Greater Boston
Masrura Oishi brings together deep experience in impact investing, social innovation, and strategy. She has led efforts to develop outcome-driven impact strategy and frameworks, curating and managing communities of practice, investor networks and partners that accelerate social impact. She previously served as Senior Manager, IRIS+ Frameworks Development at the Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN), where she leads the creation of standardized outcomes and tailored impact measurement tools, metrics, and indicators for various theories of change across all SDGs, used by over 40,000 registered IRIS+ users. These users span asset owners, asset managers, development finance institutions (DFIs), philanthropies, nonprofits, and others engaged in impact investment and social impact. In this role, she also manages critical partnerships with global institutions and oversees cohorts of impact practitioners to drive adoption and advance the field of impact measurement and management. Prior to joining the GIIN, Oishi was Manager of Innovation Ecosystem and Partnerships at the BRAC Social Innovation Lab, where she supported multi-country innovation initiatives and launched BRAC’s first internal social business incubator offering seed funding for employee-led solutions. She also curated and managed cross-country partnerships, established BRAC’s inaugural Social Innovation Fellowship, and organized the flagship international conference, the ‘Frugal Innovation Forum.’ Oishi’s experience also includes research and toolkit development at MIT D-Lab, supporting social entrepreneurs in Kenya and India. Her graduate research focused on impact measurement practices in edtech investing in Kenya, further informing her approach to evidence-driven investing and inclusive innovation. She holds a Master’s degree from The Fletcher School at Tufts University, with a focus on Business for Social Impact and International Organizations, and a Bachelor of Science in Economics from North South University. Beyond her professional roles, Oishi is the Founder of Baak, an award-winning mentorship network empowering adolescent girls in Bangladesh. She is also an Advisor to Alokito Hridoy Foundation, a social enterprise transforming classroom experiences in underserved primary schools. Recognized as a Global Talent at UNLEASH 2018 under the SDG-4 track, her diverse career path also includes journalism, radio hosting, and education across different age groups.
UNLEASH is a global talent initiative that brings together top talent from all over the world to work on real, scalable solutions to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). UNLEASH will take place in Singapore from May 30 - June 6, 2018. Read more at www.unleash.org.
As the theme development lead for IRIS+ impact themes, I helped develop standardized outcomes and impact metrics to be used by 40,000+ registered IRIS+ users across all SDGs.
I lead development of new standardized IRIS+ impact frameworks and metrics across several SDGs. As part of the 14+ months long process to develop each theme, I manage partnership with theme partner(s) and key stakeholders in the Impact Investment ecosystem. I manage multiple working groups of 150-200 experts, coach a team of contributors to develop impact metrics aligned with the established IRIS+ data infrastructure and manage quality of the standardization process.
Baak (বাঁক) is a women led initiative that prepares adolescent girls in Bangladesh to access, utilize and sustain mentorship at critical turning points of their lives. We coach adolescent girls to build confidence, overcome imposter syndrome, develop self awareness, navigate self development and career goals- through mentorship. Our network of mentors include accomplished women based all over the world from diverse backgrounds, who broke several glass ceilings early on in their careers. Baak (বাঁক) follows an evidence based approach to one-on-one mentorship, by enabling adolescent girls (ages 10-19) to have a structured 12 week long interaction with mentors. We ensure each cohort of mentees is prepared, before they enter the mentorship experience, through an 8 week long pre-workshop that is designed to help create self awareness, set goals, priorities and expectations, as well as understand how they can lead the journey.
I teach a virtual 8 week course on Social Innovation that I designed, to 10-12 retired executives based in Massachusetts, aspiring to enter the space as social entrepreneurs and non-profit leaders. In the past we had guest speakers presenting from organizations like BRAC, Ashoka, M-Kopa etc. Course: Design for Social Innovation In this course we will discuss some of the thorniest global problems, along with some of the simple solutions that solve them at scale. In each session, we’ll discuss inspiring stories of social innovation from all over the world, and learn what kind of tools and approaches are being used to solve problems using local resources. For instance, we will look into alternative education in India, microfinance in Bangladesh, we’ll explore the expansion of financial inclusion in Kenya through fintech, we will look at the power of Lean Data and the crucial concept of failures. We’ll also talk about the conceptual space in which this kind of social innovation is happening at the intersection of development, capital, technology and behavioral design. Weekly readings will be provided between sessions, and for our final session, attendees will be invited to come prepared to present a social innovation story that resonate most with them. All classes are discussion based.