Pritha Venkatachalam
Partner and Co-Head, Asia and Africa, MumbaiPritha is a partner and co-head, Asia and Africa, at Bridgespan. She also serves as the head of Bridgespan's India office. She has advised philanthropies and donors, governments, nonprofits, and the private sector across about 25 countries in South and Southeast Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa on strategy, business plans, results delivery, and operating models. Pritha also has extensive experience in public health.
At Bridgespan, Pritha has led and co-authored several reports such as:
- The Growing Momentum Behind Philanthropic Collaboratives in India
- Bridging the Gap on Funding the True Costs of NGOs in India
- Building Strong, Resilient NGOs in India: Time for New Funding Practices
- Building the Bench at Indian NGOs: Investing to Fill the Leadership Development Gap
- Bold Philanthropy in India; Philanthropic Collaboratives in India: The Power of Many
- Community Engagement to Tackle COVID-19 in the Slums of Mumbai
- When Urban Informal Settlement Communities Drive Their Own Change
- Philanthropy and the COVID-19 Response in India.
Pritha has also written extensively on social issues and philanthropy in mainstream and online media, including Stanford Social Innovation Review, IDR, The Hindu, Indian Express, Forbes, Mint, Scroll, among others.
Prior to Bridgespan, Pritha established and led the New Delhi office of Dalberg Global Development Advisors, where she co-led the Global Health and Nutrition practice. Previously, she served as a director and India office head at Cambridge Economic Policy Associates, UK, and earlier as a financial specialist at the World Bank.
Pritha holds a Master’s in Development Management from the London School of Economics and an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore, including an exchange program at Melbourne Business School. She is a recipient of the Citibank Leadership Award and the V-WA Award for Women Leaders in the Social Sector in India. Pritha serves on the board of AVPN and the advisory boards of Bahaar Foundation, India Leaders for Social Sector, and Social Alpha.