Location: São Paulo, Brazil 
Village Capital Partner: Artemisia
Village Capital Investee: Quadrado Mágico (http://www.qmagico.com.br/)
Elma is originally from Lithuania, where she received her undergraduate degree in Psychology from Vytautas Magnus University. Before enrolling in the Masters of Arts in International Policy Studies with a concentration in Trade, Investment, and Development at MIIS, she participated in academic exchange programs in Portugal, Kosovo and Macedonia, and worked for 6 years in fields ranging from development program management to literary and journalistic translation.
While at MIIS, Elma took part in a grassroots development project in the Sacred Valley of Perú in the summer of 2011, where she collaborated with a field team toward cultivation of an NGO network to promote collaborative and consistent development efforts in the region. In the fall, she volunteered as an FMS virtual scout to provide support for the field scout in Brazil, and worked as a graduate assistant for public policy and data analysis at the school.
As a Frontier Market Scout, Elma will spend six months providing operational support to Quadrado Mágico, a Village Capital investee that works to provide technological solutions to aid Brazil’s struggling public education system. Together with FMS Scout Hallie McCormick, Elma will also work with Artemisia, a social business incubator par excellence, to expand the organization’s ties with actors outside of Brazil and further develop their Village Capital program. As a student of international development Elma has witnessed the struggle typical of many NGOs as they live ‘donation to donation,’ and believes that by combining social initiatives with a sound business model approach significant social change can not only be achieved but also sustained.