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MIINT Condition

MIINT Condition

Inaugural Marshall MBA team wins ‘Best Diligence’ award at Turner MIINT (MBA Impact Investing Network & Training) competition.

04.14.21
Turner MIINT Case Competition particpants
Marshall participants in the MBA Impact Investing Networking and Training (MIINT) competition.

An MBA team from the USC Marshall School of Business won the award for “Best Diligence” at the 10th annual Turner MIINT (MBA Impact Investing Network & Training) competition on April 9.

A collaboration between Bridges Impact Foundation and Wharton Social Impact, the Turner MIINT is a year-long program that gives business students around the world a hands-on education in impact investing and the chance to pitch a company to investors to secure an investment of up to $50,000.

The “Best Diligence” award “celebrates a team that executed a strong and researched diligence process, whether or not their company was recommended for investment,” the competition site explained. The students in Marshall’s seed-stage impact investing group who earned this honor were: Patricia Decker MBA ’22, Jiao Jiao Feng MBA ’22, Julie Goehring MBA ’22, Nicholas Lee MBA ’22 and Katrina (Katt) Ortiz-Manalo Aubry MSSE ’21.

“We're proud to have been USC Marshall's inaugural team and secured the ‘Best Diligence’ award,” said Aubry, president of the Master of Science in Social Entrepreneurship Student Association. “It's incredible seeing how much we've done and learned in the past year, and I'm excited to continue learning and immerse myself more in the space.”

More than 500 students from 38 graduate programs, from Los Angeles to London to Singapore, enrolled in this year’s Turner MIINT program. During the semifinals of the competition, 35 student teams presented their diligence on an impact startup that they had sourced to one of seven semifinal Investment Committees, composed of more than 35 experienced impact investors. Seven teams continued to the finals, where they presented to a panel of impact investors and entrepreneurs. Schools remained anonymous through all rounds of presentation and judging. Students from UCLA Anderson School of Management, Dartmouth Tuck School of Business and Chicago Booth School of Business won a total of $100,000 in impact investments for three real-world companies they sourced, conducted due diligence on, and presented.

The student teams began the Turner MIINT Program during the fall semester. “Initially, our team put together our investment thesis and decided we wanted to invest in first-time female founders of color. We knew there was a huge gap in funding women of color and first-time founders,” Aubry said.

During the year, the team sourced potential portfolio companies focused on driving positive change in areas such as education, wellness, economic justice and environmental sustainability. They conducted due diligence and met with a mentor to gain insight from a practitioner in impact investing and to prepare for their presentation. Toward the end of the competition, the team met regularly with the company they had selected to pitch to investors. And finally, they presented to the Investment Committee.

Also, throughout the year, Wharton and MIINT had modules and quizzes on the course material and organized virtual treks, webinars and networking events. “That was a huge value add,” Aubry said. “I've participated in numerous other business school competitions, and this was by far the most enriching and valuable, even through a virtual format.”

Aubry said one of the highlights for her was the experiential learning. “The program provided enough guidance through its programming and the mentorship, but it also allowed us to be independent, figure out things on our own, make mistakes and learn.”

She also valued meeting fellow MIINT participants and learning from MIINT alumni and impact investors. Alumni made themselves available for panels, informational interviews and more. “The MIINT alumni were very generous with their time,” Aubry said. “It's an incredible network, and I'm so glad to be a part of it.”