Sabina Bharwani
Sabina Bharwani is a seasoned finance professional and board director committed to building an equitable and sustainable world through supporting women leaders and underrepresented communities in Canada.
She is an independent consultant and impact investor in Canada and is passionate about investing in early stage impact ventures with a gender and diversity lens. Her key investment sectors are Agriculture, Climate and Sustainability, Education, Healthcare and Financial Services.
In her last role she worked in impact investing with International Development Enterprises (iDE) managing a global portfolio of investments in Agriculture, WASH and Financial Inclusion. She also worked with Kiva in the impact investment team for Africa.
Sabina serves as the Treasurer on the board of the Canadian Forum for Impact Investment and Development (CAFIID). She is also a board member and FAR (Finance, Audit, Risk) committee member at the Equality Fund.
Prior to her board service career, Sabina held leadership positions at Sara Global Consulting, Kiva, Barclays Investment Bank, HSBC, and KPMG LLP, specialising in risk management, investment banking, financial consulting and impact investing.
Sabina holds a Master of Business Administration(MBA) from the Brisbane Graduate school of Business in Australia. She is a Certified Financial Planner(CFP), Financial Risk Manager (FRM) and certified in Sustainability and Climate Risk (SCR).
Voting Member: Sabina Bharwani
Member since 2025
Building Impact Leaders
May 2026
How have you engaged with CAFIID?
I have engaged with CAFIID over the last 5 years in a variety of ways. I was the Co-chair of the Membership Engagement committee and then joined the board as the treasurer and now as a board director and coordinator for the Gender Lens Investing and Climate Finance communities of Practice.
How has CAFIID supported your professional journey and growth?
CAFIID has supported my professional journey by giving me access to mentorship, peer learning, and a strong community of impact investing professionals globally. Through its events and community of practice sessions, I’ve been able to deepen my knowledge, clarify my career direction, and build meaningful networks that have strengthened my professional growth. It has also opened up new opportunities for me.
Can you share a meaningful connection or key lesson learned through CAFIID?
CAFIID as a network based organization is an amazing community of professionals, I have had the opportunity to get to know current colleagues, thought leaders in the impact investing space and young professionals through my volunteer work. It also acts as a support group where we can bring our knowledge and skills but also learn how others are navigating uncertainty and working through impactful solutions to achieve the SDG goals through meaningful partnerships.
What motivates you to stay involved with CAFIID?
As a professional working in the innovative finance space CAFIID connects me to a community of people who are serious about impact, learning, and collaboration. It’s a space where I can keep growing professionally while contributing to conversations that advance inclusive and practical solutions and keeps me up to date with ideas and solutions that are working and those that are not. I also always find ways to connect the domestic and international impact investing ecosystems for learning and collaboration. CAFIID has also given me numerous opportunities to grow as a leader, thought partner and support others working/looking to enter the area of impact investing.
What advice would you give others to support their professional growth in impact investing?
My advice would be to find opportunities through CAFIID and other networks to learn and grow in the space through volunteer work, joining non profit boards, getting involved in projects, consulting assignments and internships. The global Impact investing market has experienced significant growth and has now crossed the $1.5 trillion mark along with an average annual growth rate of 21%, creating numerous career pathways even though it is facing short to medium term shocks. If you have an expertise in a certain area whether it is gender, climate, impact measurement, investments etc always find ways to contribute to growing the field, give back to the community and continue to innovate in your work to create positive impact.