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Watson Institute and BMO Launch 2024 “BMO Fellowship”

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This year’s BMO Fellows include 18 of the most promising sustainability-focused entrepreneurs in Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, and Wisconsin who are driving solutions to their communities’ most significant environmental and sustainability challenges.

Watson Institute and BMO Launch 2024 “BMO Fellowship” to Support Progress of Sustainability-Focused Entrepreneurs in Underserved Communities

 

CHICAGO, May 10, 2024 – Watson Institute and BMO today are thrilled to announce the launch of the inaugural BMO Fellowship for innovative, sustainability-focused entrepreneurs and community leaders from underserved communities throughout Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. This year, 18 fellows have been selected to participate in the program, which is designed to support the progress of highly promising, diverse sustainability leaders achieve their goals centered around solving today’s environmental challenges.

“Our 2024 BMO Fellows are at the forefront of driving positive change by creating innovative solutions for environmental and sustainability challenges in their communities – from pioneering water management strategies and reducing energy emissions to developing environmentally conscious wellness products and ending food deserts,” said Eric Glustrom, CEO and Founder of Watson Institute. “We’re proud to continue our partnership with BMO to create a more sustainable and equitable future for all, and we look forward to supporting this year’s innovative cohort.”

Specifically, The BMO Fellowship enables entrepreneurs and leaders by:

  • Providing expert-guided training and ‘Impact Series’ workshops focused on building a comprehensive roadmap to guide the growth and scalability of work and skills-building to construct and refine their missions.
  • Creating access to a robust mentorship network to enhance leadership abilities and the impact of ventures, as well as the potential to form new partnerships.
  • Awarding a $15,000 venture development stipend for select BMO fellows based on progress and impact throughout the fellowship.
  • Equipping each BMO fellow with the tools and resources to power ‘Basecamps’ in their communities – impact workshops and training sessions to help expand their mission in their home state.
  • Affording the opportunity to pitch ideas to local leaders, potential investors, and other entrepreneurs – as well as to receive feedback from BMO and community stakeholders.

“At BMO, building a sustainable future and our commitment to zero barriers to inclusion are core to our Purpose, to Boldly Grow the Good in business and life to foster and strengthen communities where everyone can make progress,” said Helen Seibel, Head of Employee and Community Giving at BMO. “Through the BMO Fellowship with Watson Institute, we are proud to support the next generation of sustainability-focused entrepreneurs by providing them with the resources, mentorship, and platform to meaningfully address society’s most pressing challenges.”

The BMO Fellowship is aligned with BMO’s commitment to Environmental Sustainability and the bank’s Zero Barriers to Inclusion 2025, a multi-year strategy focused on providing access to opportunities and enabling growth both inside and outside our doors.

To learn more about the BMO Fellowship, visit www.watson.is/bmo-fellowship-2024.

BMO Gives. Good grows here.

Helping communities thrive by supporting the organizations that sustain them and encouraging employee giving and volunteerism is at the heart of BMO’s Purpose, to Boldly Grow the Good in business and life. In 2023, our social impact included more than $84 million donated to hundreds of charities and non-profit organizations across North America to help drive progress by enabling individuals to thrive and communities to prosper. Our colleagues spent 62,000 hours volunteering in the community and contributed more than $31.2 million of donations through our annual employee giving program. For more information, please visit BMO.com.

About BMO Financial Group

BMO Financial Group is the eighth largest bank in North America by assets, with total assets of $1.3 trillion as of Jan. 31, 2024. Serving customers for 200 years and counting, BMO is a diverse team of highly engaged employees providing a broad range of personal and commercial banking, wealth management, global markets and investment banking products and services to 13 million customers across Canada, the United States, and in select markets globally. Driven by a single purpose, to Boldly Grow the Good, in business and life, BMO is committed to driving positive change in the world, and making progress for a thriving economy, sustainable future, and inclusive society.

 About Watson Institute

Founded in 2013, Watson Institute partners with leading corporations and foundations to power transformative Fellowships that support highly promising, historically disenfranchised rising entrepreneurs and leaders. The Fellowships provide award-winning entrepreneurship and leadership skills training, committed mentorship, financial stipends, long-term Alumni support, and access to a global community of peers, mentors, and opportunities. Alumni of Watson Institute’s Fellowships have raised over $185 million, created over 1,900 paid jobs, and impacted 10 million people across the US and globally through their ventures.

