Though we worked in the same field and lived in the same region, I only got to see Leila in person once, when she was the keynote speaker at the Global Social Venture Competition in 2018. There were several things that stood out from that talk, but oddly what I remember the most was her beginning by saying she had lost this same competition years ago when she was just starting out.

“What I always tell entrepreneurs,” she said, “is that ‘failure is a temporary state. It is not a permanent condition.’” She had come a hell of a long way since then.

But now she’s gone.

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