Founders with purpose

Butterfly FX  

Founders: Marisha Naz (pictured right), Katherine Li (pictured top)

Butterfly FX is a B2B educational platform that blends cutting edge research with storytelling and animation to produce bite-sized, mobile-ready and results-oriented digital content. It is designed specifically for social impact organisations that provide adult education and training and want to measure its impact.

Marisha Naz has been involved in the social impact sector since the age of eight, when she hosted a TV Show covering national issues in her home country Malaysia. ‘Aside from my job, I've been involved in social development initiatives ever since, the most recent being managing director of a financial literacy programme aimed at urban poor female entrepreneurs,’ she said.

Co-founder Katherine Li’s passion for entrepreneurship began when she left Berkeley, where she studied political science. ‘Having worked with numerous CEOs to build their organisations, the startup world is the perfect place to exercise diverse skill sets, from my love of writing and planning to dissecting organisational dynamics and initiating marketing efforts. It constantly challenges you to adapt quickly to change, shoot for the stars and build great teams that get things done,’ she said.

The two founders met in the School’s library, and soon found themselves discussing entrepreneurship and the startup scene. ‘We identified a major pain point for social impact organisations: quality educational content that is relevant, behaviour changing, and cost-effective,’ explained Katherine.

Both MBAs credit the School with teaching them the essential skills to build a startup. ‘The Oxford MBA is a powerful platform for people with great ideas and skill sets to find like-minded individuals and potential business partners,’ said Katherine. ‘Due to the course modules and classes such as the Entrepreneurship Project and Strategy & Innovation, as well as the relative flexibility of the curriculum, there are multiple opportunities to explore ideas in a safe space.’

‘I found Thomas Hellman's Entrepreneurial Finance class highly practical in terms of thinking about funding for a startup. I can definitely say that gave me a lot more confidence to take the leap, as the funding aspect of a startup was something that always intimidated me,’ added Marisha.

Collegia

Founders: Eduardo Chazan and Riccardo Gasparini

Collegia is a personal financial advisor start-up. It uses proprietary algorithms to design customised investment strategies that help its clients 'achieve specific life-goals such as buying their dream house or paying for a first-class education.'

Co-founder Eduardo Chazan is a self-described medical school dropout turned economist, who spent periods of his youth in both Russia and Brazil. He began his career in investment banking, before joining a Brazilian start up called Home Refill as managing partner and chief financial officer. Home Refill was in the top five most popular apps in Brazil by the time Eduardo left in 2017.

‘I then decided it was time for a new chapter in my career and came to Oxford,’ he said. ‘I strongly believe that technology and finance can bring positive change to communities around the world. In fact, passion for positive change is what drives me.’

After enrolling at Saïd Business School, Eduardo met his co-founder, Riccardo, an experienced project manager.

‘I was immediately impressed by his charisma,’ recalled Riccardo of their meeting. ‘For him, the MBA was a stepping-stone to set up his own company. Our relationship continued for the Entrepreneurship Project, where we were part of the same team. Then we agreed on making our dreams come true and became business partners for Collegia.’

The founders’ mission is shaped by their experiences as millennials who came of age in the shadow of 2008’s financial crisis. ‘We believe that investments detached from people’s life-goals are not only wrong, but a dangerous gamble. Collegia is our answer’, stated Eduardo.

FETTL

Founders: Eric Sukumaran, Alec McLaurin, William Stormont, Aparna Shrivastava, Tiffany Handley

FETTL bundles multiple renewable energy projects in several countries into one large investment and is developing a blockchain based technology to securitise the returns from these projects, and founder Eric Sukumaran states that this will help to finance and de-risk renewable energy projects in sub-Saharan Africa.

Eric is a former investment banker who also worked as an advisor to the British government on infrastructure development and climate treaties. He described how he has always maintained a ‘deep interest’ in the renewable energy sector, and conversations held with fellow students during the MBA sparked the idea of using cryptocurrencies to improve outcomes for large scale renewable power facilities.

‘A dinner companion happened to tell me of a friend in Europe who had bought fruit packing factories simply to use the excess electricity to mine cryptocurrencies,’ he said. ‘It made me immediately think of the excess power most energy production facilities produce. Several conversations later, and FETTL was born. I would never have had the idea, the validation or the skills needed to make FETTL a reality without the Oxford MBA.’

West 10th

Founders: Lyn Johnson, Mariya Chetyrkina, Ryan Farrell, Sara Sparhawk

West 10th is an online platform where women who have left the formal workforce can market their everyday talents and skills to their local communities.

Lyn Johnson was the CFO of a financial advisory firm in Los Angeles before she enrolled at Saïd Business School. During her MBA she developed a strong interest in how business can be used as a force for addressing social issues – particularly gender equality.

‘I come from a conservative community where the expectation is that women will leave the workforce when it’s time to raise a family or care for their parents,’ said Lyn. ‘I watched many of my friends and neighbours struggle with coming back to traditional full-time employment even after only a few years away.’

‘At Oxford I met Mariya, who is also passionate about this issue, and Ryan, who had the skills we needed to craft the right message,’ continued Lyn. ‘We all came from very different backgrounds, but we share a fundamental belief in the idea and the mission.’

Lyn described the Oxford MBA experience as ‘invaluable’ in the formation of the startup. ‘Saïd Business School is where most of us met, and where we were able to meet with faculty advisors, pitch to investors and participate in accelerators. Most importantly, our fellow students gave us the confidence and inspiration we needed to take this risk.’