Oxford grad students win sustainable investing challenge for work on Bangladesh flooding

April 30, 2025 at 10:57 AM EDT

A team of graduate students from Oxford University has won the $10,000 the 2025 Kellogg-Morgan Stanley Sustainable Investing Challenge for its BanglaShield project, a financing vehicle for low-income households in Bangladesh.

The 15th annual global competition, sponsored by the Morgan Stanley Institute for Sustainable Investing and Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, inspires graduate students to address critical social and environmental issues through innovative financial vehicles.

The winning team of Harry Breidahl, Achyut Gautam, Sachi Jain and Phetogo Mogotsi created a plan to provide affordable flood resilience financing for low-income households in Bangladesh by blending concessional loans and parametric insurance. The team was one of 12 finalists selected from a field that included 158 entrants comprised of 545 students from 65 countries.

“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.

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 in late April.

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Oxford grad students win sustainable investing challenge for work on Bangladesh flooding

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