The Fowler Center for Business as an Agent of World Benefit wrapped up another successful Impact Investment Competition on Friday, Feb. 24. This year, six teams of graduate and undergraduate students presented their strategies in front of a panel of seven judges live at the Weatherhead School of Management.
The panel of judges included:
- Uma M. “Raj” Rajeshwar, Glenmede
- Lynn Carpenter, co-founder, EPOCH Pi
- William Vogelgesang, co-founder, EPOCH Pi
- Scott Hackenberg, social impact investor, JHS Impact Advisors
- Amy Willey, business associate, Business Department, McDonald Hopkins, LLC
- Raj Arjune, business associate, McDonald Hopkins
- Theo Legwaila, Avivar Capital
The Fowler Center would like to thank each judge for their dedication to mentorship, student development and their on-campus involvement in the ESG and impact investing space.
Each team had a total of seven minutes to present their pitch followed by a 10-minute Q&A session with the judges. The teams were tasked with creating a $100 million impact fund that provided annual returns of 7% over the span of 10 years. The fund had to consist of companies that aligned with one or more of the United Nations (UN) sustainability goals with an ability to measure overall impact for the selected funds. This competition gave students a chance to explore the growing impact investment industry and the qualifications for which companies must adhere in accordance with the UN SDG goals.
The Fowler Center also held a cocktail hour post event to give students the opportunity to network and follow up with the panel of judges. This year, Weatherhead Co-Deans J.B. Silvers and Andrew Medvedev were also present and hosted lunch for the judges prior to the event.
The first and second place winners of the competition were announced after the presentations at the cocktail event.
First place was presented to PI Capital (Positive Impact Capital) and consisted of master of finance students (pictured above along with the judges): , , , and . The team won $2,000 and each member received a trophy representing their win.
Second place was awarded to NBC Capital and consisted of full-time MBA students (pictured below along with the judges) , and . The team won $1,000 and each member received a trophy.
All the student teams that participated this year had thoughtful and well put together presentations. The Fowler Center would like to thank each one of them for their participation in the event.
The director of the Fowler Center, Megan Buchter, led the Fowler Fellows in another successful event. Thanks to her coordination and working with other university staff, the event continues to get recognition and positive feedback year over year. The Fowler Center Fellows were also instrumental in putting the event together and being on-site to help manage the entirety of the event. It would not have been made possible without Kyle Regan, Tyler Holsopple, Nikita Tayal, Fiona Wang, Prmeeti Verma, Erin Soldatis, Lucy Lin and Kendyl Biondich.