"My project was to design a five-year growth strategy and business plan for Microlumbia in collaboration with two other summer fellows, specifically defining its target AUM, fundraising requirement, annual budget, average deal size, annual number of deals, student team size and other relevant dimensions. We were also tasked with detailing the steps for the fund’s transition from a nonprofit entity to a donor-advised fund (DAF). We were tasked with rethinking Microlumbia’s current positioning and reimagining what it would look like as a fund with scale. As a result, the project occurred at an inflection point where I had the opportunity to work with the team that formed a fresh vision for the fund and an action plan to achieve its growth target of increasing the AUM by 10x over the next five years. The project is critical to amplifying Microlumbia’s impact and furthering its mission to support underserved communities around the world, and educate and inspire the next generation of impact investors.

Formulating a comprehensive business plan and determining its fundraising and budgeting needs required me to apply many of the skills I acquired through the MBA program. One of my key responsibilities was to create a dynamic model for the DAF structure and project what the annual cost incurred by the fund would be over a ten year period. It was a complex task as multiple considerations and contingencies had to be incorporated. While I was familiar with Excel prior to my time at Columbia Business School, I only developed the sophistication to be able to develop a model like this through the finance courses I have taken. Additionally, arriving at a recommendation for the average deal size and annual number of deals required me to solve an optimization problem, which I had limited experience with prior to taking Business Analytics in the core. Further, as I had never worked in a fundraising role before, my leadership position as VP of fundraising and alumni for Microlumbia during the school year gave me the necessary foundation to formulate an actionable approach to fundraising.

Due to the pandemic, our team had to become comfortable with working in a virtual environment. While we were able to meet a few times in-person, working virtually for the duration of the fellowship was challenging due to unclear communication and technical difficulties. It was also more difficult to develop team norms organically, and so we had to work harder to clearly define objectives, deliverables and due dates and delegate tasks to allow each team member time to work individually. In some cases, this was less efficient than being able to work together in person to complete a task. I was fortunate to have worked with team members that shared the same enthusiasm for the project and took ownership of their work as it simplified collaboration. We also used tools available through Microsoft Teams and other applications extensively to successfully facilitate remote work. The innovative solutions and frequent communication from each team member enabled us to overcome these challenges.

I was excited to work with Microlumbia over the summer because of my passion for impact investing. Through this experience, I learned how Microlumbia offers students that wish to pursue a career in the impact space the opportunity to work with a nonprofit and develop experience in nearly every aspect of a fund’s operations. I also witnessed how deeply dedicated the fund is to its mission and felt privileged to be part of the team that shapes its future. I will leave this experience with a thorough understanding of the unique fundraising challenges nonprofit funds face, and how solving these problems requires a different approach compared to private funds. Each team member was passionate about and committed to the work we were doing, and it was rewarding to be part of a team motivated by a higher purpose. Going forward, I am now certain that I would like to pursue a role at an impact-focused private equity fund and am thankful for the opportunity to be an SESF fellow."