Once reserved for philanthropists, foundations and investors are prepared to accept lower returns to achieve positive social and environmental effects in the impact investing market
As impact investing funding flows have increased, so has the appetite among MBA students to learn how to engage in the market. “We’re seeing demand for this,” says Witold Henisz, vice-dean and faculty director of ESG initiative at the Wharton School, the University of Pennsylvania, which runs similar experiential investing programmes to NYU’s.
He points to the school’s Wharton Impact Venture Associates programme, through which students gain hands-on impact investing experience, and which he sees as part of what draws many students to the school’s MBA programme. “We have so many applications for the Wharton School highlighting WIVA,” says Henisz. “That’s the programme people cite most often.”
