Financial Aid
CASE Awards Social Sector Scholarship to Three Members of the Class of 2009
The Center for the Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship (CASE) has awarded a $25,000 scholarship to Angelique Xanthopoulos, Juan Canal, and Michael MacHarg, members of the Duke MBA Class of 2009 at the Fuqua School of Business. The CASE Social Sector Scholarship, the first of its kind among top business schools, recognizes students for their commitment to pursuing a career in the social sector. This program is sponsored by a generous grant from the Wachovia Foundation.
Introducing the CASE Scholars of the Class of 2009
Angelique Xanthopoulos has spent the past six years in Latin America engaged in a number of different social ventures in Argentina and Peru. Most recently, she started InsightArgentina, an initiative that recruits people from around the world to volunteer at social and environmental organizations in Argentina. In less than two years, the program grew to be self-sustaining, with over 200 volunteers working in a network of over 60 organizations throughout the country. She also started a program called the Argentine Venture Philanthropy Fund, a service for philanthropists interested in making social investments in the Argentine social sector and working hand in hand with the organization to ensure maximum impact and social return on investment.
Ms. Xanthopoulos began her career in the unlikely location of Cusco, Peru, when she was recruited from her post-graduation Latin American vacation to create a volunteer program for a Spanish-language school. From there she went on start a bar/cafe/art gallery, which she sold to launch an online export channel for microenterprises producing high quality artisan products in Peru, Bolivia and Argentina.
In a recent interview, Ms. Xanthopoulos described her desire to pursue a Master’s Degree in Business Administration at Duke's Fuqua School of Business:
“About a year ago, InsightArgentina was selected to participate in a joint Ashoka-McKinsey business plan development initiative for social enterprises. As I sat in day 1 of the seminar, I realized just how much many of the participants, myself included, were lacking in a knowledge of even some of the more basic management principles that the McKinsey consultants were talking about. To many of those present, it almost seemed as though the consultants were speaking a different language. It became clear to me that in order for the social sector to reach its full potential, those who worked in it would need a more rigorous grounding in management, business strategy, finance, and accounting, as well as a strong network of allies within the private sector.
"I became interested in Professor Greg Dees' work well before I even began to consider the possibility of an MBA, and have used many of the principles outlined in Strategic Tools for Social Entrepreneurs to help guide me in my own work. When I did begin to think about an MBA, I was attracted to Fuqua because of its unique approach to experiential learning, its flexible, elective-based curriculum, its 6-week intensive course structure, and its global focus. When I learned about the innovative work that Greg Dees and CASE were engaged in, it became apparent to me that this was a perfect fit.”
Juan Canal has been awarded the CASE scholarship for his contributions to the growth of CAFAM, a leading Colombian nonprofit that redistributes its income among more than 360,000 low-income workers in the form of monetary subsidies and social services like healthcare, recreation and education. In a position that requires social and financial results, Mr. Canal has developed marketing, financial and strategic analyses of the current and prospected services of his company. With his coworkers, Mr. Canal developed the most successful fidelity program in his country, which gives high discounts to the low income workers at more than 150 different stores. He has also led feasibility studies for the opening of new healthcare centers and education facilities. Currently he is leading the most ambitious project of his company, aimed to establish a university oriented to the lower classes in Colombia. Mr. Canal is an Industrial Engineer from Universidad Javeriana in Bogota and has lived most of his life in Colombia.
Mr. Canal described his desire to pursue a Duke MBA:
“I chose a Duke MBA because it gives me a very wide range of possibilities to fulfill my dream of working for the development of my country. I believe that following the Social Entrepreneurship concentration, I will be able to work either for the public or the private sector or even better, I will be able to start my own social oriented business. I have concrete plans on returning to my current employer, to apply my new skills and knowledge and increase its social impact in a great way, but the Duke MBA will certainly open many more doors for me. I also selected Fuqua because CASE is a world leading center in social entrepreneurship and counts with a group of outstanding faculty and staff. Finally, Team Fuqua and the real involvement of the students with the community represent a huge spirit of collaboration that no other top MBA program has.”
Michael MacHarg was a founding staff member of the first nonprofit pharmaceutical company, the Institute for OneWorld Health, whose goal is clinical development and distribution of affordable new medicines for diseases of poverty in the developing world. As Associate Director for Development, Mr. MacHarg worked to secure the human and capital resources necessary to bring this innovative social enterprise to scale, forging unique corporate and philanthropic partnerships for five drug development projects across four neglected diseases (Chagas, leishmaniasis, malaria and diarrhea) worldwide. Prior to OneWorld Health, Mr. MacHarg served as a member of the core World Bank team promoting the participation of non-government organizations (NGOs) in Bank funded projects, utilizing the voice and capacity of civil society to strengthen sustainable economic and social development. Mr. MacHarg is active in international health and education initiatives, advising a foundation providing scholarships for students in Namibia, and researching new efforts to improve drug distribution in under resourced settings. Mr. MacHarg graduated from Vanderbilt University and has studied at the Universidad de la Habana in Cuba.
When asked why he chose The Duke MBA, Mr. MacHarg responded:
”Returning to school was a difficult choice for me. I've thrived in entrepreneurial environments where uncertainty, confidence, and imagination filled the room. I have known the joy of breaking new ground. But I have also known the frustration of management systems that lag behind visionary humanitarian goals. I have made poor decisions easily prevented by basic business acumen. I have witnessed good intentions trump deliberate strategy. I have endured setbacks grounded in poor financial planning.
“Fuqua beckoned. A renowned laboratory of management theory and its most effective application. An unmatched center (CASE) for the study and practice of social innovation. An institution with porous walls between disciplines, where teamwork and collaboration are paramount. A global community of peers seeking answers to the critical challenges we face. Fuqua is the environs I need to become the caliber of leader this shrinking, interdependent, always possible world requires.”