Entrepreneur of the Year Award
Seema Hingorani
Firm: Girls Who Invest
Seema Hingorani made a startling discovery while serving as chief investment officer for the City of New York. After serving for hedge funds for 15 years, including running her own fund, the public sector called to her. While looking for the best investments for the pensions of 700,000 NYC teachers, police officers and firefighters, she had a question for the investment firms that would meet with her.
I would go through the organizational charts and say, Guys, where are the women on your investment teams?
She received the same response: a lack of resumes. I agree that that is a big part of the problem, but there has to be more to it, she said.
Hingorani got to work. Last year she wrote an op-ed proposing a program to inspire young women to join Wall Street. The response was immediate–she received scores of offers to help build what would become Girls Who Invest.
Interestingly, Hingoranis biggest challenge was recruiting young college students. After the market collapse, the scandals, Occupy Wall Street and the notion of the 1 percent as the enemy, Hingorani had to sell a career in asset management.
She visited college campuses where she asked female students if they considered investment a noble profession. Nobody raised their hand. The Millennials dont want to make a lot of money; they want to make an impact, she explained.
Hingorani then asked who was investing in affordable housing, startups like Facebook and Instagram, alternative energies and clean water. The students were sold.
Girls Who Invest is a series of college seminars that combines lectures on the capital markets with internships at major firms. Hingorani plans to expand to the West Coast next year.
Even if they dont want to go into this career, I want them to get involved in their own lives, manage their own money and be financially secure, she said.
