Varthana CEO and Alumni Fellows discuss the added value of the LGT Impact Fellowship at Arthan’s “Investing for Good” conference
The LGT Impact Fellowship was kindly invited to host a session at the “Investing for Good” conference, which Arthan organized as part of their «Building Civil Society Organizations of the Future» conference series.
In this session, Tom Kagerer, Investment Director at LGT Venture Philanthropy, has moderated a panel discussion with Steve Hardgrave, Co-Founder and CEO of Varthana (a portfolio company of LGT Lightstone), Saumya Saxena, Management Consultant at Varthana and Smiti Sahoo, Investment Associate at LGT Venture Philanthropy.
The three panelists explained what the added value of the LGT Impact Fellowship is for portfolio organizations and companies looking to scale impact as well as for for business professionals looking for meaningful career opportunities:
Steve elaborated on the evolving staffing requirements as his company has grown over the past 8 years, how Fellows were able to support Varthana at the different stages, and what the differentiating factors of LGT Impact Fellows in comparison to other programs are.
Saumya shared insights into his Fellowship activities at Varthana, which skills he was able to transfer from his previous experience in the corporate sector and he talked about his expected and unexpected learnings during his Fellowship.
Smiti explained how her motivation to become an LGT Impact Fellow was driven by the defining characteristics of the program design, the Fellowship being a platform to shift into the impact sector and how portfolio organizations and companies of LGT Venture Philanthropy and LGT Lightstone create confidence for Fellows to join the program and get inspired by visionary leaders.
Watch the entire panel discussion here:
Also read Saumya’s blog article here, if you would like to learn more about his Fellowship experience.