Alumni Spotlight: Andrew Papp, 2017 cohort  

In the Alumni Spotlight series, we dive deep into past fellows’ experiences and learnings from their fellowship, and their career trajectories since then. 

Andrew Papp, an LGT Impact Fellow from the 2017 cohort, leveraged his corporate consulting expertise to launch a new line of advisory services at Varthana, a company of the Lightrock portfolio, dedicated to India’s affordable private school market. His journey exemplifies how the fellowship provides a critical bridge for seasoned professionals to transition into full-time, high-impact careers in the global social impact space. 

Having worked in the consulting field for several years, what motivated you to apply for the fellowship? 

I had a long-standing aspiration to work full-time in the international social impact space, and I had been gradually working towards that goal over the course of my career before I took on the fellowship and joined Varthana. Before the fellowship, I was a management consultant, with the bulk of my experience at Grant Thornton. I had developed a skillset around building and scaling new offices or divisions in both the public and private sectors. The simple answer to my motivation is that I’ve always wanted to pursue a career where my work would focus on helping those most in need in the global community. Working at Varthana provided me the opportunity to bring the skills I had developed in management consulting and apply them not just in the Indian context, but in the larger social impact arena.   

What was your role at Varthana and what were you trying to achieve? 

I love all things about problem-solving. While Varthana’s core function was providing loans to schools, they were exploring how to diversify their product offerings. My role was to determine if there was a market and a path to profitability for management consulting products and services that would support school leaders in India’s affordable private school market. This concept of ideating on and developing advisory products is exactly what I love about working in the social impact advisory space. Especially when it comes to the education sector, since for me, education is such a potent device when it comes to creating opportunity for people of all backgrounds.   

The CEO and COO, Steve and Brajesh, gave me a lot of latitude. I leveraged my knowledge of human-centered design to map out a roadmap that included: 

• Engaging with stakeholders to understand their needs. 

• Using feedback and market research to design products and services. 

• Piloting and iterating those products and services based on outcomes. 

I also managed and worked alongside an amazing team, collaborated with other divisions, and spent a lot of time on the road marketing our products and services to school leaders. 

What were some of the highlights of leading a pilot that reached over 11,000 students? 

Spending time in the field and on the road engaging with school leaders was absolutely a highlight. I had the chance to hear their stories, their dreams for their businesses, and gain first-hand knowledge of the neighbourhoods where our client schools were located. Some of my favourite memories were made zooming from client to client, many times on the back of a scooter. 

These personal connections were invaluable. It took time to gain their trust, which then created a dynamic where they felt comfortable talking about their business pain points, which is rightfully a sensitive topic. The better we understood their needs, the better our ability to create products and services that would be measurably impactful to the students and parents. 

How did you transition from corporate consulting to a social enterprise in India? 

From a business perspective, it was really interesting to see how transferrable most of my corporate consulting skills were to the education and social impact sector. The biggest difference was deep personal interactions. In corporate consulting, you don’t typically engage with the end users of your work, you engage with clients, but not the people your clients serve. 

Working in the field with clients and speaking with parents and students opened a whole other level of understanding the impact of my work. On top of that, you go to work knowing that if you do your job well, it will hopefully make a positive difference in the lives of children. Especially in the education space, if my team could help schools improve the quality of education they provided, it was incredibly energizing and motivated us to work that extra bit harder. 

Stepping into a leadership role at Varthana, how did you build and maintain team motivation and effectiveness in a new cultural setting? 

Honestly, I didn’t do much differently in India than I would have in the U.S. I’m happiest on teams where everybody can learn, be challenged, and be treated as equals. I wanted everyone on my team to be in control of their career path, so I worked with them to understand their goals and how I could help. I think the idea that you can pursue your career interests while advancing the goals of the team and company is inherently motivating. I feel incredibly lucky that the experience turned into one of those unique professional moments where everyone connected and supported one another. Things just clicked, and my colleagues and I became friends outside of work and continue to stay in touch today. 

What were the biggest challenges you faced while executing your role? 

The biggest challenge was getting our first few clients. It’s an uphill battle to pitch new products without proof points. That eased over time as we gained clients and could measure and talk about real-world outcomes. 

The other main challenge was pricing. Many in the affordable private school sector were operating on thin financial margins. This made the idea of spending money to earn more money a tough sell. We were lucky to have such close relationships with our clients who gave us candid feedback on willingness to pay and return on investment. This feedback was critical, and we had to cut some of the products we created because we couldn’t find a path for them to break even. 

What impact do you feel your fellowship had? 

I was incredibly proud and humbled that Varthana’s leadership team believed in my vision enough that they hired me as a full-time employee at the end of my fellowship to fully launch the Advisory Services division. After 2.5 years at Varthana, I had to return to the US, but the division continued to grow and adapt after my departure. My hope is that my fellowship reinforced the leadership team’s openness to trying new ideas to expand access to education and improve outcomes. 

Post fellowship, how did your career evolve and what learnings from the fellowship do you carry with you to this day? 

As for myself, the fellowship established a strong sense of intention for working in the social impact space. It helped set a baseline of what it means to pursue careers genuinely focused on doing good. I also found my people in a sense. Being around likeminded individuals operating on a similar frequency was amazing. It was the first time in my career that I felt fulfilled by my work and that I was in the right place at the right time. 

What advice would you give to candidates considering the LGT Impact Fellowship program? 

My advice is simple: Know what you want to achieve out of the fellowship. And don’t become discouraged if there are a few bumps along the way, because sometimes you have to work for what you want. 

Quick fire round: What were your favourite foods and customs in Bangalore? 

There are too many foods to count. Hot chips. Naturals brand of tender coconut ice cream. Dosas. And any food I can grab with a paratha. Oh, and mango season is out-of-this-world amazing with so many varieties to choose from. As for customs, I loved that the whole office took time for late afternoon chai and biscuits. I also loved that India has intermissions during movies!