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.