Season of Giving: Breaking the Educational Barriers, Pratima Abichandani Shares Her Philanthropic Journey with Pratham USA
“My children and I have been winners of the birth and immigration lotteries and have had access to a great education. It behooves upon me to not let birth become destiny for the less fortunate children who lack access to basic education and vocational skills. I decided that helping educate young children was going to be my avenue for giving back to society.” As we continue the Season of Giving, we are excited to introduce today’s woman dreamer, Pratima Abichandani. Upon graduating from Harvard Business School, Pratima built her career in the world of finance at Fidelity Investments, and has mentored student investors at the Babson College Fund as an Executive in Residence. With a strong passion for education, Pratima is the Boston Chapter Head of Pratham USA, the largest education NGO, providing educational resources to 75 million children. Pratima shares her journey, her work with Pratham USA, the impact of Covid-19, and how we can give back virtually this season!
1) Tell us your story. What inspired your interest in finance? What inspired your interest in giving back to the community?
When I started at Harvard Business School (HBS), the popular career paths were investment banking and consulting. I interviewed with many of the prominent consulting and investment banking firms, but fortunately for me, I did not receive offers from any of them. That made me broaden my search, and I discovered the field of asset management- I loved that my performance was very numbers driven with little subjectivity. While I put in long hours and traveled a lot, I had a lot of control over my schedule, which proved to be extremely valuable once I had children. I have learnt to be grateful for all the things in life I thought I wanted, but did not get. As I invested a lot of time and energy in raising my own children, I realized that the educational aspirations of mothers in the country of my birth, for their children, were no different than the ones I had for my own children. My children and I have been winners of the birth and immigration lotteries and have had access to a great education. It behooves upon me to not let birth become destiny for the less fortunate children who lack access to basic education and vocational skills. Lack of basic reading and writing skills expose children to predatory behaviors including crime and human trafficking. Malala Yousafzai very eloquently says “There are many problems, but I think there is a solution to all these problems; it's just one, and it is education.” I decided that helping educate young children was going to be my avenue for giving back to society. Pratham has improved learning for 75 million underprivileged children over the past 25 years, leveraging its organizational scale and breadth.
2) You have worked in the financial sector for many years after your MBA at Harvard. You also served as the Executive in Residence for Babson College Fund, a program where students are trained to invest a percentage of the endowment. What has been your experience as a woman in finance, and how do you seek to empower other women interested in the field?
When I started at Fidelity after HBS, it was a very testosterone driven environment. I was one of very few women in the Equity Research department and the only non-white woman. I never focused on that, and instead concentrated on putting in my best effort, confident in the fact that the numbers could speak for themselves. Most of my male colleagues had pictures of their kids or artwork from their kids in their offices, but I never displayed any personal items because I wanted to minimize the attention on myself as a woman, and let the emphasis remain on my work. Many more women now work in fund management, and I am thrilled to see them successfully manage their professional and personal lives. I mentor students at the Babson College Fund (BCF) by reviewing their stock research and helping them get their stock ideas into the portion of the endowment they manage. I love analyzing companies and looking for stock ideas, and the enthusiasm that the students bring is a great combination for helping them become better stock pickers. When I started as an Executive In Residence at BCF about nine years ago, I was the only woman along with half a dozen men, and I am happy to report that we have more women who serve as an Executive In Residence at BCF. I often have young women reach out to me from either BCF or HBS to discuss careers in the investing field and am happy to chat with them.
3) As President of Pratham, your focus was on helping underprivileged kids in India. What was 2020 like for the organization? How did it change things, and what were some takeaways/challenges from this?
2020 has proved to be a challenging year and Pratham has stepped up to help children and youth who already experience education barriers. Volunteers and staff have turned to a variety of mediums – Zoom, WhatsApp, text messages, even phone calls – offering daily lessons and supporting parents in home schooling. We share learning activities through WhatsApp, SMS and more with children in 12,000 communities. We have also partnered with 14 state governments and 200+ NGOs to share our vast repository of digital content. Our supporters in Boston and across the US have been extremely generous and many have increased their giving to ensure that we are able to keep our organization on the ground in India intact, and education can continue to lift generations out of poverty. This season of giving, let a digital Indian learning village adopt you. Giving brings as much, if not more happiness, to the giver than the receiver.
4) As #Dreamcatchers platform, we have to ask, what is your next big dream?
I love what I do and I have already won the lottery of life. My dream is to be able to continue my journey of personal growth and use my potential in the best way possible to help myself, my family and society.
Bio: Pratima Abichandani is the President of the Boston Chapter of Pratham USA, the largest education focused NGO that has improved learning for over 75 Million Children. She is an Executive in Residence for the Babson College Fund (BCF) and an independent investor in the Greater Boston Area. BCF is an academic program in which selected students manage a portion of the Babson College Endowment with support from the Professor and Executives in Residence who are experienced fund managers.
Prior to this, she worked at Fidelity Investments from 1994-2011. From 2004-2011 she worked at Crosby Advisors, Fidelity Investments where she was the Director of Research and member of an equity team that helped managed the assets of high net worth families and charitable entities.
Before moving to Crosby, Pratima was an analyst and fund manager at Fidelity Management & Research Co. (FMR) from 1994-2004. Funds she managed at FMR included Fidelity Select Energy, Fidelity Select Natural Resources, Fidelity Select Industrials and Fidelity Select Medical delivery. From 1995-2000, Pratima was based in Hong Kong where she managed the Fidelity India pilot fund, the Fidelity Singapore fund and co-managed the Fidelity Global Telecom fund. Pratima graduated with an MBA from Harvard Business School in 1994. She graduated from Rutgers University with a BS in Industrial Engineering in 1989.