My journey into the world of impact measurement

It started in childhood, with my upbringing in Botswana by expat parents. My father was working on the economic development desk at the European Commission; my mother, in consular services at the British Embassy. My sister and I played in the dirt among the seemingly endless fruit trees of our garden, on the one hand, privileged and sheltered; on the other, exposed from an early age to the ravages of poverty and the challenges faced by developing countries. 

On graduating from university in London, I worked for a while in an admin job at a research institute. The perks included sweet, gentle colleagues, a fabulous historical building complete with wood-panelled library, and the charming milieu of kindly academics in tweed bustling around writing papers and giving seminars on - admittedly, niche - but fascinating topics. 

I found myself at the reception after one such seminar, reflecting on the likelihood that, were I a fictional character in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, I would probably find myself on Golgafrinchan Ark Ship B, cast out from society along with the brokers and paper-pushers and busy-makers who didn't really *add* anything to the planet Golgafrincham, and thus were cast out. I resolved to take a leap, to find a way to apply myself to creating some kind of meaningful impact in the world.