Anjali Pradhan, BComm 03, left Montreal to build an investment management career in London, England, with nothing but her Concordia degree and a hockey bag full of belongings.
Already feeling confident working in finance thanks to her undergraduate Co-op placements, she quickly rose through the ranks at some of the biggest names in the industry, including Goldman Sachs and PIMCO. However, when she learned that women are twice as likely to be in poverty at retirement as men, that sobering statistic sparked a fundamental shift in how she envisioned using her financial expertise.
“When women feel confident investing, it changes everything. Not only their relationship with money, but also how they live their lives,” says Pradhan.
In the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, Pradhan returned home to Montreal a Chartered Financial Analyst with an impressive resumé. She sent out hundreds of applications and attended dozens of interviews across the country, but could no longer find a position she felt passionate about.
“The financial industry is still very much a boys’ club and it’s a white boys’ club at that. I’m neither of those things,” says Pradhan. “I had two choices, I could either abandon the industry altogether, or I could recycle my career and do something different. I always wanted to use my skills to help other people, so a friend suggested I teach women how to invest.”
Pradhan founded Dahlia Wealth, an online platform that gives women the tools and confidence to make the best financial decisions for themselves.
“What I hear over and over again from women that I work with is that they can’t find a financial advisor they connect with and they don’t feel comfortable and happy with the products they are being offered,” she says. “The lack of service geared toward women’s needs results in women investing half as much as men do, which is a real societal issue.”
Dahlia’s flagship product is an online coaching program, where students can go through the curriculum at their own pace and have a weekly video chat session with Pradhan. She says she felt inspired by the fact that Concordia professors were usually experienced financial professionals; something she can now offer to her students.
“In business, you want to be taught by people who are ‘in the trenches’ and Concordia has many of those,” she says. “My transition from a corporate employee to an entrepreneur has been extremely interesting and edifying. It has been almost like a second education.”