Want to Start a Social Enterprise? You Should Come To Watson

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Kim White wrote about his experience at Watson Institute in Boulder, Colorado.

At the end of the fourth week of classes at The Watson Institute I have to pause and reflect how time is a weird substance. Four weeks have flown by but the experience has felt like a four-month journey. I’m sure some of you might be curious about exactly what I’m up to after crowdfunding my way to get here, but I think I wouldn’t do justice to try and explain it all. And if you’re thinking of starting your own social enterprise I really think the only solution would be for you to apply to come and experience it yourself. It might be a bit premature for me to make claims that it’ll change your life, so in spite of what I literally just said two sentences ago, I’ll still try explain the three things that have made the experience great so far to try to inspire you to put in an application before October 15.

People

First and foremost the people you meet make coming all the way here worth it. This ranges from the people at Watson, to the mentors we all get assigned, to the people of the incredible city of Boulder where we are based.

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OP-ED – Liberia’s ‘Missing Billions’ Case is More Than What It Seems for Liberia’s Development

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Wainright Acquoi, a Watson Scholar at Lynn University, wrote an op-ed regarding Liberia’s “missing billions” case. The piece was published on The Bush Chicken.

A few days ago, I woke up to an email from the director of Social Impact at my school: “Wainright: Stop by the Lab when you get a chance. I have an article for you on Liberia from today’s New York Times.”

My friend Jerry, who has worked for over 40 years in social entrepreneurship and economic development in the U.S., the Caribbean, and Africa, has developed a deep interest in Liberia since our first interaction about four weeks ago.

We have had conversations on topics ranging from politics and governance, peace and security, education and youth development, and business. Since then, he has been researching about the country, and we have even been discussing possible partnerships to begin some work in Liberia.

Prior to receiving his email, I had been following the “missing billions” situation on social media and through online media outlets like FrontPage Africa and The Bush Chicken. Honestly, I am still confused about what exactly happened and where the case currently is. But I am even more worried.

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Goldman Sachs Honors Volley.com CTO Carson Kahn for Entrepreneurship

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Watson Institute alumni, Carson Kahn, was recognized as one of the “100 Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs of 2018” by Goldman Sachs for his artificial intelligence company, Volley.com.

Kahn is the CTO and cofounder of Volley (volley.com), a Silicon Valley AI company backed by strategic investor JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Zuckerberg Ventures, and high-profile current and former executives from Goldman Sachs (GS), Apple (AAPL), Facebook (FB), and Udemy. Kahn is also an invited member of the Forbes Technology Council and IEEE Society for Computational Intelligence.

With Kahn’s leadership, Volley’s “knowledge engine” has gained rapid traction in Fortune 500 financial services to computationally synthesize the world’s enterprise knowledge. A recognized innovator and entrepreneur in artificial intelligence and education technology, Kahn’s work is covered in the Harvard Business Review, Wall Street Journal, TechCrunch, Reuters, Dow Jones, PatternML, and elsewhere. His advisory on questions in machine learning and cybersecurity has been solicited by members of the Congressional Caucus on Artificial Intelligence, the White House National Economic Council, and state governments.

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Meet The 21-Year-Old Entrepreneur And Animal Rights Activist Bringing Vegan Milk To India

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Abhay Rangan, a Watson Institute scholar, was featured in Forbes for his vegan milk company.

Eighteen months ago Abhay Rangan, a 21-year-old engineering student, was traveling 500km every week on his moped throughout Bangalore in southern India with a backpack full of plant-based milks he and his mother had made in their home kitchen. Not only was this delivery method inefficient, the products weren’t shelf-stable, resulting in many of them spoiling before reaching their destination.

“It was a difficult job,” Rangan admits. “We manufactured our first few thousand liters using our blenders, pots and pans. The challenge was that we were too small to outsource things like manufacturing to someone else, so we had to redo several orders when, for example, the almond milk spoiled before it got to the customer.”

This was the scrappy beginning of Veganarke, the company Rangan founded after starting and running a nonprofit animal rights organization for two years when he was just 16. “We were a bunch of teenagers in different Indian cities doing campaigns for veganism on the streets,” he explains. “A common argument I came across was that the vegan alternatives were expensive. I looked around and there were very few exclusively vegan businesses that were accessible to me on a student budget. Veganarke was born out of a desire to make vegan products affordable and accessible to everyone.”

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