BanglaShield Wins the 2025 Kellogg-Morgan Stanley Sustainable Investing Challenge
- Sustainable Investing Challenge brings together future leaders addressing critical sustainability issues through innovative financial solutions
- Oxford University team awarded top prize for proposal to provide affordable flood resilience financing for low-income households in Bangladesh
- Second- and third-place prizes awarded to students from Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management and York University's Schulich School of Business
The Morgan Stanley Institute for Sustainable Investing and Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University today announced that the BanglaShield team was named the winner of the 15th annual Kellogg-Morgan Stanley Sustainable Investing Challenge. The global competition inspires graduate students to address critical social and environmental issues through innovative financial vehicles. The winning team was one of 12 finalists selected from a competitive field, which included 158 teams comprised of 545 students from 65 countries.
The graduate students from Oxford University were awarded the top prize of $10,000 for their proposal to provide affordable flood resilience financing for low-income households in Bangladesh by blending concessional loans and parametric insurance. The BanglaShield team consisted of Harry Breidahl, Achyut Gautam, Sachi Jain and Phetogo Mogotsi.
"The Sustainable Investing Challenge showcases the creativity and innovation of the next generation of sustainable finance leaders," said Jessica Alsford, Morgan Stanley's Chief Sustainability Officer and Chair of the Institute for Sustainable Investing. "We're inspired by the bold ideas presented this year, which demonstrate the potential of financial solutions to drive real, lasting impact across industries and communities."
The finalists pitched a wide variety of ideas, addressing social and environmental issues around the world including the sustainable aviation transition in New Zealand, urban heat and high energy costs in Harlem, the stability of Morocco's desert truffle industry, and the reduction of post-harvest losses for smallholder farmers in Nigeria.
The second- and third-place prizes of $5,000 and $2,500 were awarded to the Sustainable Agri-aqua Investment Fund team from Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management and the Pharaoh Brick Fund team from York University's Schulich School of Business, respectively.
The Sustainable Agri-aqua Investment Fund team, including Debdeep Bhattacharjee, Karuna Chauhan, Apurva P and Shagun Sharma, presented a plan to address groundwater depletion in Punjab by aligning micro-irrigation financing with pooled carbon credits and government-backed repayments linked to energy savings. The Pharoah Brick Fund proposal aims to repurpose Egypt's waste from demolition and rice straw into low-carbon bricks, thereby reducing pollution and landfill waste while promoting sustainable construction. The team consisted of Sara Amin, Aayush Rathore and Sadanand Shenoy.
"Each year, this competition reaffirms what we already know—the talent, drive and fresh thinking of today's graduate students will be the key to tackling our most challenging global problems," said Dave Chen, Professor of Finance at Kellogg Management School, CEO of Equilibrium Capital and the founder of the Sustainable Investing Challenge. "This year's winners and finalists aren't just developing solutions for tomorrow; they're demonstrating what is possible today."
The three prize-winning teams were selected by a panel of sustainable finance experts and senior practitioners across the industry to advance to the final round, pitching to judges at Morgan Stanley in London on April 25, 2025.
More information on this year's teams and their projects can be found here.
About Morgan Stanley
Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) is a leading global financial services firm providing a wide range of investment banking, securities, wealth management and investment management services. With offices in 42 countries, the Firm's employees serve clients worldwide including corporations, governments, institutions and individuals. For further information about Morgan Stanley, please visit www.morganstanley.com.
About The Morgan Stanley Institute for Sustainable Investing
The Morgan Stanley Institute for Sustainable Investing (The Institute) builds scalable finance solutions that seek to deliver competitive financial returns while driving positive environmental and social impact. The Institute creates innovative financial products, thoughtful insights and capacity building programs that help maximize capital to create a more sustainable future. For more information about the Morgan Stanley Institute for Sustainable Investing, visit www.morganstanley.com/sustainableinvesting.
About Kellogg School of Management
The Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University develops brave leaders who inspire growth in people, organizations and markets. Based just outside of Chicago, the school is a global leader in management education, renowned for its distinctive thought leadership and pioneering approach to learning. Kellogg offers an innovative portfolio of programs: four Full-Time MBA programs including leading one-year program and joint degree programs with the engineering, law and medical schools; a Part-Time MBA Program; the premier Executive MBA global network; and extensive non-degree Executive Education programs. To learn more about Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, please visit http://www.kellogg.northwestern.edu.
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