Michelle Kurian '10
Michelle leverages her finance, startup, international development and management consulting experience to shift the African finance and agriculture landscape.
She is the co-founder of The Harvest Fund, a social business in the southern African nation of Zambia that provides flexible financing options and agricultural services to thousands of farmers. Prior to The Harvest Fund, she worked at a number of agricultural innovation firms, including Gates Ventures. She has led projects and technology development across Central America, South Asia, and Africa. Before transitioning her career to agriculture in the Global South, Michelle worked as a management consultant at Booz Allen Hamilton in Washington, DC, focused on data analytics and finance. She launched her career in tech in the early 2000s, working in her family’s IT firm. She brings a true breadth of sectoral, functional, and geographical experience to any business problem.
The Harvest Fund takes a culturally and socioeconomically appropriate approach to agricultural finance, particularly for farmers at the bottom of the pyramid. It embraces a unique, integrated business model and collaborates with the Zambian Government to improve national economic productivity via the agricultural sector. It will soon expand to neighboring southern African nations and diversify its portfolio to include a separate early stage venture capital fund for African startups.
She received an MBA from Columbia Business School and a BA in Economics from Duke University.
Michelle leverages her finance, startup, international development and management consulting experience to shift the African finance and agriculture landscape.
She is the co-founder of The Harvest Fund, a social business in the southern African nation of Zambia that provides flexible financing options and agricultural services to thousands of farmers. Prior to The Harvest Fund, she worked at a number of agricultural innovation firms, including Gates Ventures. She has led projects and technology development across Central America, South Asia, and Africa. Before transitioning her career to agriculture in the Global South, Michelle worked as a management consultant at Booz Allen Hamilton in Washington, DC, focused on data analytics and finance. She launched her career in tech in the early 2000s, working in her family’s IT firm. She brings a true breadth of sectoral, functional, and geographical experience to any business problem.
The Harvest Fund takes a culturally and socioeconomically appropriate approach to agricultural finance, particularly for farmers at the bottom of the pyramid. It embraces a unique, integrated business model and collaborates with the Zambian Government to improve national economic productivity via the agricultural sector. It will soon expand to neighboring southern African nations and diversify its portfolio to include a separate early stage venture capital fund for African startups.
She received an MBA from Columbia Business School and a BA in Economics from Duke University. She lives in San Francisco.