School Notes: School of Management
November/December 2024

Student-run fund makes first investment

Yale SOM’s student-run Meng Impact Investment Fund has made its first investment, taking a $50,000 stake in the financial technology company Ezra. Student managers hope that the investment in the California-based firm will be the first of many in socially conscious startups.

Ezra CEO and cofounder Dashell Laryea ’15 attended Yale College. His venture aids companies in providing employees with Emergency Savings Accounts (ESAs) that help hourly workers build wealth and financial resilience.

Launched in 2023, the Meng Impact Investment Fund is SOM’s first student-run investment fund. It offers hands-on learning opportunities for students interested in achieving societal impact through market-based financial tools. Created with support from Leon Meng ’97MPPM, the fund invests in innovative, early-stage, for-profit ventures that are striving to create a more sustainable and equitable world.

Student managers spent last year developing the fund’s operating principles and laying the groundwork for an official launch. Open to graduate students across Yale, the fund includes a management team, presently composed of six SOM students, and four “deal” teams that seek out potential investment targets in the health care, climate, education, workforce development, and financial inclusion sectors.

High school students visit SOM

Several dozen rising high school seniors visited a Yale SOM classroom in August as part of Seeds of Fortune, a college prep program that introduces young women of color to college and to careers in business and economics.

Founded in 2014, the program helps students from underserved communities navigate the college application process and secure scholarships from competitive universities. In 2021, it partnered with Yale’s Women in Economics club to create Seed Scholars, a program specifically focused on economics. 

Since SOM joined the partnership last year, the students’ trip to Yale includes an SOM campus tour, an information session with the school’s admissions team, and a presentation by Roz Wiggins, senior lecturer in management, about the work of the Yale Program on Financial Stability.