Michigan’s Ross Business School Launches Social Venture Fund

Friday, October 8, 2010

Action-based initiative aligns with new courses to place impact investing at the forefront of entrepreneurial education.

Ann Arbor, Mich. — Marshalling an increasing student interest in the social-impact investment space, the Samuel Zell & Robert H. Lurie Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies at the Ross School of Business recently launched the Social Venture Fund (SVF). It is the third student-managed fund at Ross, which also is home to the Frankel Commercialization Fund and the Wolverine Venture Fund.

The goal of the newly formed SVF is to train students to invest in and manage sustainable, for-profit enterprises that respond to societal needs that would otherwise not be met as effectively or at all by other market players.

“Leveraging the breadth and depth of the University’s research and resources, the Social Venture Fund will provide a new breed of forward-thinking companies with the strategic capital they need to change the world,” says Gautam Kaul, the John C. and Sally S. Morley Professor of Finance and managing director of the fund. “The business world needs intelligent leaders who can do good for society in a financially disciplined and rewarding way.”

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