Deadline: February 15, 2017
The Kellogg-Morgan Stanley Sustainable Investing Challenge harnesses the power of capital markets and student creativity to create positive impact in a world of perpetual resource scarcity and continued population growth. Every year, the Kellogg School of Management and Morgan Stanley partner to host the challenge where teams of graduate students from around the globe develop and pitch creative financial approaches to tackle our world’s most pressing challenges.
Contestants must propose and defend a strategy that uses finance and investment tools rather than an operating enterprise to address an environmental or societal challenge. The competition is an opportunity to apply core finance principles to target the economic, social and environmental challenges that drive the field of sustainable investing.
Awards
$15,000 in prizes will be awarded to the winning teams. Awards will be made for the overall quality of the proposals based on the judging criteria.
- Overall First Place: $10,000
- Overall Runner-Up: $5,000
Eligibility
- Graduate students from around the world are invited to participate;
- Teams are limited to a maximum of four members, all of whom must be enrolled in a graduate program at the time of the prospectus submission, and the team cannot include more than one member who is pursuing an Executive MBA;
- A team may include members from different graduate schools;
- All ideas must be the original ideas of the team members;
- Each team is required to submit a two-page prospectus outlining their proposal;
- From the submitted prospectuses, ten teams will be selected to present at the finals competition. At least one team member should be available to present at the finals competition, if the team is chosen to advance to that round, and all team members attending the finals competition should plan to stay for the entire event;
- Please note that any team member not in attendance at the finals competition will not share in any prizes awarded to that team.
Application Process
- Step 1: Begin identifying a social or environmental challenge you would like to address and form your team. Brainstorm potential financial innovations to develop.
- Step 2: Develop your Idea
Find or request a mentor and iterate on your idea, developing your prospectus to address financial opportunity, impact potential and overall viability; - Step 3: Submit
Submit your two-page prospectus for first-round judging by community of finance and impact professionals; - Step 4: Head to the finals
Ten selected teams will travel to the final competition and pitch in front of the panel of executive judges from some of the world’s top investing entries.
See more on application guidelines.
Important Dates
- Deadline to request mentor: January 18, 2017
- Prospectus Submissions Due: February 15, 2017
- Finalists Announced: March 6, 2017
- Finals Event: April 7, 2017
For more information, visit Kellogg-Morgan Stanley Sustainable Investing Challenge.
