This mission is crucial, especially considering that 70% of Americans live pay cheque to pay cheque, and the majority of Americans struggle to manage emergency expenses without incurring debt. This isn’t just a large impact opportunity, it’s also a large market opportunity; the companies that understand how to build high-quality, relevant, and affordable products for this segment have the potential for largescale growth, driving strong returns for investors.
Tahira's commitment to impact investing was nurtured during her time at INSEAD. Prior to INSEAD, Tahira's career took her from management consulting at Bain to working in Afghanistan in 2006, where she helped launch the country’s first mobile money product. This experience underscored the transformative potential of technology in financial services. “There are businesses that can be huge generators of return and profit, but also can have transformative social impact,” she noted.
In a country where 97% of the population was unbanked, mobile money provided a critical service, reducing risks associated with cash transactions and increasing financial inclusion. This experience laid the foundation for Tahira's future work in fintech and impact investing, highlighting how leveraging technology can make financial services more accessible and equitable.
Tahira’s vision extends beyond just investing in fintech. She is passionate about broadening access within the venture capital ecosystem. The stark reality is that most venture investors and founders who receive funding are white men. All-female teams receive less than 2% of venture funding, while mixed-gender teams receive around 15-20%. However, the data clearly indicates that diverse teams, in terms of gender, race, and experience, outperform homogenous ones. Investors benefit from diversification in all aspects of their portfolio, and founder diversification is no exception.
Resilience VC exemplifies this commitment to diversity. The fund is 100% people of colour and 50% women-owned. They seek to diversify their investment pipeline by taking unsolicited proposals through their website, rather than relying solely on referrals from their existing network, which can often perpetuate biases. Additionally, Resilience VC implements a standardised due diligence process to minimise bias during the investment evaluation process.
Tahira also emphasises the importance of getting capital from a diverse set of limited partners, reducing minimum cheque sizes for women to enable broader participation in the asset class. “We want this fund to be a vehicle of wealth creation for a larger set of investors, opening venture up to people who historically haven’t had access to the asset class,” she explains, highlighting that over 40% of their individual limited partners are women.
ResilienceVC, announced in February the close of its debut fund with over $56M USD in AUM, and is reshaping the venture capital landscape by combining purpose-driven investing with a commitment to top-tier financial returns. The firm has already made investments in startups that demonstrate high growth potential while delivering meaningful impact, with its portfolio including Alice, Chaiz, EarlyBird, Foyer, Mirza, OS Benefits, PartnerSlate and Suma, among others.
For Tahira, the journey from INSEAD to founding Resilience VC has been about merging profitability with social impact and ensuring that the benefits of financial innovation are broadly distributed. She encourages budding entrepreneurs and investors to tackle intractable problems with large markets, stating, “Don’t hesitate to take it on. It’s critical to have people building who deeply understand a problem and challenge.”
