Carnegie Mellon University
Tier2-5: Sustainable Enterprise

The Net Impact chapter at the Tepper School of Business has a mission to promote the education and understanding of business ethics and corporate sustainability and responsibility among MBA students and other interested graduate students at Carnegie Mellon University, and to add value to Carnegie Mellon University and the Greater Pittsburgh area by further implementing social and environmental initiatives in line with management principles. One of the team's ongoing projects is the "Kiva lending team". This allows a participant to lend as little as $25 to a specific low-income entrepreneur in the developing world. One can choose whom they want to lend the loan to (e.g. a baker in Afghanistan, a goat herder in Uganda, a farmer in Peru, a restaurateur in Cambodia, or a tailor in Iraq). The loan is paid back once the entrepreneur's business starts to flourish. While the loan and the payback is up to personal preference and choosing, these are recorded in the Net Impact team's collective portfolio to reflect the team's overall impact growth. The team continues to develop new and old projects through which they can gain sustainable business skills.