Babson Consulting Teams Win Shelby Cullom Davis Foundation Prize For Entrepreneurship
Two Babson Management Consulting Field Experience (MCFE) teams that worked with non-profits during the 2013-2104 academic year received the Shelby Cullom Davis Foundation Prize for Entrepreneurship during the ceremonies held during the 2014 Fall Family and Friends Weekend on the Wellesley campus.
One undergraduate student team worked for ImagineNations, a global, non-profit, social enterprise whose mission is to increase employment and entrepreneurship opportunities for young people, especially in developing countries.
ImagineNations MCFE team members are undergraduates Shivani Janani, Thapasya Vijayaraghavan, Manhu Chandrashekhar, and Yasmine Sebti. Project Leader is Emily Wang M’14.
The team helped provide real time business and program strategy. They served as advisors to the pilot launch and helped assess learning and articulate business strategy.
The other prize winning team worked for Jewish Community Housing for the Elderly (JCHE), a not-for-profit organization that has been developing and managing affordable, non-sectarian, independent housing for seniors since 1965. The undergraduate MCFE project sought to improve dining services at two locations: the Golda Meir House and the Shillman House. Team members are undergraduates Alexander Woodhouse, Dershai Gordon-Stanton, Hannah Esberg, and Wendy Sachs. Project Leader is Kaitlin Coleman M‘14.
About The Prize
The Shelby Cullom Davis Foundation provided a $100,000 endowment to Babson College to encourage the application of entrepreneurship to nonprofit organizations. The foundation, established in 1962, was named for the late Shelby Cullom Davis, former U.S. Ambassador to Switzerland, entrepreneur, philanthropist, and chairman of the oldest and largest company specializing in insurance securities.
The endowment funds the Shelby Cullom Davis Entrepreneurship Prizes, awards presented annually during Babson’s Family and Friend’s Weekend to the undergraduate student teams or individuals that complete the most successful MCFE or Entrepreneurial Field Study projects for a nonprofit organization.
Babson students competing for the award receive mentoring support from graduate students who have faced complex business problems. Winners are judged on different project attributes including the project’s risk-taking, objectivity, persistence, vision, and feasibility in the marketplace.
About MCFE
MCFE links the business community with Babson College students through a management consulting team project. Each MCFE project is staffed by a team of three to five undergraduate students and one MBA project leader, with an objective to examine a real-life business situation. The assignments take place in a variety of business environments, which have included Fortune 500 companies, nonprofit, entrepreneurial ventures, and privately-held firms.