This past spring, the sixth annual MBA Impact Investing Network Training (MIINT) competition was held in Philadelphia. I’m a firm believer in the importance of social impact investing, and I’m proud to be one of the sponsors of the competition. 

The MIINT competition, also co-sponsored by University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business as well as the Bridges Impact Foundation, is an initiative that promotes socially responsible business practices and investments through an incubator competition. The program offers experiential labs with hands-on education on impact investing for business school students and graduates from the world’s top business and policy schools, culminating in an annual competition. This year, over 20 schools from all over the world competed by presenting their thesis, source investments and diligence analysis. The winning teams receive an investment of $25,000 to $50,000 in the companies they chose to research and present.

It was inspiring to witness the brilliance and dedication of the nearly 600 competing students’ real-life impact investing models, and our panel was so impressed with the competition this year that, for the first time, we decided to choose six finalists instead of five.

Courtesy: Wharton Business School

This year, the top prize went to the European Institute of Business Administration’s (INSEAD) Singapore team, who presented a health-tech solution that improves online medical education in India. The first runner-up was a team from Northwestern University’s  Kellogg School of Management who presented a virtual platform for behavioral health. A team from the Fletcher School at Tufts University was another runner-up, presenting an online marketplace that supports innovative progress in agricultural finance. 

The MIINT competition offers exciting insight into a future where these scholars promise innovation and impact investing in many burgeoning industries. It was an honor to see how new, enterprising talent can impact the world with positive change.  I believe it is important to explore how to make a double bottom line possible in business – to do well while doing good.

I hope socially responsible investment-focused programs like MIINT lead to more collaboration within the social impact space, and I’m already looking forward to next year’s competition.