Staff

Ankita Das is Development Manager, India at EMpower – The Emerging Markets Foundation, leading the organisation’s fundraising efforts in the Indian market and bringing vital philanthropic resources to advance EMpower’s mission. She began her career as an engineer, but her most valuable lessons came from a classroom while teaching tenth-grade students during the Teach For India Fellowship. One student once told her, “I can memorise really well—but I don’t have any questions, because I’ve never learned how to ask them.” That moment crystallised for Ankita a truth that continues to guide her work—systems don’t change unless we challenge them.

Over the past decade, she has worked with impact-driven organisations, building strategic partnerships, raising philanthropic capital, and developing solutions that are scalable, measurable, and grounded in community realities. At The/Nudge Institute, she expanded corporate partnerships, secured long-term commitments, improved donor engagement, and strengthened programme efficiency. Her work has consistently focused on amplifying the visibility, voice, and resources of those who cannot always speak for themselves or reach decision-making spaces.

Ankita holds a Master’s in Sustainable Innovation & Entrepreneurship from Antwerp Management School, where she deepened her expertise in integrating sustainability into business strategy—not as an afterthought, but as a core driver of impact. She believes that building strong foundations for change takes time, trust, and sustained effort, and she is committed to ensuring that social programmes deliver both immediate and long-term outcomes.

At EMpower, she builds deep, lasting relationships with philanthropic partners to fuel long-term impact, while amplifying the leadership and potential of young people. Guided by the conviction that small, intentional actions create ripples of enduring change, she focuses on collaborations that not only ask “what now?” but also “what next?”—planning not just for the next quarter, but for the next generation.

Outside of work, Ankita is a trained Bharatanatyam dancer and an enthusiastic home chef. She loves experimenting with dishes from around the world, though she is most often found perfecting classic Indian recipes.