While interning with IGNIA Partners, I worked on a wide variety of projects. One of the primary ventures I assisted with revolved around developing a financial model for a fertility company based in Mexico, who was looking to raise capital for an expansion into Latin America. This project aligned with IGNIA’s mission of addressing fundamental societal needs through impactful investments. Fertility is a critical social issue, particularly in Latin America, where declining birth rates and aging populations pose long-term demographic challenges. By supporting a company that helps break down stigmas around fertility, we enable more families to explore reproductive options, which could help counteract these demographic shifts. IGNIA’s focus on social impact resonated with the goals of this program, where we aimed to provide access to fertility treatments, and ultimately create accessible treatments for underserved populations.

I was also able to service other projects at IGNIA, including analyzing pitch decks and aiding in business screenings. These were done to assess potential investments in organizations that have an impact on all levels of the social pyramid. When companies passed our first screenings, I assisted in the creation of investment memos, which were then presented to the investment committee for consideration.

My MBA education provided me with crucial financial, analytical, and strategic thinking skills, which I was able to apply throughout this project. Specifically, I leveraged my financial modeling expertise from courses such as Corporate Finance, to build a robust model that incorporated different scenarios and projections for the fertility company. Other courses, such as Operations Management, supported my understanding of building financial models that aligned with clinics’ capabilities to support growth and an increasing number of patients. Additionally, courses in Strategy and Marketing served my ability to evaluate the broader market potential and implications of investing in fertility solutions, from customer retention, calculating customer acquisition, and assigning lifetime value to said customers. These skillsets were essential in presenting a well-rounded analysis to IGNIA’s leadership, including their chief executives, ensuring the project aligned with both financial returns and social impact.

One of the key challenges I faced during my time at IGNIA was navigating the sensitivity around the topic of fertility. It required not only a strong understanding of the market, but also empathy in addressing the social and moral implications of the company’s mission, especially about a topic that is sometimes hard to discuss socially. Another challenge involved ensuring our financial models accounted for various unpredictable factors, such as changing regulations or cultural barriers to fertility treatment adoption. Finding a balance between the financial viability of the company and its ability to drive meaningful social change, while delivering the desired output for IGNIA leadership and investors was a complex task.

My time at IGNIA taught me the importance of aligning financial outcomes with social impact. The fertility project, in particular, reinforced the idea that breaking societal taboos can lead to impactful change. Fertility is not just a medical issue — it’s a societal one. This is especially true in Latin America, where addressing population decline will have long-term economic effects. Through this experience, I’ve gained a deeper understanding of how venture capital can be a tool to drive social progress, and I am now more motivated than ever to pursue opportunities where I can work at the intersection of finance and societal impact.