At Prosperity Catalyst, we rely on the talent of numerous volunteers to help advance our mission. We are always grateful for their support and continue to be amazed by their contributions.

Prapti Sherchan is one such volunteer, and we are proud to have her as part of our community. She has been instrumental in the design and launch of our new website, as well as helping us enhance our communications strategy.

We thought you should meet her too! Below she shares her unique journey and explains why she is so dedicated to Prosperity Catalyst.

What drew you to volunteering with Prosperity Catalyst?

I first came to know about Siiri Morley and Prosperity Candle, Catalyst’s sister organization, while I was a graduate student at the Heller School of Social Policy, Brandeis University. Siiri Morley had been invited as a panelist to one of the Heller Net Impact talks on social entrepreneurship. I managed to hear Siiri speak about her interest in empowering women to become business leaders, which resonated deeply with my interest in women’s social and economic empowerment.

Then in early 2013, I learnt about the communications internship opportunity with Prosperity Catalyst from the Heller career office. I was immediately attracted to this newly established nonprofit’s model, which focuses on micro enterprises and has an international development component that focuses solely on women. Having had many years of experience in communications and marketing, I felt my expertise would be invaluable for a start-up nonprofit. I also had some free time as I had just graduated and was looking for jobs in the international development field. It was a month after I started my internship with Prosperity Catalyst that I decided to move to Washington, DC to start work with the World Bank Group. I enjoyed my involvement with Prosperity Catalyst enough to want to continue supporting from DC.

What started as a six month long internship has turned into a year and half of part time volunteer work/ consultancy with Prosperity Catalyst. During this time, I have had the opportunity to be involved with Catalyst’s various processes during its nascent stage. I am really proud to have been involved and to have been able to witness the growth in staff strength and programs.

How do you see Prosperity Catalyst as different from other social entrepreneurship nonprofits?

I appreciate that Prosperity Catalyst provides women, who would not have had opportunity otherwise, the possibility to be independent and empowered through its apprentice entrepreneur program. I like that it doesn’t focus on providing handouts but offers women the necessary skills, training and market access for these women to become successful entrepreneurs.

In many nonprofits, I have noticed that staff members do most of the job while boards are just there to fulfill advisory roles. I have come to realize and appreciate that the next best part about Prosperity Catalyst is the “community feel.” The board members and the community of women believe strongly in the mission and are very involved with Prosperity Catalyst’s work. I have had the privilege of working with some amazing board members, catalyzers and volunteers who are giving so much of their time and effort towards a common goal, and I think this solidarity is Prosperity Catalyst’s USP [unique selling point] and what makes it so successful.

At Heller, I learnt the importance of friendraising for fundraising, and Siiri has managed to translate this from theory to practice by successfully engaging board, donors and volunteers.

What are the ways in which you’ve supported the work of Prosperity Catalyst as a volunteer?

I started my internship with website management, blogging, designing flyers, managing social media presence and live-tweeting from the Women in the World Conference 2013! I enjoyed working with Siiri, Linda, Andrea and Aviva on the strategic planning process, which was an interesting process in itself; we spent half a day – with me on the phone – identifying words that represented Prosperity Catalyst.

Since October 2013, I have been mostly involved with the website redesign and development. This process followed the strategic planning process, which guided us on the look and feel of the website. While the thought process began last October, chunks of website development work happened this year with the help of the Catalyst team (Siiri and Stephanie), Linda Strohmeyer, and Lisa Herling.

How did you feel when the website launched?

It’s exciting to be able to have a final product for all to see. The best feeling is to realize that I was able to deliver on the promise despite my busy schedule with work and all other commitments.

What is your background?

Originally from Nepal, I spent the last decade living and working in different countries in Africa and Asia before moving to the United States.

I received an MBA degree with a concentration in sustainable development from the Heller School of Social Policy and Management, Brandeis University. I currently work at the IFC which is part of the World Bank Group. IFC is the largest private sector development institution focused on international development through the championing of private sector growth in the developing countries. What attracts me to IFC, and I find relevant to my interest and background, is its focus on providing access to finance and supporting the bottom of the pyramid markets.

I have been interested in women’s rights issues since I was very young. In the cities have lived in, I have tried to be more involved with organizations that work towards empowering women in order to understand the role and status of women in the local context. These experiences have helped me see that women in different parts of the world are undergoing different types of struggles, and no struggle should be considered insignificant: be it right to education or fight against work place discrimination and such.

What do you hope to be doing in 5 years professionally?

I hope to be involved with more women related projects at work and continue to volunteer with organizations that work towards empowering women. I hope to continue working and directly supporting women in developing countries especially in Nepal and South Asia, and hopefully I will be able to transfer my experiences from education and work to benefit other women who need my help and support.

We thank Prapti for all that she’s done!