Representing the Grossman School of Business (Grossman School) on an international stage this past week, a team of graduate students in the Sustainable Innovation MBA (SI-MBA) program competed at the Turner-MIINT Impact Investing Competition finals in Philadelphia. Grossman School students Gabbi Heath, Rob Mckinnon, Tyler Moran, and Sam Richards competed against 32 schools in the semi-finals – many from the elite MBA programs worldwide such as Johns Hopkins, Wharton, MIT, and Texas.
Despite the stiff competition, the Grossman School team advanced to the finals where they faced off against teams from New York University, Georgia Tech, Northwestern University, London Business School, and Institut Européen d'Administration des Affaires. Making the finals was a tremendous accomplishment. The competition was so close even their mentor, Cairn Cross, admitted that almost any of the finalists could have easily been on the podium.
Six Months in the Making
The is an affair spanning nearly the entire academic year. Starting in September, two separate SI-MBA teams complete seven online training modules on the impact investing process through a sustainability lens. As part of the competition, teams must find a real-world, early-stage company that in their view is meritorious of additional funding. After completing due diligence of all aspects of the company including its potential for impact, the teams compete in an internal competition to be the school that represents its university.
Experiential Learning
Education needs to be applicable in the “real world,” which is why experiential learning is a vital part of the Grossman School program, prioritizing participation in programs like the Turner-MIINT competition, but it is the ability and motivation of student to create teams and take on this challenge as an extracurricular activity that led to our success this year.
Grossman School thanks SI-MBA graduate Laury Saligman ’16 who taught the module 3 venture finance course that provided critical background, and Cairn Cross from Fresh Tracks Capital, a premier Vermont venture capital firm, who mentored the Grossman team through the finals.
Congratulations to all the students that competed in this event throughout the year, and the mentors that helped them achieve success!