As an undergraduate student at the University of New South Wales, Eddie Gandevia started and sold a tech company that developed learning tools for high school students in Australia.
Intrigued by the social impact the company made on the lives of students, teachers and parents, Gandevia, MBA 17, hopes one day to run an investment firm that helps build businesses in developing nations to accelerate development and alleviate poverty.
Gandevia’s conviction that businesses have a key role in helping emerging countries to build a strong middle class helped land him a Fellowship in Entrepreneurial Finance at Haas.
He was one of nine first-year full-time MBA students to receive fellowships earlier this month, including:
- Ricky Tan and Leah Staub-DeLong, who were also awarded Entrepreneurial Finance Fellowships.
- Mike Fagan, Nathan Feltz, and Rohan Reddy, who received the Investment Banking Fellowship.
- Julia MacDonald, Claudia Silva, and Jason Van Thiel, who received Investment Management Fellowships.
Standing L-R: Michael Fagan, Jason Van Thiel, Eddie Gandevia, Rohan Reddy, Julia MacDonald, Nathan Feltz
Sitting: Peter Stilwell, Claudia Silva, Ricky Tan, Leah Staub-DeLong
Missing: Lizzie Faust and Hajime Shimazu
The recipients join three other first-year Full-time MBA students who were named CJ White Fellows in Finance earlier this year: Lizzie Faust, Hajime Shimazu, and Peter Thomas Stilwell.
Together, the fellowships recognize aspiring business leaders who demonstrate strong career goals and symbolize Berkeley-Haas values. In addition to a cash award, recipients are also matched with mentors who work in their chosen field and are given priority when signing up for finance electives.
Reddy says the most exciting aspect of his fellowship is the connection he’s already made with his mentor, Landon Mizuguchi, MBA 14, a 2012 fellow who is now an associate with an investment bank in San Francisco.
“The program connects you to a person who’s living the life you aspire to, who can offer you insight from the inside, and who understands what Haas is all about,” he says.
Gandevia has high hopes for his mentorship, too. “I’m looking forward to sitting at the feet of someone who is trying not just to be successful within the system, but is trying to shift the system to the benefit of the rest of the world,” he says.
For Gandevia, the fellowship reaffirms why he chose Haas. “The school is a leader at the intersection of profit and purpose,” he says. “Haas really is re-shaping the role of business in society.