Rafia Qureshi

MANAGING DIRECTOR, EMEA & ASIA

Rafia Qureshi is a seasoned leader in philanthropy and innovative finance, with a proven 20 year track record of driving systemic change across key stakeholders: corporate, foundation, investment and non-profits.

Her expertise spans the full investment lifecycle—from structuring catalytic capital strategies to managing multi-million-dollar social impact portfolios. She has worked with development finance institutions, foundations, and social enterprises to align capital with impact.

As CEO of The Womanity Foundation, she repositioned the organization as a leader in gender-lens investing, integrating venture philanthropy and social investment into its funding model.

Rafia spent a majority of her career at JPMorgan Chase. There, she jointly oversaw $250M annually in social investments through the investment bank’s Foundation across Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA). She expanded the firm’s corporate social investment portfolio across 12 emerging markets, spearheading high-profile partnerships with the Gates Foundation and other global stakeholders.

She then deepened her investment expertise at Gatsby Charitable Foundation, where she evaluated investments such as the $25M African Agricultural Capital Fund. Her early experience in venture capital at DN Capital and Dow Jones Venture One further honed her skills in investment analysis, fundraising, and investor relations.

At LEBEC and LEBEC Capital Partners, Rafia leads on strategy in EMEA and Asia, client relationships, investor engagement and relations, and capital mobilization efforts. This includes overseeing performance communication and market positioning and branding.

Fluent in multiple languages and holding degrees from the London School of Economics and 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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