As the funding landscape for social ventures continues to evolve, mobilizing capital today requires more than compelling storytelling, it demands strategic fluency across a growing mix of financial instruments and incentives.

The Social Innovation and Change Initiative (SICI) is delighted to host Dr. Mohamed Aburawi (‘20 MC/MPA, SICI Visiting Social Innovator), Founder and Managing Partner at Atarona Ventures, and Co-founder of Speetar and Academia, for an interactive session on how to broaden your definition of capital and position your venture for both funding and long-term impact.

Drawing from over a decade of experience building and scaling ventures across health, education, and technology, Mohamed will share a mini case study on his approach to attract sustainable, blended finance for the ventures he works with, combining philanthropic, public, and private capital to de-risk innovation.

Participants will explore:

• How capital stacking can help ventures scale sustainably.
  
• The role of catalytic and patient capital in enabling innovation and systems-level change.
  
• How philanthropic venture building is reshaping early-stage funding by blending donor intent with investment discipline.
  
• Practical frameworks to identify and engage funders across philanthropic, public, and private sectors.

This session will challenge participants to move beyond traditional fundraising and think like capital architects, understanding how to design, combine, and align resources to advance social impact at scale. This session is designed for students or innovators actively developing social ventures and seeking to strengthen their ability to mobilize capital.