Afsana started her informal social impact journey at a very young age, by helping her widowed grandmother prepare and serve nutritious meals to single mothers and their children living in poverty in her neighborhood in Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh. Growing up in a family with limited means but always willing to extend help to people in need, Afsana subconsciously developed a sense of responsibility to serve underprivileged people.

After completing her BBA in finance and economics, Afsana did research and analysis for various large financial institutions in Bangladesh. Soon, however, she recognized that she wanted to do more and create a positive impact in the lives of under-served people through her work. In her pursuit of a socially impactful career, she left her corporate job to join an international nonprofit organization that helps marginalized and climate change-affected smallholder farmers fight poverty in Bangladesh. Afsana regards this move as constituting a pivotal moment in her career which reflected an urgency to advance social & environmental justice in the world.

After permanently relocating to the US, Afsana immersed herself in learning social & environmental justice issues and solutions, gained hands-on experience by working with social entrepreneurs, and consequently completed her MBA from Brandeis University in Waltham, MA. Before joining Adasina Social Capital, she worked as a senior analyst at a Boston-based racial equity-focused fund, where she conducted due diligence on startups and nonprofits aimed at creating wealth for people of color in the greater Boston area. She also worked as an investment analyst at a values-aligned wealth management firm, where she researched ESG strategies of publicly traded funds and conducted due diligence on social & environmental impact-focused small businesses, CDFIs, and other private investment vehicles.

As a Business Development Director at Adasina, Afsana is committed to advancing racial, gender, economic, and climate justice through her work, and to helping investors understand Adasina’s strategy and methodology.