Aparna Dua is a Partner at The Blended Finance Company (TBFC), where she has played a pivotal role in designing and launching the ASPYRE facility, which enables students from low-income households to access skill loans for aspirational skilling courses. She has also led the design of blended finance and outcomes-based structures to scale climate-smart agriculture for smallholder farmers.

Before co-founding TBFC, Aparna headed the think tank at Asha Impact, where she established the organisation’s blended finance practice, including designing India’s first Social Impact Bond and other innovative structures in livelihoods. Under her leadership, Asha emerged as a leading voice in outcomes-based financing (OBF), driving national dialogues on the Social Stock Exchange and advocating for CSR funds for OBF in partnership with UNDP, USAID, and other industry bodies. She co-authored influential reports on impact investing and blended finance in India, and has been a consistent advocate for mobilising more capital into the space. Aparna has also consulted for the Delhi Government on setting up the State Skilling and Entrepreneurship University, and helped establish Innovation Mission Punjab, a public–private partnership with the Punjab Government to strengthen the state’s entrepreneurship ecosystem.

Earlier in her career, Aparna was with the Boston Consulting Group, working across sectors to improve development outcomes, particularly in education. She serves on the Advisory Council at the Centre for Innovative Finance at ISDM and on the Investment Committee for the Startup India Seed Fund at the Indian School of Business. She has been part of the Impact Investors Council’s Blended Finance Committee and served as co-chair of the ANDE India Lab on SGB Finance.

Aparna began her career on Wall Street as an investment banker at Credit Suisse. She holds an MBA from INSEAD and a BA in Mathematics and Economics from Carleton College.