Redeveloping Hope
Movie Case Study
Probably a world premiere for a Finance course. This movie is a business-school case study turned into a proper movie. It covers financial modelling, real estate, valuation and impact investing. The script was co-written by an academic (Prof Ludovic Phalippou) and a professional writer. The characters are professional actors, and the goal is for students to prepare for class discussion by watching a short movie rather than reading a lot of material. Students should feel stimulated and more eager to solve Eric’s challenge after watching the film.
Synopsis
When Eric Clement graduated from the University of Oxford Said Business School executive MBA program on his 37th birthday, he was searching for the new Eldorado: jobs in the high-octane private-equity industry. These were the most sought-after jobs—pay was high. The first-born son of Panamanian-American parents now had the degree, knowledge, and experience to make it happen. But then he was offered a job in a government organization, where he would hire fund managers to make investments and focus on social impact. He was intrigued. Growing up in a middle-class suburb of NYC, Eric knew how difficult it was to move up the socioeconomic ladder. He was working since he was 11 years old, and because his parents were not from the U.S., he did not have the contacts many of his friends did, which could open up career paths he had never heard of. Could he use the finance skills he had acquired to improve the lives of underrepresented people so they would not have to go through what he did? What if a hard-core finance chap like himself stepped into a world where finance acumen was rare and tree-hugging plentiful? What if he took the opposite seat at the negotiation table, effectively hiring the people he wanted to join, and got them to behave and act responsively? What would happen then?
