Laina Raveendran Greene is the founder of Angels of Impact (est. 2016), a social enterprise working at the intersection of capital, community, and gender equity. Laina champions restorative investing models that prioritize shared power and sustainable livelihoods to address systemic funding gaps faced by women and Indigenous-led enterprises. Drawing on her background as an Edmund Hillary Fellow, Senior Adjunct Lecturer at the National University of Singapore Business School, former Board member of Inclusive Capital Collective and former Head of the Restorative Investing Task Force at the American Sustainability Network, Laina brings extensive experience and insight to her work. Currently based in Auckland, Laina has been supporting women entrepreneurs in Aotearoa for 5 years now.
1. What led you to found Angels of Impact?
My path was shaped by my upbringing of service (my parents both did lots of charity work) and rooted in the Vedanta philosophy of seva and the Baha’i Faith philosophy of being a servant of humanity. Also my lived experience facing the “double glass ceiling” as a woman and of colour, especially when I was successful tech founder in the 90s, I realized the financial system for women was broken. Later, living in Indonesia, I saw this inequity magnified: women entrepreneurs were stuck in a “missing middle”, ie too big for microfinance but too small for traditional investors. At the same time, I also saw first hand how women were the key agents of solving these social and environmental issues through innovative business models yet undervalued and under resourced.
Even impact investing didn’t fill this gap, and we now know that despite trillions spent in impact investing flowing, little capital reached women who are making a real community impact. Inspired by Muhammad Yunus and the Monitor Group’s research on this funding gap, I decided to act. I started by investing my own money into these “missing middle” enterprises. Friends soon asked to join, and together with 11 other philanthropic investors into an Evergreen Fund, we created Angels of Impact to elevate women as powerful agents of change.
(Part of this story is captured in my 2016 TEDx talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuepOWFAszo)
2. Your mission is to “end poverty in unity with women.” What type of leadership is needed to create long-term social transformation?
The leadership we need is not heroic but instead is relational and restorative. I call it Accompaniment.
Long-term transformation doesn’t come from a “white knight” swooping in to save the day; it comes from walking in unity with communities so they have ownership over their futures. This requires humility, deep listening, and a spirit of service.
My approach is molded by Indigenous wisdom and mentors like Dinny Jusuf (Toraja Melo), Jaime Gloshay and Vanessa Roanhorse (Native Women Lead), and Nwamaka Agbo (Kataly Foundation), who exemplified this type of leadership as they work to move the needle from extractive financial systems to Relationship based lending and Restorative Investing.
People living in poverty don’t need saving; necessity has made them resilient and innovative (necessity is the mother of invention). It is time we see women not as beneficiaries or victims, but instead as resilient resource integrators navigating patriarchal systems designed to punish rather than support them. True accompaniment leadership shares power and understands that this work is not just financial, but instead it is deeply emotional, historical, and systemic.
3. What have been the biggest challenges you have faced as a founder?
One of the most difficult challenges I face is overcoming the cognitive dissonance between charitable giving, investing in good and impact investing. When Impact investing started promising we can “do good and do well”, it was then reduced to yet another “asset class” with impact as a side dish. If we want a better world, we must mindfully invest in the businesses actually creating a more just and regenerative world (which was the original intention of impact investing).
We see trillions of dollars streaming into impact investing with no fundamental systems change because the capital chases hyped-up returns and scale rather than flowing to the businesses, communities, and women making a real impact.
I often feel I am bridging two disparate worlds. I have to explain why philanthropic dollars should not chase impact investing but instead play a key role in restorative investing. This requires patience, and moving away from maximizing profit from money alone but instead remember that money was supposed to be about an exchange and creation of real value. To overcome systemic injustices, we need to change mindsets to use capital to heal communities rather than extract from them. It is exhausting to explain systemic injustices that people have come to accept as the norm and show the value of “messy” human impact, such as social justice and inclusion, to a world obsessed with clean, short-term efficiency and maximization of profits. This is the biggest challenge I face raising funds to increase the impact of our work.
4. What has been your biggest success to date?
For me, success is witnessing women elevated to confident leaders of their business and see them growing their impact. It is seeing women move from survival or stability to growth and flourishing with a wider impact footprint. Perhaps the greatest success of our model is seeing a 100% repayment rate on our Evergreen Fund over the last 10 years since we customize loan terms and accompany it with technical assistance. This enables us to avoid burdening women with extractive terms and they get to focus on propelling their dreams forward. We have been nicknamed “Dream Propellors” by the women we have elevated, a term we take with pride.
A powerful example is Color Silk in Cambodia, founded by Vanntha Ngorn a daughter of a rural weaver, who now impacts several hundreds of women weavers in her village. When we began working with her, she was stuck in the “missing middle” and overlooked by traditional capital sources. Through our capacity-building support and two rounds of our low-cost loans, she has achieved financial independence and expanded her business. She is increasing her impact by creating ever more dignified and prosperous livelihoods in rural areas, and she has prevented the forced migration that often leads to trafficking and exploitation. She has proven that Restorative Investing works. She remind us that our work isn’t just “funding enterprises”; it is about shifting power, restoring dignity, and creating a world without poverty in unity with women
5. What advice would you give to a university student wanting to start a social enterprise?
- Start close to the problem, but closer to the people. Don’t approach this with the arrogance of “saving” the poor; approach it with the humility of serving them. Respect lived wisdom and recognize that communities are resilient resource integrators who need partners, not rescuers.
- Don’t fall in love with your solution; fall in love with learning .Dinny Jusuf of Toraja Melo taught me that women don’t need “empowering as they are already powerful; we just need to remove the systemic barriers blocking them. If you are too attached to your initial idea, you will miss the real systemic gaps that actually need filling.
- Don’t do it alone—build a community of unity. Swimming upstream against profit-maximizing systems is lonely. Find mentors and peers who share your values. I could not have started Angels of Impact without the friends who joined me when I simply asked. You need people to remind you that we are creating a world more just and regenerative world.
- Be patient with the system, but impatient with injustice. Restorative Investing is “messy” work that values human dignity over efficiency. Every time you choose dignity over extraction and partnership over ego, you are building something that lasts. Remember, we aren’t just building businesses; we are replacing an extractive system with one that heals people and the planet.
Reflective question: what is one thing you would like to see change to address poverty in your community?
Recent Comments