2026 Turner MIINT Competition Winner: The Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management
In April 2026, 34 student teams at leading graduate and business schools from around the globe presented their investment recommendations in hopes of securing a $50,000 investment into a high-impact, high-potential venture at the 15th annual Turner MBA Impact Investing Network & Training (MIINT) competition.
The Turner MIINT is a year-long, hands-on training program in impact investing for graduate students. It is co-produced by the Impact Capital Managers (ICM) Institute and the Impact, Value, and Sustainable Business Initiative at the Wharton School (Wharton Impact). This year marked the first year the ICM Institute co-produced the program alongside Wharton Impact.
This year's cohort included 465 students, supported by 75 campus leaders, 70 industry professionals, and 36 judges, including the Turner MIINT Steering Committee. Of the mentors, networking speakers, and judges engaged this year, roughly half were ICM members.
Throughout the year, students built their impact investing expertise via live and asynchronous training sessions led by global industry and faculty experts. This online curriculum, built for Turner MIINT by Wharton and other collaborators over the years, was complemented by networking opportunities with impact professionals, peers, and alumni. As part of Turner MIINT's mission to provide relevant content on emerging trends, the program team introduced a new session on artificial intelligence in impact investing.
In early spring, each participating school selected their top team to advance to the global finals at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Participants were welcomed to Wharton by Dean Erika James, followed by a panel conversation with TMIINT champion and sponsor Bobby Turner, W’84, Principal and CEO of Turner Impact Capital, and Preeti Bhattacharji, Head of Sustainable Investing at JPMorgan Chase US Private Bank, moderated by Marieke Spence, Executive Director of ICM. Later in the program, remarks and reflections on the state of the industry were delivered by Witold Henisz, Vice Dean and Faculty Director of Wharton Impact.
Reflecting on the high-caliber students participating in the Turner MIINT program, Dean Erika James shared, “Today’s complex challenges heighten the need for thoughtful and bold leaders like these, who are dedicated to thinking and conceiving a more prosperous future.”
Bobby Turner, longtime supporter of all things impact at Wharton and sponsor of the Turner MIINT program alongside Lauren Turner, W’85, encouraged the students to “take the reins and be great stewards for using business as a force for good, because that’s simply good business.”
Marieke Spence reflected that “pairing academic rigor with real-world practitioner experience is what sets Turner MIINT apart, and I have no doubt this cohort is ready to bring the tools of impact investing with them wherever their careers take them.”
The $50,000 Moelis Family Prize for best impact investment opportunity was awarded to the team from the Kellogg School of Management – Northwestern University. The team was made up of Gibb Anella, Paul Esslinger, Richa Jatia, Liusine Khachumova, and Kunal Vats, who presented Brisil Technologies, a company based in India that converts rice husk ash, a form of agricultural waste, into green silica for tires and other industrial applications. Their patented chemical process offers an energy-efficient product that reduces CO2 emissions and waste dumping.
On the experience, Gibb Anella noted that the program challenges student teams to “learn to work together fast, in territory none of you started out fluent in, pulling on every thread of your collective network to achieve a concrete, real-world result.”
The Bridges Impact Analysis Prize, named in honor of Bridges Impact Foundation, was awarded to the team from the London School of Economics, who presented AquaBloom, a seaweed biotech venture based in Indonesia with a mission to harness the potential of tropical seaweed.
Recognition was also given to the Toigo Foundation team, composed of students from Columbia University, Harvard University, Northwestern University, and the University of Michigan, who were awarded the prize for best Due Diligence for their rigorous, investor-grade analysis of Mexar, a wearable active cooling technology company serving construction and industrial workers in high-heat environments.
Enrollment for the 2027 Turner MIINT program opens in late summer 2026. Students, faculty leads, and industry professionals interested in participating or supporting the program are encouraged to visit our Get Involved page.
*Note: all investments into winning companies are pending further diligence by ImpactAssets.
Disclaimer: The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania does not provide any endorsement, either implicit or explicit, in companies that participate with the Turner MIINT. Neither the University of Pennsylvania, the Wharton School, nor student participants in the Turner MIINT are investors in participating companies. Companies run by current students of the University of Pennsylvania are not eligible for review by the Turner MIINT.
