I know this is not a usual career path for MBAs, and probably very few on this forum are considering it. For anyone though who has some experience in this field, how readily available are these opportunities for someone coming out of a top b-school? Do any of these companies recruit on campus, or is it mostly off-school networking and leveraging the alumni network?
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Glad to see another person interested in this. There are a lot career paths available. I read a report by monitor group (i believe) a while back that stated the social investment field to be valued at $50B currently with the potential to reach $500b in the next 10 years. (I hope I remember that right).
There are a lot of PE funds that do social investing, some consulting groups, and some of the BB banks have groups that would with social investment groups. A good starting doc of an Oxford MBA student is: http://aunniepatton.blogspot.com/p/what-is-social-entrepreneurship.html Lots of good docs in that article, most are a couple years old I believe but you can find new reports from the groups websites
Additionally, check out the CDC Group (UK not the US's): http://www.cdcgroup.com/ they are a UK development institution that does social investment largely through being an LP for many PE funds. You can go through their website or annual report and find all the funds they work with.
Consulting I know only really of the Bridgespan group (http://www.bridgespan.org/Home.aspx). It's a non-profit consulting company started by top notch Harvard MBA's I believe mostly from Bain and Company. They consult for development related companies. Good luck getting hired there though - incredibly competitive.
I hope this serves as a good starting point.
There are opportunities, but most of the firms are small and usually higher as needed rather than on a cycle. I would look at the Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN) Job board and a lot of business schools have social impact investing networks/groups.
There are several microfinance investment vehicles (MIV's) and PE funds across the US and Europe, and there are also a lot of community development programs that invest domestically. I hope this is helpful.
Good luck1
I personally know a number of students who have graduated from Stanford GSB and Harvard Business School who have worked for or started their own socially responsible investing organizations, including Jacqueline Novogratz, who runs the Acumen Fund.
Here are some websites that may be helpful: Stanford: http://csi.gsb.stanford.edu/gsb-social-innovators
Harvard http://www.hbs.edu/socialenterprise/your-career/ http://www.hbs.edu/socialenterprise/organizations/apply-for-leadership-…
Or, you could look at some well-known social investing funds such as Calvert Funds on LinkedIn and search for the number of MBAs they hire, and you'll see what schools they come from.
Some of the newest operations are just emerging -- for example http://www.mfxsolutions.com/ a Stanford Business School graduate-founded currency hedging company for the microfinance industry. Alternatively, you will find some opportunities with major funds like the Citi Foundation (check out Hui Chan), but they may not recruit at the school.
Thanks Betsy. This was quite helpful.
From what i've gathered, aside from hbs and stanford, other schools that are pretty strong in this area are wharton/kellogg/sloan/yale/haas. Kellogg in particular has gotten rave reviews due to their new venture, entrepreneurship labs, and more extensive on-campus recruiting from social investing firms.
Entirely anecdotal and from the point of view of a Bay Area denizen, Haas and Yale are tops on that list. Also, don't underestimate Columbia, especially if you are interested in international impact investing.
And it goes without saying that Stanford is way more socially oriented than HBS when comes to the percentage of students that really do care about that stuff. You know their motto: Change Lives. Change Organizations. Change the World. They do mean it.
Sounds like a plan. As a trader, you might want to research places like MFX Solutions -- link in one of the posts above -- pretty exciting stuff, and probably not the only one out there
Oxford (Said) has quite an emphasis on this if you know it's what you want to do. Many of the top givers to the school have started social good-oriented firms (albeit after making millions in more conventional investments), and they're supportive in the career market afterwards. Particularly, check out the Skoll Centre and the Skoll Scholars program. Good luck!
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