SheLeads: Saleema Vellani

In the middle of the 2008 global financial crisis, Saleema Vellani graduated from McGill University with her Bachelor’s degree in International Development. Knowing that it would be difficult to find employment, her first instinct was “to go somewhere to volunteer.” Setting her sights on an orphanage in Brazil, little did she know that its director had alternate plans to maximize her reach and impact.

Aware of Saleema’s academic expertise, her fluency in English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and Italian, he recognized the potential of her impact long before she did. At 21, in order to help finance both the orphanage and social development programs, Saleema co-founded, and launched, what is now Brazil’s largest and top-rated language school. Later, she co-founded a leading online translation agency in Italy, helping companies to expand their digital presence globally. For Saleema, “helping emerging market economies and upskilling local talent is one and the same,” so the space of social entrepreneurship naturally aligned with her values. To further her knowledge and expertise, Saleema went on to obtain her Master’s degree in International Economics and International Relations from Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies.

Founder and CEO, award-winning author, keynote speaker, researcher, and adjunct professor, the secret to Saleema’s worldwide success isn’t something she keeps under her hat(s). In fact, one of the first pieces of advice she gives to anyone interested in social entrepreneurship is “Don’t do it alone. You may think you can wear all the hats yourself . . . but when you have a good team behind you—even if it starts with an executive assistant, marketing associate, and graphic designer—everything changes.” For Saleema, the global team of experts she has assembled at Ripple Impact, a startup that empowers clients to transition from vision to strategy, is “one of the best things” that could ever have happened to her business, in that the solutions she and her team can offer their clients are developed from a multiplicity of perspectives rather than a singular lens. In addition to supporting larger organizations, Saleema and her team help budding entrepreneurs to follow their dreams and reach their potential.

Saleema’s own journey to entrepreneurship has been guided by “some pretty hard lessons,” such as “knowing yourself through the lens of other people.” Recognizing the value of sharing these lessons, and the stories behind them, in 2021, Saleema published Innovation Starts With I, a means of further supporting entrepreneurs through “easy-to-use tools and frameworks that don’t require extensive prior knowledge.” In addition to her Amazon Best Seller, Saleema has co-authored several publications in international development and regularly contributes to Forbes. As an Adjunct Professor of Social Entrepreneurship at University Startups, a teacher in Design Thinking and Entrepreneurship at Johns Hopkins University, and a frequent guest lecturer at various business schools, Saleema also shares her lessons in the classroom space.

Despite Saleema’s growing list of accolades and accomplishments, the ripple effect of her leadership is most apparent not in what she herself has achieved, but rather, in what she has helped others to achieve. Saleema is a leader who embodies the notion of social conscience in Islam, a concept best described by Mawlana Hazar Imam: “The premise that Islam works on is not just helping, but helping to render the individual capable of governing his or her destiny. You are not just helping them away from poverty, you are giving them the means to propel themselves and their families into their future, in ways which they control.” Saleema is thus paving the way for generations of entrepreneurs to maximize their reach and impact.