This post is part of our Social Enterprise Initiative 25th anniversary blog series, which highlights some of the faculty, staff, students, and alumni who have been a part of SEI throughout the years. In this post, Tracy Palandjian (MBA 1997) discusses the ways in which she and her organization are pursuing social impact. Tracy is the CEO & Co-Founder of Social Finance, a nonprofit dedicated to mobilizing capital to drive social progress. [...]

Over the last decade in impact investing, it has been my observation and belief that emerging markets continue to face significant problems: inequality, hunger, environmental issues, and resource scarcity. Traditionally, these problems are addressed via government initiatives, sovereign funds, and philanthropy. However, these sources are not enough to address all of the capital needs of developing markets, so many have now turned to the dynamism and innovation of the private markets to tackle these complex global issues. [...]

Before coming to HBS, I worked for a number of years in financial services in Asia. It was not uncommon for me to wonder what real benefit, other than to provide my clients with the ability to make more money, I was providing to the world. That desire is one of the reasons I wanted to come to HBS. I recently took the class “Investing in the 21st Century: Return, Risk and Impact,” taught by Professors Shawn Cole and Vikram S. Gandhi. Through this class I learned that my previous career could actually provide a positive impact on the world, and that impact investing is becoming more mainstream in the United States. There are many impact funds that manage to achieve market rates of return while at the same time generate positive impact. In the past decade, the ability to measure impact has improved, enhancing the investor’s confidence in this sector. [...]

This year, we will be highlighting the work of social enterprise related student clubs at HBS. In this blog, hear from 2018-19 Impact Investing Club co-presidents: Katie Guidera, Mike Murray, and Alex Thinath (all HBS ’19). [...]

In 1987, I completed my studies at HBS and headed west for San Francisco, inspired by every class I took on the topic of entrepreneurship and seeking to make my own mark creating and advancing companies, which has been my career’s work, both as a principal and advisor. [...]