Kellogg-Morgan Stanley Sustainable Investing Challenge 2019Applications are now open for the 2019 Kellogg-Morgan Stanley Sustainable Investing Challenge. The 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. The Challenge seeks to identify the next generation of sustainable finance practitioners, connect emerging leaders with industry professionals, and foster even greater emphasis on sustainability at graduate schools around the world.

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. Pitches might focus on areas like water, energy, food, social mobility, climate change, education or healthcare, among others. Contestants are encouraged to apply the entire spectrum of investment tools, styles and asset classes.

Application Deadline: 1 February 2019

Eligibility Criteria

  • Graduate students from around the world are invited to participate in the Kellogg-Morgan Stanley Sustainable Investing Challenge.
  • 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.

Note: any team member not in attendance at the finals competition will not share in any prizes awarded to that team.

Prizes

$15,000 in prizes will be awarded to the winning teams.

  • Overall First Place: $10,000
  • Overall Runner-Up: $5,000

How to Apply

Teams of graduate students are invited to submit a two-page prospectus that outlines an innovative financial vehicle that addresses a sustainability challenge and meets the requirements of an institutional investor (social operating enterprises are not applicable).

Submit application

Selection

Ten finalist teams will be selected from the pool of submissions and announced by February 25, 2019.

Finalists will present their proposals to a panel of judges at Morgan Stanley in London on April 12, 2019.

A panel of experts from some of the world’s leading financial and impact investing institutions will review and judge the pitches. Judging criteria can be found here.

For more information, please visit http://sustainableinvestingchallenge.org/

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