Shikha Goyal
Meet Shikha, a venture partner at Imaginable Futures. She leads our strategy and investments across Africa.
Over the last 18 years, Shikha has worked across the development and private sectors. Prior to joining Imaginable Futures and Omidyar Network, she worked at the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF), where she led investment and management of programs to improve basic literacy and numeracy for children in India and Sub-Saharan Africa. She was responsible for a portfolio of over $60 million, including CIFF’s investment in Early Learning Partnership, a multi-donor trust fund with the World Bank, Educate Girls India, the world’s first education development impact bond as well as Tayari, a low -cost, early childhood education model across 1,500 schools in Kenya.
Before CIFF, Shikha was at Accenture advising European utilities on strategic due-diligence, operational improvement and regulatory strategy. She started her career as an R&D engineer in an energy meter manufacturing start-up in India.
Shikha is a board member for Innovation Edge and SPARK Schools and a board observer for SmartStart in South Africa. She is also on the steering committee for the Global Schools Forum.
Q+A
Why do you love coming to work?
I feel incredibly lucky to be able to spend my days meeting and working with people with a passion to make children, families and communities happy.
What lessons did you learn early in your career that you keep with you today?
Being a good listener is as or more important than being a good speaker.
What did you want to be when you grew up?
Between the ages of 7 and 10 I wanted to be a doctor and a seamstress.
Where is your happy place?
Home.
What’s the closest thing to real magic in this world?
A good hearty laugh (like Fabio’s).
If someone narrated your life, who would you want it to be?
My mother.
Sunrise or sunset?
Sunrise.
Favorite quote:
“If anything is worth doing, do it with all your heart.” – Buddha
What do you imagine or wish for the future?
Happy individuals and communities.
