ROSTAM ZAFARI

Rostam Zafari is an Iranian-American investor, storyteller, and social-impact entrepreneur who serves as chief executive of World Within, a nonprofit

investment and media collective that funds and spotlights models that build wealth in marginalized communities.

He is also chief investment officer for Sage Hill Investors, where he has steered more than 150 purpose-driven equity, real-estate, and venture investments across five continents, and co-founded Nimruz, a cultural initiative advancing art, education, and solidarity in the global Iranian diaspora.

Trained as a poet and social-enterprise scholar, Zafari earned his B.A. and a Master's in Development Practice at Emory University, grounding his finance work in human-centered design and narrative.

He first gained national attention at 18 by co-inventing Rapid Ebola Detection Strips (REDS), a breakthrough honored with the 2015 Cyrus Prize, and later co-founded the tutoring platform Mystro while still an undergraduate.

Today, Zafari leverages capital, film, and community partnerships to reimagine broken systems and scale solutions that unlock opportunity for overlooked people and places.