Kellogg-Morgan Stanley Sustainable Investing Challenge 2019 for International Graduate Students

Application Deadline: 1st February, 2019

Offered annually? Yes

Eligible Countries: Any

To be taken at (country): Teams will be funded to London UK and Los Angeles, USA.

About the Award: 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.
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.
The Kellogg-Morgan Stanley Sustainable Investing Challenge seeks to identify outstanding proposals offering novel investment strategies to meet some of the most pressing global challenges ahead. As the world’s population approaches 9 billion people by the year 2050, the challenge of meeting human demand for scarce global resources will intensify. Finance has a key role to play in meeting this challenge.
Moreover, an increasing number of institutional investors are seeking sustainable investment opportunities for their portfolios. Specifically, these investors seek to identify investment strategies that can meet the financial needs of their organizations by investing in funds, investment vehicles, or direct investments that are consistent with the principles of sustainability and impact. Teams are encouraged to think beyond social enterprises, venture capital fund vehicles and strategies.
This competition requires you to propose and defend a sustainable impact investment strategy that uses finance and investment tools to create an innovative solution to an environmental or societal challenge. Integral to this competition are first, that you are creating a financial vehicle, and second, that your financial vehicle will have social impact.
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.

Type: Contest

Eligibility: 

• 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.
• Please note that any team member not in attendance at the finals competition will not share in any prizes awarded to that team.

Judging Criteria: The following criteria are applicable to both the first and final rounds of the competition:

1. Creativity & Financial Innovation (25%)
2. Impact and scale (25%)
3. Feasibility (25%)
4. Quality of due diligence and financials (20%)
5. Presentation (5%)

Value of Contest: $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

How to Apply:  

• Two-page prospectuses must be submitted by February 1, 2019, 11:59PM CT. The prospectus should outline a unique sustainable investment strategy. The selection committee is familiar with the broad area of sustainable investing, so avoid overemphasizing general observations about this section of the market.
• Ten finalist teams will be announced by Feb 25, 2019. These teams will be flown to London and will be provided with two nights of lodging, and are expected to present their proposal at the finals competition
• Please click on “Submit a Prospectus” to submit your two page prospectus. Remove all identifying student name and school information from the prospectus before submission.
• GOODLUCK!

It is important to properly go through the Contest Webpage before applying.

Visit Contest Webpage for details


Award Provider: Kellogg School of Management, Morgan Stanley