NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

We are pleased to announce the winners of the NextBillion 2011 Case Writing Competition, which was co-sponsored by the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan, Acumen Fund, and Ashoka. We received many high-quality cases this year, so it was a difficult decision for our valued judging panel, Robert Kennedy and Ted London of the William Davidson Institute, Moses Lee of the Social Entrepreneurship Initiative at the University of Michigan, Stephanie Schmidt of Ashoka, international development consultant Zenia Tata, and Brian Trelstad of Acumen Fund.

The NextBillion 2011 Case Writing Competition, currently in its second year, recognizes and publishes the best new academic business cases on social enterprise or base of the pyramid topics, with the hope that these cases will become course material for MBA students around the world. The winning cases can be found here at GlobaLens.com, the premier publisher for academic business case studies in social enterprise.

Winners will receive prize money, as well as an autographed copy of The Blue Sweater by Acumen Fund founder Jacqueline Novogratz.

Without further ado, the winners are:

1^st Place: “Village Capital: Using Peer Support to Accelerate Impact Investing” ($1,000 prize)

Carol Gee under the supervision of Associate Professor Peter Roberts, with support from Ross Baird, Director of Village Capital

Emory University’s Goizueta Business School

See a summary of the case.

2^nd Place: “The South Pacific Business Development Foundation: Fighting Poverty in Fiji” ($500 prize)

Jacob Hiatt, Matthew Hutchens and Rocio Ortiz under the supervision of Clinical Associate Professor Philip Powell

Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business

See a summary of the case.

3^rd Place: “Catch a Falling STAR: Sustainable Financing for a BoP Hospital“ ($250 prize)

Shilpa Gulati, Gopal Pai, Dave Seo, Alice Zheng, under the supervision of Paul Clyde, Adjunct Professor of Business Economics and Public Policy

University of Michigan Medical School

See a summary of the case.

4^th Place: “Good Capital and the Emergence of the Social Capital Market“ ($100 prize)

Lauren Foukes under the supervision of Professor Gautam Kaul

University of Michigan’s Stephen M. Ross School of Business

See a summary of the case.

5^th Place: “Habitat for Humanity: Implementing a Global Strategy Locally“ ($100 prize)

Michael Nestor under the supervision of Executive Professor Dan Fogel

Wake Forest University’s Schools of Business

See a summary of the case.

Stay tuned for exclusive information about the winning teams and an insider’s look at the judges’ thoughts.

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