The annual Morgan Stanley Sustainable Investing Challenge, led by the Morgan Stanley Institute for Sustainable Investing, INSEAD and Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management, invites student proposals to address critical social and environmental challenges, geared to attract institutional investors seeking positive impact and competitive returns.
Now is the time to seize both the responsibility and opportunity of sustainable investing, which is growing as a mainstream financial force. A recent survey found that investors, particularly women and Millennials, are strongly interested in sustainable investing and believe the investment approach is poised to grow.
The Finalists
First round judges weighed each proposal on its merits
and selected these 10 finalists:
1. Blue Forest
Proposal: Monetizing the shared benefits of forest management in the US
Members: Zach Knight, Leigh Madeira, Chad Reed & Nick Wobbrock
School: Haas School of Business at UC-Berkeley
2. CampoColombia
Proposal: Empowering displaced farmers in Colombia, South America, through real estate
Members: Gustavo Bernal, Leslie Chua, Animesh Pant & Oscar Posada
School: National University of Singapore Business School
3. EnPower Capital
Proposal: Providing working capital finance to renewable energy entrepreneurs in Sub-Saharan Africa, i.e., Tanzania
Members: Radhika Gupta, Amrita Kundu, Juan Pablo Mejia Caicedo & Elizabeth Swanton
School: London Business School
4. Floating Green Capital
Proposal: Financing controlled environment agriculture systems in the US
Members: Bennett Applegate, Danielle Lazarowitz, Justin Matarazzo & A.J. Singletary
School: Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University
5. Flood Mitigation Impact Bond
Proposal: Financing flood mitigation infrastructure in the US
Members: Julie Andress, Meaghan McGrath, Heather West & Sarah Wilson
School: Yale School of Management
6. GreenTop Capital
Proposal: Leasing rooftop greenhouses in the US
Members: Zimu Cao, Anand Gopalan, Doris Lo & Derek Riemenschneider
School: New York University Stern School of Business
7. Million-Ton Carbon Capture Fund
Proposal: Monetizing carbon capture and storage in the US
Member: Mac Thayer
School: New York University Stern School of Business
8. Moringa Tree Fund
Proposal: Mitigating desertification in Ghana through farming cooperatives
Members: Tanvi Pradhan & Fabian Willskytt
School: College of Business at San Francisco State University
9. NearHealth
Proposal: Financing rural clinical infrastructure in Morocco
Members: Yassine Bhija, Devina Pasta, Dmitry Savelyev & Alex Yanitsky
School: INSEAD
10. Precision Agriculture Real Estate Investment Trust
Proposal: Financing precision agriculture in Canada
Members: Srijan Agrawal, Francois du Toit & Michael Szaura
School: Rotman School of Management at University of Toronto
Experts in the field will mentor the finalists, who will present their proposals at Morgan Stanley’s offices in London on April 17, 2015, when a winning team will be chosen.
