Rafia has spent the last 20 years as a multi-lingual, multi-sector leader in philanthropy and impact investment.

After working in venture capital at Dow Jones VentureOne and a start-up firm investing in digital media and software companies, Rafia spent a majority of her career at JPMorgan Chase. There, she jointly oversaw $250 million annually in social investment through the investment bank’s Foundation across Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA). Most recently, Rafia was the CEO of the Womanity Foundation, a Swiss family foundation focusing on gender equality across emerging markets. As a founding member of Lebec, Rafia leads the firm’s strategic growth in Europe and supports Lebec’s client portfolio with her extensive expertise in catalytic philanthropy and impact investment.

Rafia holds a Master of Science in Population and Development from the London School of Economics with Merit, and a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations and Business Administration (cum laude) from Boston University.

Rafia sees herself as a citizen of the world, having lived in Turkey, China, Uganda, the U.S., and the U.K. She currently resides between Munich and London with her husband and two children. She is fluent in English, Urdu, and French; proficient in Turkish and Mandarin; and is currently learning German. Her happy place is in a hammock on a beach with all the books she doesn’t have time to read.

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