Another Successful year of ISEP sessions!

INSEAD was lucky enough to host two great groups of individuals for the Fontainebleau (Nov 17-22, 2013) and Singapore (Dec 1-6, 2013) ISEP sessions this year.

From a variety of backgrounds including participants from social enterprises, foundations, impact investing funds and company CSR departments (to name a few), the attending individuals once again proved to be an inspirational and knowledgeable bunch.

This year's course covered subjects such as business model innovation, building effective teams, negotiations, leading change and the lifecycle of social enterprises. 

A more detailed review with commentary from participants to follow shortly. In the meantime, and for more information please see our web site and/or contact Hans Wahl, Director of the ISEP Programme.

MBA INDEVOR Trek to London - November 20th 2013

On November 20^th, a group of MBA students from the INDEVOR student club for social impact and Christine Driscoll Goulay, Associate Director of INSEAD’s Social Entrepreneurship Initiative went to London for an MBA Trek to visit organisations and companies working in the social impact field.

The day started with a trip to the Open Society Foundations where there were a few INSEAD alumni present including – Mwewa Kapotwe (MBA J2013) who is now working as an Investment Analyst for the Soros Economic Development Fund and Belen Del Amo (MBA J2010) who is working as Global Director of Talent Management, Talent Acquisition and Organizational Effectiveness. The meeting was hosted by Sandra Schwarzer, former Director of the INSEAD Career Development Centre and graduate of the INSEAD EMCCC programme, and now Global Director of Human Resources at Open Society and Ida Le Duc, former INSEAD Director of Development and Corporate Partnerships and now Director of Donor Partnership at Open Society. While at the Open Society Foundations, the group learned about various areas of work of the foundation including their technology and legal programmes.

Next, the group went to Citigroup to hear about the bank’s Foundation.  With operations in different regions, Citigroup aims to tackle various global issues such as: financial capability and asset building, microfinance, enterprise development, college success, youth education and livelihoods, and neighborhood revitalization.

From there, the Trek went to have lunch with Bridges Ventures.  Mila Lukic (MBA D2012), Investment Associate and Andrew Levitt (MBA D2009), Investment Associate were on hand to help students understand the work of Bridges Ventures, a pioneering impact investing fund focused on the UK that aims to achieve dedicated social and/or environmental goals as well as aiming to achieve financial returns for investors.

The last visit of the Trek was with Social Finance, a UK organization with a mission to develop and build funding models to tackle entrenched social problems and deliver scalable and sustainable social change.  Social Finance recognizes that strong investment opportunities often require restructuring the way public money rewards social activity. They are the masterminds behind the ideas and development of the Social Impact Bond and Development Impact Bond instruments. Two alumni were also available at this meeting to speak with the students – Annika Tverin (MBA D96) and Fiona Miller Smith MBA J98).

After this last meeting, the group congregated at The Parcel Yard bar in King’s Cross Station to host a cocktail party sponsored by the INSEAD Social Impact Catalyst for the MBAs, alumni and past participants of the INSEAD Social Entrepreneurship Executive EducationProgramme (ISEP).  With over 40 people attending, it was a wonderful event full of networking and idea exchange.

The next Trek will be planned for the spring with the incoming class of December 2014. If you have ideas for places or people to visit, please e-mail Christine Driscoll Goulay.

New Fellowship and Competition info and deadlines!

Here is a sampling of fellowship and competition opportunities. Deadlines approaching!!

1) The 2014 Echoing Green Fellowship Application is now open!

• To apply for any of the Echoing Green Fellowship programs, applicants should apply through our common online application which can be accessed through our website.
• The deadline to submit an application is January 6, 2014 at 11:59 am EST.
• Applicants should make use of all of the application guidance materials we’ve posted on our website and review our Frequently Asked Questions page to find answers to common questions.

 2)  DIV/Innovation Competition Description

Development Innovation Ventures (DIV) is an open competition supporting breakthrough solutions to the world's most intractable development challenges—interventions that could change millions of lives at a fraction of the usual cost. DIV is interested in innovations that are expected to lead to transformative (as opposed to incremental) improvements that could ultimately scale across multiple developing countries and, ideally, multiple sectors in these countries. Virtually any organization is eligible to apply with a solution for a development challenge in any sector or country in which USAID operates.

Interested applicants must submit a five-page business plan, or Letter of Interest, to the DIV competition outlining their innovation and its potential to be more cost-effective, evidence-based, and scalable than traditional approaches. The DIV competition is open quarterly, with the next round closing December 16 at 11:59 EST. More information on how to apply can be found online: www.usaid.gov/div/apply.

3) The Nestlé Nespresso Global Sustainability MBA Challenge 2014. The theme of this second edition of the Challenge will be:

“Pushing the boundaries of sustainable quality coffee sourcing”

Nestlé Nespresso, and its long-time academic engagement partners INCAE Business School and the Sustainable Markets Intelligence Center (CIMS) were pleased with the success of the first Challenge in 2013.  32 Business Schools from 6 continents provided their best solutions to the topic of “Securing the long term sustainable future of coffee supply in Colombia.” The winning team recently returned from a successful trip to Colombia to ’ground-truth’ their proposal.

With the 2014 Challenge, we look forward to once again engaging the creativity and energy of MBA students worldwide in an exciting competition that explores issues at the cutting edge of sustainability in coffee business.  

The first step is to register your school (deadline: January 31, 2014). The second step is to register your school´s team -- only 1 team per school can participate (deadline: February 14, 2014).

Visit the Challenge website for more information and to register: www.sustainabilitymbachallenge.com

For more information contact: contact@sustainabilitymbachallenge.com