MIINT Students Tackle Water Scarcity and Parental Wellness in the Workplace with Innovative Impact Investment Ideas
Graduate students from around the world compete in impact investing through the Turner MBA Impact Investing Network & Training (MIINT) program, with diverse teams and innovative ideas taking center stage.
In spring 2022, graduate student teams from around the globe presented their diligence in hopes to secure up to $100K in investments into high-impact ventures in the eleventh annual Turner MBA Impact Investing Network & Training (MIINT) competition.
The Turner MIINT, which gives hands-on education in impact investing for business and graduate school students, is a collaboration between Bridges Impact Foundation and the ESG Initiative at the Wharton School.
This year, 630 students participated in total, with 193 competing in this year’s investment committee event. The students learned from and were supported by their 119 combined faculty advisors, the Turner MIINT steering committee, as well as 52 mentors and 45 investment committee judges in the semifinals and finals. The participating students also now join the over 3,500 Turner MIINT alumni around the world who have participated in the program over the past decade.
“I’ve been actively involved with Turner MIINT for over 10 years and the sophistication and scale of the competition has seen incredible growth over that time; it’s exciting to see the energetic presentations and the excellent diligence of all the student teams participating.”
– Ron Moelis, Co-founder and CEO of L+M Development Partners
“I’ve been actively involved with Turner MIINT for over 10 years and the sophistication and scale of the competition has seen incredible growth over that time; it’s exciting to see the energetic presentations and the excellent diligence of all the student teams participating,” said Ron Moelis, Co-founder and CEO of L+M Development Partners who also supports the Turner MIINT program through the Moelis Family Foundation.
Audience Choice Awards
This year the program brought back the audience choice award to recognize the best student presentation in each semifinal group regardless of investment criteria. The following teams received this recognition based on their content flow and ability to handle tough questions in the review process with the semifinal judges.
- College of Management Academic Studies (COLMAN)
- Columbia School of International and Public Affairs
- Graves School of Business and Management at Morgan State University London School of Economics and Political Science
- Harvard Business School
- Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University
- London Business School
- UCLA Anderson School of Management at the University of California Los Angeles
And the Winners are…
The Turner MIINT judges also granted a student diligence award to celebrate a team that executed a strong and well researched diligence process, whether or not their company was recommended for investment. This year’s best diligence award went to the Lundquist College of Business at the University of Oregon, who presented LeapFrog Design after conducting thorough diligence including organizing their own customer survey and an industry expert panel. LeapFrog Design is a gray water reclamation system company whose mission is to increase residential quarters recycling to combat water scarcity.
The two winners of a $25K investment into the company they presented were Harvard Business School* and the London School of Economics*. Harvard presented Kumulus, which is a water service start up in France which aims to provide potable drinking water in an economical and sustainable way. LSE presented Optimum Health (DBA Kami); a UK based online platform that supports parental wellness in the workplace.
“…We all came into the program with different skills; our past experiences range from finance and impact measurement to corporate strategy and philanthropy. As a result, we all learned different things from MIINT…”
– London School of Economics team
The LSE team shared that, “We’re an all-female team, and we deliberately sought out female founders – as we know, this is a group of entrepreneurs that is severely underfunded. Meeting inspiring female founders and hearing their stories throughout the year has definitely been a highlight of our experience. We all came into the program with different skills; our past experiences range from finance and impact measurement to corporate strategy and philanthropy. As a result, we all learned different things from MIINT. That’s the best thing about the program – it takes you through the whole process, from sourcing and financial analysis to impact measurement and deal structuring.”
The Yale School of Management won the Moelis Family Foundation Prize, a $50,000 investment in Carbix. Carbix looks to transform atmospheric carbon dioxide into carbonates to build industrial products. This is the third win in five years for Yale SOM.
According to Adwoa Asare, Program Manager at Bridges Impact Foundation, “This year’s investment winners are the most diverse group of companies I’ve seen in the program thus far. The entrepreneurs are based in Massachusetts, France, and the United Kingdom. We encourage MIINT students to build diverse teams as part of the program in addition to seeking diverse and talented founders. This year’s cohort really took that to heart, and we see it in the companies they presented for investment. They are diverse in age, race, and gender and part of diverse leadership teams.”
*Note: all investments into winning companies are pending further diligence by Impact Assets.
Disclaimer: The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania does not provide any endorsement, either implicit or explicit, in companies that participate with the Turner MIINT. Neither the University of Pennsylvania, the Wharton School, nor student participants in the Turner MIINT are investors in participating companies. Companies run by current students of the University of Pennsylvania are not eligible for review by the Turner MIINT.