Helping those who give back, pay back: MBA Student Uses Skills to Support Social Enterprise
Posted by | Chelle | August 29, 2011 | No Comments
Hello There Everyone!
I’m so excited to share with you this update from our Summer Change Agent, CMU’s Tepper School of Business student Jason Doran. We can’t wait to see the economic ripple effect of your work in our community. Way to go Jason! Keep up the great work.
Hollymead Capital is an exciting new kind of investment firm that pairs both private investment dollars and with government funding to build community-based social enterprises. The enterprises on which the firm is focused address fundamental social needs in: Food, Energy, Housing, Health, and the Environment. Hollymead works with Non-profits, Governments, Associations, For-profit enterprises, and Foundations.
Similar to a private equity firm, the firm pools private investment dollars from investors and seeks to develop, manage and successfully transfer ownership of the enterprises in which they invest. But the firm differs primarily in two ways. First, the exit strategy is not IPO or selling the firm off, rather it seeks to develop the enterprise until it is able to stand on its own, support its own management team and continue to grow and achieve success into the future. Second, the firm co-funds its investments with government dollars, which are supplied by local and state government programs designed to develop regional community social enterprises.
The Hollymead business model is the first investment firm to actively co-invest public and private dollars in enterprises, while at the same time offering private investors attractive investment opportunities. At this time, the firm is focused on the greater Pittsburgh.
Hollymead’s first venture, Republic Food Enterprise Center, is essentially a food-processing plant and kitchen tha
t sources raw materials from local farmers and then creates finished food goods for distribution through retail channels, including regionally-located grocery stores and gas stations.
My contacts at Hollymead have both been directors, and they have been great to work with.
First venture is personally relevant to me
As someone who values locally produced food for its environmental and economic bene
fits, I am especially happy to helping Hollymead with their first venture. Specifically, I am building a financial model that the firm will use to forecast earnings and investment returns based on expected sales and costs figures. It has so far been an amazing opportunity to learn about a new kind of business and first-of-its-kind investment model.
SponsorChange
SponsorChange gives us experienced business professionals the opportunity to give back to our communities by using our business skills. It feels good to know that our business skills can be used to develop not only economically sustainable businesses but also socially-responsible, community-focused businesses that improve the lives of people in under-served local economies. Overall, I think SponsorChange gives us business guys the ability to affect the kind in underserved communities and economies that we otherwise would not be able to.
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