Rabo Garba approached an MBA with the aim of gaining the finance experience that could take his engineering career from the plateau he had reached to a higher-level one that, he says, “would allow me to make decisions that more directly affected the business.”

Because he and his family already lived in Nashville, where they had a network of friends and relatives, Vanderbilt seemed a logical place to visit. After he did so, his career goals shifted.

“I liked the smaller class sizes and focus on collaboration,” Rabo says. “But the biggest draw for me was the Turner Family Center,” a student-led organization that focuses on social enterprise. “I think solving social issues such as poverty through market forces is a great way to have a lasting impact. I knew I had to be involved with the organization.

“When applying to grad school, I was interested in entrepreneurship and energy, but I didn’t know exactly what that meant. Since coming here, I have realized that my interest is in impact investing and supporting entrepreneurs looking to solve social problems through innovative businesses.”

The Owen team has helped Rabo orient his career in that direction. Early on, he says, he received the opportunity to lead an impact investing team through the Turner Family Center. For his second year, he will be the impacting investing chairperson for the center. Pitching a business idea to investors as part of his Launching the Venture class was not only “eye-opening,” he says, but a practical experience that will serve him in the next phrase of his redirected career.

After an internship in New York with Uncharted Power, an organization that works to provide communities with energy that is both clean and low cost, Rabo was well on his way toward his goals.

Fun Fact: Rabo, a married father of three, paradoxically loves soccer but hates running.

“I think solving social issues such as poverty through market forces is a great way to have a lasting impact. I knew I had to be involved.”