work on a very high level with established fund holders and businesses. What can someone first start out looking at for impact investing, or to join the space?
Speaker 2 06:20
So that's a very good question. I would say this space is big, right? Like you've got. I started off in philanthropy, right? And so I actually, I started off in venture capital, then moved into this space. But then I, for seven years, I was at JP Morgan Chase Foundation, which was very much philanthropy, working for the foundation, doing grant making. And then I moved into the private foundation world, looking at philanthropy from a different angle. And at that time, well, actually, even at JP Morgan, because they were one of the first to start the whole impact investing space. Lori, because when I was there, 2008 at that time, venture philanthropy, impact investing, none of that really existed. It was very nascent, and it was all just starting. And so I got kind of introduced to that at JP Morgan, and then more so at Sainsbury Family Foundation, which had an impact investment fund as well, working along with JP Morgan, which was really interesting. And then really then to running a private foundation. So for someone starting off, like if you're just coming out of university, or even if you're I think if you're just starting, I would say learn a little bit more about the space, like, what angle do you want to go at it from? Do you want to be in the philanthropy space, or do you want to be in the impact investing space? And if you do want to do impact investing, are there issue areas that you're interested in? Or do you, are you kind of issue agnostic, and it's more the deployment of or using these mechanisms, or the way this capital deployed that's interesting you or that there's also kind of intermediaries, there's advisory firms like us that kind of do a bit of both. So I think for someone starting out, number one, I mean, what part of that capital spectrum do you want to be at? And number two, are there any issue areas that you want to be with? If you're issue agnostic, I would say, depending on where you are in your career, but start off as an intern, I mean, I did so many internships as I said, because I feel like that's the best way to learn. And then as I was learning, I kind of realized, well, this is more slowly, slowly, you kind of narrow down to where your passion is and I would say to anyone starting out, it's following your passion. It's only where your interests are, because that's where you're going to be best at.
Speaker 1 08:30
Yeah, and questions about this. So people are interested in doing something, and then they're not quite sure how to break into it. And we always say, ask a lot of questions. Anyone that works in the space, anything within the initial sector is happy to help one. And so just part of the value system, I believe. And so it is just about exploring the different options.
Speaker 2 08:54
Going to a conference, right? Like those are great Skoll World Forum, a lot of these. I mean, if you're a student, or if you're not representing. You can get in for a reasonable price, or a lot of them, you can even just be in the sidelines, because Skoll World Forum, to be honest, there's so much happening outside of it, which is one of the Skoll World Forum, as you probably know, is one of the biggest conferences in this space, and it's held in Oxford every year. But there's so many events happening even on the fringes, attending these events, these conferences, all increases your knowledge and gets you closer to what you might want to focus on.
Speaker 1 09:28
Yeah, that's a great point. So a lot of your journey is focused on the social sector in many different ways. And I'm curious what motivated you or what continues to motivate you to give
Speaker 2 09:45
So I'll tell you. This is where I tell you a little bit about myself and get up close and personal a little bit. So I was actually born in Pakistan. I lived in Turkey. I grew up in China, where Alix and I met, and we went to high school together, actually. So it was really nice to reconnect with her and to now be working with her back and then I went to the US for my undergraduate degree and came to London for my master's degree. In between that time, I spent some time in Africa as well, and now I'm living in Munich with my husband and two kids who keep me on my toes. Well, the kids, not the husband, but sometimes the husband too. So I very much categorize myself, really, as a citizen of the world. And so that's a little bit about me, and that goes into my journey. Because Lori, I feel my journey in this space started right at home. I'm one of five daughters born into a Pakistani family, so gender equity, justice for me, started a long time ago, and in the home, we were my sisters and I privileged enough to all be educated to the highest levels, because we were lucky enough given the patriarchal society to have a father who, number one, is a feminist, and number two believed that the biggest gift he could give his daughters was education. I still remember him telling me that I want to make sure that you're never dependent on a man. And he said, if you're educated, you can make your own way in life. And as I grew older, I thought boy, he's so right, and so knowing that my whole life, that my circumstances were an exception and not the rule, never let me take all the opportunities in my life for granted, and, and I think that has what has kept me going on a daily basis, to use my power and expertise to, as cheesy as it sounds, make the world a better place. And, and I can tell you, the day I had kids, this mission just got more amplified, because I constantly think about the kind of world we're leaving for the next generation, and that pushes me to get out of bed every day, despite all the horrific news in the sector at this time.
Speaker 1 11:50
Yes, as we're recording this at a time where there were a lot of things up in the air in the sector, and so for those that may be listening to it in the future, you can go back and look at the news. What was happening around this time that we were recording this in May of 2025, so you've worn a few different hats. I'm curious how you would describe yourself as a donor, a funder, a philanthropist, like how would you describe yourself in this sector? I'll give you, like, a little bit of my point of view of how I describe myself. Because I do have, I'm a social entrepreneur. I have for profit businesses. I work with nonprofits. I give money, and I give time, and I consider myself more of a guide to other people in this space, and I because there's so many different hats that I wear as well. So I'm curious, because I see the same in you. I'm curious how you see yourself.
