My guest today is Dr Vanita Viswanath, a Bangalore-based social entrepreneur, organisational mentor and researcher. Passionate about women’s empowerment through entrepreneurship, up to 2014, Vanita was CEO of Udyogini, an NGO she founded in 2000 to develop women entrepreneurs across India. Nowadays, she divides her time as an advisor to Sattva Consulting, as chair of migrant worker NGO Aajeevika Bureau, and as a Trustee of Jagriti Foundation, an NGO supporting social entrepreneurship.

I spoke to Vanita face-to-face at a major conference on economic empowerment in Delhi.

We talk about finding a passion for women’s entrepreneurship through her PhD research, leading to a switch from doling out money at the World Bank to fighting for funds at a startup NGO, and what she’s learned about the power of epic learning journeys.