The journey to tackling India’s hidden epidemic

What happens when a natural skeptic with a law degree discovers development economics? Today, we're excited to share Tony Senanayake's story: how a casual application to Deloitte led to six years across three cities, learning hard lessons about professional relationships and leadership—and how the death of a close friend sparked a complete career pivot into development economics, eventually landing him as CEO of Fortify Health, an India-based nonprofit tackling anemia at scale through wheat flour fortification.

Tony, tell us a bit about yourself!

I live in Delhi and have been here for about four years now. I enjoy the outdoors—trail running, long-distance running in particular—and philosophy and ethics. I'm a data person, so I had a very circuitous journey. I was born and raised in Australia with parents from Sri Lanka. I did consulting, got an MBA and Master's of Law, then joined a company called ID Insight where I helped with development projects by tracking how well they're working and measuring their results. About three years ago, I shifted to where I'm working now—a nonprofit called Fortify Health.

What brought you to Deloitte?

My journey there wasn't proactive at all. I studied law and finance at university and spent every summer backpacking around Europe. No internships—I wasn't career-minded at the time. At the end of my five-year degree, all my mates were applying to Big Four firms and consulting companies, so I threw my name in the hat and got offers from PwC and Deloitte. Deloitte paid a bit more and would move me to Sydney from Brisbane. I'd love to say there was real thoughtfulness behind it, but honestly, it was just good pay and a chance to move to a new city. That seemed exciting to 21-year-old me.

So you were pretty young when you started.

Yeah, 21. In Australia, you typically live at home through university, so this was my chance to leave home for the first time. It was decent pay, I'd heard of Deloitte, and it seemed like a good place to work. But I really wasn't thinking long-term about my career.

What did you learn during consulting?

I had three phases at Deloitte: Sydney, Boston, and New York. The first two years were personal growth, learning to work professionally and communicate with clients and colleagues. I had intellectual hubris; in the past, I'd always been able to fly by with my brain, and things would work themselves out. But Deloitte required more than book smarts. I needed empathy, relationship building. I got tough feedback in my first year and had to learn my role, starting at the bottom: if a slide deck needs to get done, that's my job – spending the extra time, making it zero defects before passing it on. I had to build a work ethic, a zero-defect mindset, and learn how to build relationships in a professional environment.

In Boston, a lot of my colleagues left the firm simultaneously, and I had some tough client engagements as well, including a case that went to court. And so in that environment, I had learn how to lead projects and teams independently. At that same time, a good friend from Deloitte passed away. Those were the toughest years. 

Afterwards, it was a big time for me to reflect on my career and what I wanted to do moving forward. I moved to New York, got promoted to manager, but started thinking more about my career. My friend's passing prompted me to pick up Poor Economics and learn about development economics. I'd never thought about impact before. Career had always meant earning an income and being comfortable. Coming from a migrant family, financial security was crucial. Something my parents didn't have for many years was just financial security. Even the privilege of thinking about a career from an impact lens is not something my parents had. It was a mindset shift: I could think about my career beyond just the financials and the external validity of titles, roles, and locations.

What was it about development economics that captured your attention?

My parents came from Sri Lanka, and I'd see all this charity happening there that wasn't changing lives –not my extended family's lives! To me, the non-profit sector seemed like a lot of pat-yourself-on-the-back do-gooding. I thought it was a bunch of BS. I still think a lot of it is BS, frankly.

But development economics was steeped in science, rigor, and pragmatism. Doing good with data, willingness to say when something doesn't work, and pivot. Really putting impact first and measuring it honestly. That resonated with me as a data-focused, natural skeptic who had studied law.

Why leave consulting for Fortify Health?

Consulting has this depth versus breadth challenge. "The slide deck looked really good. And then what?" I had lots of breadth but was hungry for implementation—what happens when I try to drive impact directly? 

Fortify's CEO reached out—they'd received a large GiveWell grant and needed someone to take the organization to the next level. Three things fascinated me: First, the problem was clear—anemia in India is massive, backed by administrative data. Second, I believed in the intervention—wheat flour fortification has multiple meta-analyses backing it. Simple, widely understood. Third, the impact came from scaling implementation, where I thought I had a comparative advantage.

The funding was there, the problem clear, the solution proven. Could I help build a team to scale it? Really unique opportunity.

How have you liked it?

I love it. I love it. I think more so than anything else is the constant challenge, the learning and development that comes in a role like this, because the organization itself is adapting and changing constantly. It requires me to adapt and change as well. So the challenges I'm facing today are going to be vastly different from whatever comes next year, simply because I'm in an organization that is still relatively small, and adapting to environments that are changing rapidly.

When I came in, I focused on strategy. Then operations and systems. Now, HR and leadership team building! It's constantly morphing where I spend my time. I don't think many places outside of private sector entrepreneurship force that type of constant learning. The team is now almost 100 professionals strong.

Many consultants we speak to worry about getting bored if they specialize.

It's hard to get bored in this type of gig. If consultants were worried about that, leading a non-profit isn't an issue. I don't think you could ever get bored here.

If you could go back and tell your 21-year-old self at Deloitte one thing, what would it be?

Learn by doing, not by thinking. I'm a thinker. Most consultants are because consulting is a thinking space. But I got strong advice: think less, do more. Experimenting by doing almost always gives me the most information. Some experiments fail. That's okay. For those in consulting wanting to try out another career, just do something. Volunteer. Give it a crack. Call it an experiment.