Manisha Mirchandani

Manisha Mirchandani is executive director at the Centre for Asian Philanthropy and Society (CAPS), a non-profit committed to maximizing private capital for public good across Asia. She leads the team to conduct research, advisory, convening and capacity building to engage philanthropists, foundations, family offices, corporates and governments on best practices, policies and strategies to facilitate private giving and social investment in Asia. She recently returned to CAPS where she was an early employee, collaborating closely with the CEO to develop breakthrough research on Asian philanthropy, including the Doing Good Index which evaluates the environment for directing private capital to the public good across 17 Asian economies. As former research and strategy lead at the Bloomberg Cities Insights Unit, her work informed philanthropic investments innovation in cities. Manisha also previously served as research director at FTI Consulting Asia, where she led the business intelligence function. Her field experience includes a major UNDP study on local governance in Myanmar, where she conducted over 200 interviews with local leaders throughout the country. At The Economist Group, she produced high-level dialogues between business and government leaders across Asia-Pacific and delivered bespoke economic and geopolitical research for Fortune 500 companies, governments, and multilateral institutions through the Economist Intelligence Unit in Hong Kong and New York. Born and raised in Hong Kong and conversant in Cantonese, Manisha holds master’s degrees from the London School of Economics and the University of Hong Kong.