Students Selected for Innovative Lean Impact Investment Program
Birmingham, Alabama – 18 July 2018 – The Kirchner Food Fellowship, an initiative of the Kirchner Impact Foundation, today announced the selection of the 2018-19 Kirchner Food Fellows. Now entering its sixth year the program continues to be the world’s only fellowship dedicated to developing and implementing issue-focused, lean impact investment models and educating the next generation of capital allocators.
The Kirchner Food Fellowship is pleased to announce the 2018-2019 Kirchner Food Fellows:
Emery (Hattie) Brown is currently a Masters of Science candidate at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University, where her studies focus on trade and agricultural policy in the interests of international food security. While in graduate school, Hattie was a Tisch Fellow at the USDA Foreign Agriculture Service Food Assistance Division, where her work centered on the impact of development programs on agricultural markets and trade facilitation. Prior to graduate school, Hattie worked in both the private and public finance sectors in a regulatory compliance capacity, implementing requirements set forth by the Bank Security Act and researching corporate governance issues.
Charles Higgenbotham is presently pursuing his Masters of Professional Studies in Agriculture and Life Sciences with a specialization in International Agriculture and Rural Development at Cornell University. Charles is proud to have served as a Sustainable Agriculture Systems Volunteer in the United States Peace Corps, completing his service in the Comarca Embera-Wounaan within the Darien Province of Panama. Charles is dedicated to exploring how socially conscious enterprise can contribute to addressing the intractable economic, environmental and socio-cultural problems facing similar isolated indigenous populations throughout the Americas.
Ambulah Mamey is presently a graduate student at the American University’s School of International Services (SIS) where he is pursuing a Masters of Science Degree in Development Management. His concentration is in Agricultural Development and the Environment. Ambulah has worked extensively in his native Liberia, spanning over eight years in both the public and private sectors. Before joining SIS, he worked with the National Oil Company of Liberia and its partners (ExxonMobil, and TGS NOPEC) on corporate social relations programs. He also previously served as a Manager in the Commercial Bank Department of First International Bank Liberia Limited, which is now GN Bank.
“I applied for the fellowship because I want to understand the ways in which the private sector approaches the most complex issues in our food system. Most importantly, how we can alleviate food insecurity with innovation,” commented Hattie Brown. “I am so thrilled to be selected, and to become part of a team dedicated to finding creative ways to tackle these challenges.”
“This fifth team of Fellows, with their deep and complementary skill sets, will continue the evolution of our lean impact investment model which is helping bridge the gap in underserved capital markets between micro-scale investing and institutional scale investing,” stated Steve Dauphin, Director.
“I’ve worked globally as a volunteer in ‘developing countries’ for nearly a decade, and carry years of academic training, focusing studies and international work on addressing food insecurities. However, nothing (and I mean nothing) has compared to the exchange of wisdom and new knowledge I’ve received as a Kirchner Food Fellow,” added Karla Rascón-García, 2017-2018 Kirchner Food Fellow (Epidemiology Phd. Candidate at University of California, Davis). “I’d wish for all to have the privilege of engaging in what I describe as a ‘front-line’ opportunity, to selflessly and strategically impact the multitudes in a manner that is as radically efficient as the Kirchner Food Fellowship is.”
Kirchner Food Fellowship
The Kirchner Food Fellowship, a Kirchner Impact Foundation initiative, is a unique and innovative, impact investment program that harnesses the power of millennials to find, fund and assist promising socially responsible agricultural businesses. The program provides capital and unprecedented hands-on training in capital allocation for university students. The Fellowship applies a problem-based learning and solutions approach with the goal of enhancing capital efficiency, lessening deployment costs, shortening time frames and increasing the likelihood of investment success. www.fundthefood.com
Steve Dauphin
Director
Kirchner Impact Foundation
205.602.9845
sdauphin@kirchnerimpact.com
Kirchner Group
Kirchner Group was founded in 1985 as a boutique advisory firm and today operates various subsidiaries, providing advisory services (M&A, assessments, diligence) and operational support (interim management, workouts, turnarounds) as well as asset management (dedicated, underperforming funds) – all leveraging a proprietary approach that dovetails domain and process expertise.
Throughout the decades Kirchner Group has been internationally recognized for its unique business model centered around creating value while promoting values – “earning while returning”. The firm has also established a reputation for building and rebuilding important business and social paradigms based on its deep entrepreneurial orientation.
Kirchner Group’s clients and partners include early stage to mid-market companies, venture capital and private equity firms as well as family offices and some of the world’s largest insurance companies, commercial banks and institutional investors. www.kirchnergroup.com
Blair Kirchner
Managing Director & Co-Head of Impact Activities
Kirchner Group
902.817.2405
bgkirchner@kirchnergroup.com