The Stanford Impact Founder (SIF) program gives fellowships to graduating advanced degree students who plan to start high-impact ventures addressing social and environmental problems. The awards recognize both the goals of the ventures and the leadership potential of the graduates who will lead them. This year, 10 SIF fellows were selected, in addition to eight SIF prize awardees.
“The SIF program is helping position social and environmental impact as an aspirational track for GSB students, and increasing the sense of urgency to build ventures that can change the lives of their users,” says Daniel Uribe Villa, MBA/MA Education ’21, a principal at VélezReyes+ who reviewed the 2025 SIF-Social Entrepreneurship applications.
A key part of Stanford Graduate School of Business’s multilayered support for students, the SIF program helps those who are interested in entrepreneurship and want to make a social or environmental impact. Winners of SIF fellowships receive $110,000 in funding in the year following graduation, year-long personalized coaching, and an invitation to access Stanford Venture Studio resources during the fellowship year. Finalists who do not receive the SIF fellowship are eligible to be considered for a $20,000 SIF prize.
Each year, the program awards Social Entrepreneurship (SIF-Social) fellowships and, in collaboration with the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability, Ecopreneurship (SIF-Eco) fellowships. The SIF-Eco track has expanded eligibility beyond Stanford GSB to support graduating students from across the university.
“SIF’s financial and leadership support has been catalytic to values-driven leaders since the program’s launch in 2009,” says Ken Shotts, the David S. and Ann M. Barlow Professor of Political Economy at Stanford GSB. “We have seen SIF spark new business models that yield impact far beyond the ventures they build — shaping institutions and systems in areas like education, healthcare, and the environment.”
A Competitive Program That Changes Lives
The Stanford Impact Founder fellowships and prizes have spurred tremendous impact on hard-to-solve social and environmental issues. “The GSB aims to develop students to be responsible leaders of teams, organizations, and institutions. These SIF awardees are taking a bold step to address an unmet need and lead from their values,” Shotts says.
The 10 recently named 2025 Stanford Impact Founder fellows join a group of founders of high-impact social and environmental ventures that collectively have touched the lives of 7.7 million people since 2009.
“The SIF fellowship year was transformative,” says Gayatri Datar, MBA ’14 and a 2014 SIF fellow, who also has an MPA from the Harvard Kennedy School. “It uniquely stands out among other elements of my GSB experience by enabling me to pursue my dream of starting a social enterprise, equipping me with hands-on skills, fostering an entrepreneurial mindset, and offering a platform to apply theoretical knowledge to impactful, tangible outcomes.”
CEO and co-founder of EarthEnable, which works to solve Africa’s housing crisis with sustainable, affordable homes, Datar says the fellowship was foundational to the organization’s 2014 launch in Rwanda, both because it inspired additional contributors to support the organization and because of the skills and connections she gained.
As she elaborates, “I honed my ability to navigate complex challenges by applying a human-centered approach to innovation, focusing on understanding needs and creating impactful solutions. Moreover, the fellowship facilitated valuable networking opportunities. I learned the significance of resilience and adaptability in the face of uncertainty, embracing failure as an integral part of the iterative innovation process.”
Since its founding, EarthEnable has received numerous awards. In addition to Datar’s recent win of the prestigious Skoll Award for Social Innovation, other awards include the Echoing Green Fellowship and the Postcode Lottery Green Challenge.
Awards are not the only indication of the success of SIF-supported organizations: In addition to serving more than 7 million people across the globe, as reported in a 2024 survey ventures launched from 2009 to 2024 have raised $146,799,535 in total non-dilutive funding and $35,274,415 in total equity funding.
SIF-Social Entrepreneurship Fellows
This year’s SIF-Social Entrepreneurship fellows are taking on complex problems, many of them related to behavioral and mental health.
“Even though they are tackling systemic issues, the SIF awardees aren’t naive about the complexity of the spaces in which they’re building,” Uribe says. “I saw a balance of idealism and practicality that is rare, exactly what the world needs more of at the moment.”
This year’s SIF-Social Entrepreneurship fellows:
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Zach Dyce, MBA ’25, Penguin Health: Revolutionizing Medicaid addiction treatment with AI-powered patient engagement and case management
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Gabriela Forter Cuevas, MBA ’24 and Harvard Kennedy School MPA ’25, Joshua Tree Health: Intensive outpatient program/partial hospitalization program for teens that will empower teens, break barriers, and build bright futures
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Juan Pablo Pietrini, MBA ’25 and Harvard Kennedy School MPA ’25, TrustMe: Connecting reliable workers and families for affordable housing in Latin America
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Mara Steiu, MBA ’25/MA Education ’25, Journify Learning: AI copilot for special education instruction and compliance in K-12 schools
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Zooey Carter Wilkinson, MBA ’25/MA Psychology ’26, Wind & Rain: A novel approach: social impact litigation finance
Left to right: Zach Dyce, Gabriela Forter Cuevas, Juan Pablo Pietrini, Mara Steiu, Zooey Carter Wilkinson.
SIF-Ecopreneurship Fellows
The 2025 SIF-Ecopreneurship fellows are planning a wide range of ventures.
“This year’s cohort brought an impressive breadth of solutions — from decarbonizing cement to democratizing access to workforce training — all grounded in a clear-eyed understanding of the problem and an entrepreneurial bias for action,” said Karl Skare, MBA/MS in Environment & Resources ’13. Skare, currently chief product and strategy officer at d.light, reviewed this year’s SIF-Ecopreneurship applications. “At a time when pessimism about climate progress feels pervasive, the determination, innovation, and passion of the SIF-Eco finalists give me real reason for hope.”
This year’s SIF-Ecopreneurship fellows:
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Yashee Mathur, PhD Energy Science and Engineering ’25, Hydrify: Unlocking low-cost, low-carbon geologic hydrogen for a sustainable energy future
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Krish Mehta, MBA ’24/MS Environment & Resources ’24, PHNX Materials: The most scalable solution to decarbonize concrete
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Naman Mishra, MS Mechanical Engineering ’25, Vosh: Planet-friendly laundry
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Ryotaro Takanashi, MBA ’25/MS Environment & Resources ’25, Mizu: Farm water budgeting, accounting, and crediting platform for climate adaptation
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Emily Tench, MBA ’25 and Harvard Kennedy School MPA ’25, PermitPal: The world’s first AI copilot for community engagement
Left to right: Yashee Mathur, Krish Mehta, Naman Mishra, Ryotaro Takanashi, Emily Tench.
SIF Prizes
SIF finalists are also eligible for the $20,000 SIF prize, which recognizes awardees’ ventures and leadership potential. In addition to the financial benefit, awardees receive personalized impact and entrepreneurship coaching, and access to workshops and a community of peer impact entrepreneurs.
This year’s SIF prize winners, Social Entrepreneurship track:
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Pablo Golac Gutierrez, MBA ’25
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Mehek Mohan, MBA ’25
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Vibha Puri, MBA ’25
This year’s SIF prize winners, Ecopreneurship track:
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Folasade Ayoola, PhD Energy Science and Engineering ’25
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Bruno Lam, MS Learning Design and Technology ’24/MS Environment & Resources ’25
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Suhani Mohan, MBA ’25
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Fern Morrison, MS Chemical Engineering ’25
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Shievani Upadhyay, MBA ’25/MS Environment & Resources ’25
Left to right: Folasade Ayoola, Bruno Lam, Suhani Mohan, Fern Morrison, Shievani Upadhyay, Pablo Golac Gutierrez, Mehek Mohan, Vibha Puri
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