Speaker 2 12:49
It's really interesting. I can't say this word, but I recently met someone at a conference, and he's like, there, I need to put a section on my website, because he's also, like, consulting, advising. He's like, there's like, there should be a section on the website that just said, I won't say the word, but getting stuff done right, because there's the push that you can talk about in the intermediary space. There's a lot of knowledge that one shares, right? There's a lot of expertise that one shares, but actually turning that into moving the needle and getting stuff done. I would love to put myself in that category, kind of like the advisor, catalyst that helps things move or helps people move, but I personally, in my personal life, I definitely volunteer, and I'm making sure that those values are passed down to the family as well. As I said, this journey for me started at home and for my kids, I wanted to start at home as well, and so I would say, a catalyst that hopefully is moving the needle on some of the issues that I'm working on.
Speaker 1 14:00
Can I ask what, what issues you're working on? Like, if you had, if you could solve any problem out there, what would that be?
Speaker 2 14:09
Yeah, that's a really good question. So I'll tell you a little bit. So I'll talk a little bit about what I've learned from the space, and that'll lead to how I want to change it, or what I want to move. I've worked in different parts of the ecosystem now, or is definitely around the different facets of philanthropy, and I've learned that to do this right, it's really hard work. I'll tell you a story when, right after the 2008 financial crash, when I was at the JPMorgan Chase Foundation, we had an influx of people to do something different and more meaningful with their lives. And I had a call with someone who wanted to learn more about how the foundation works and how we deploy our philanthropic dollars. I spoke to him for about an hour, and in the end, his biggest takeaway was, “wow, it's not as easy as I thought it would be”, and it's not. And in fact, it shouldn't be. Just because you're giving money away doesn't mean that it's easy. There's a huge moral responsibility of getting this right, because if we don't, we either waste scarce resources, or, even worse, we have negative repercussions on people's lives. They're ultimately the ones who benefit or deeply lose. So it's not easy. It is hard work, and it's not just about writing checks if you want your money to have an impact and make sustainable change, you need to understand the problem, put lived experience in the people you're trying to help at the heart of the solution, and make sure that whatever you're doing is not duplicating an existing effort and is sustainable in the long run. So let's say, for me, it's about making sure that philanthropy is catalytic, and taking that risk, philanthropy should as much possible, I believe, take that risk that commercial capital can and now, more than ever, is the time for philanthropy to become more than a safety net. It needs to be a risk taker. It needs to be a market shaper and driver of long, long term systems change. And I hope that I'm moving the needle towards that. Hopefully, that answers the question Lori.
Speaker 1 16:02
Yes, absolutely. And it leads into a question that we're going to ask now about your legacy. So how does your journey and your giving reflect the legacy that you wish to leave?
Speaker 2 16:17
It's a really good question. So at a professional level, I hope that, as I said, I can support the philanthropic sector to be more strategic in its capital deployment. As I said, I've now seen it from all angles, corporate, private, even government giving. And I've seen how intricate it is and how challenging it is if you really want to do it well. So I hope that knowledge down so it's easier for others to invest in a strategic way, and also to demystify things like catalytic philanthropy and blended finance, which we're talking about a lot, especially what LEBEC focuses on. And then, on a personal level, I hope I can instill the values of empathy and service to my children. Lori, I mean, the world is a big community, and we all need to live together, and I feel like we lost sight of that over the last many years. I was stoked that when my daughter was seven, the top Christmas list was one of those little sticks that people use to pick up garbage in public spaces. And I was just so stoked that that was number one on her Christmas list, because she's already interested in helping what she calls her mother earth, this and taking care of mother earth. So that was a proud mama moment. So I'm hoping I'm on the right track.
Speaker 1 17:28
It definitely sounds that way. So thank you so much for joining us. I just loved hearing your story and your journey. It's so interesting and the work you're doing. So Rafia, where can people find more information about you and LEBEC,
Speaker 2 17:45
Very, very happy to connect with any of your listeners. As I said, it takes a village. And then also you can find, obviously, LEBEC, LEBEC.co on our website. You can find LEBEC on LinkedIn. You can find me, Rafia Qureshi on LinkedIn, yeah. Many, many ways to get to us.
Speaker 1 18:01
Thank you. So we're going to post everything in the show notes so everyone can have access to those links. And again, I want to thank you for joining us and for our listeners hope we provide some insights and inspiration that you could use for your own philanthropic journey. Thanks again,
Speaker 2 18:16
Thanks for having me. Lori,
Speaker 1 18:20
Thank you for joining us. I hope we provided some insights and inspiration that you can use for your own philanthropic journey. You can tune in every week, on Wednesdays, when new episodes are dropped, we'd love to hear your feedback, so leave a comment and a rating about what you liked and what you'd like to hear more about, and if you liked the episode today or to share it, to raise awareness about the story, to inspire other women to take action. I'm Lori Kranczer, and until next time, you can make a positive impact through philanthropy every Day. Thanks For Listening.