Euromed Management
IN-4: Innovation 4

ETHOMED– Research that invests for a sustainable economy Since 2008, AG2R LA MONDIALE and Euromed Management, two major actors in Sustainable Development and Responsible Investment, have built a partnership through the creation of the Chair “Finance Reconsidered: Investment, Solidarities and Responsibility.” Its principal objective is to understand how to engage stakeholders and identify leverages for an ethical approach to investment and governance. In other words, demonstrate that there are alternative and viable paradigms and that the world of finance is not limited to a “shareholder” approach. The innovative aspect of this initiative is the “marriage” between academic research, pedagogy and the investment world. The research chair produced a responsible investment and entrepreneurship initiative that is called ETHOMED. ETHOMED is program in which a socially responsible investment (SRI) fund was created by the Chair’s partner AG2R LA MONDIALE and part of the operational fees are diverted to fund local social entrepreneurship projects. The projects are detected, filtered and accompanied by a team of Euromed Management’s students. Once a project has been approved, the students and professors assist the new entrepreneurs in their efforts until the company “graduates” from the program. The projects that are funded through ETHOMED must meet a number of sustainability criteria. Above all, they must contribute to “social welfare” and demonstrate strong “extra-financial” potential. Once their potential positive societal impacts has been evaluated, the projects are thus evaluated by their financial viability. The projects must also be “collective” in nature with a strong stakeholder component to help ensure the sustainable value of each enterprise. The fund exists officially since November 2012 and the Research Chair’s coordinator, Prof. Bernard Paranque, and the first projects have been funded. The fund is expected to produce more than 75,000 USD each year for project financing.

ETHOMED– Research that invests for a sustainable economy Since 2008, AG2R LA MONDIALE and Euromed Management, two major actors in Sustainable Development and Responsible Investment, have built a partnership through the creation of the Chair “Finance Reconsidered: Investment, Solidarities and Responsibility.” Its principal objective is to understand how to engage stakeholders and identify leverages for an ethical approach to investment and governance. In other words, demonstrate that there are alternative and viable paradigms and that the world of finance is not limited to a “shareholder” approach. The innovative aspect of this initiative is the “marriage” between academic research, pedagogy and the investment world. The research chair produced a responsible investment and entrepreneurship initiative that is called ETHOMED. ETHOMED is program in which a socially responsible investment (SRI) fund was created by the Chair’s partner AG2R LA MONDIALE and part of the operational fees are diverted to fund local social entrepreneurship projects. The projects are detected, filtered and accompanied by a team of Euromed Management’s students. Once a project has been approved, the students and professors assist the new entrepreneurs in their efforts until the company “graduates” from the program. The projects that are funded through ETHOMED must meet a number of sustainability criteria. Above all, they must contribute to “social welfare” and demonstrate strong “extra-financial” potential. Once their potential positive societal impacts has been evaluated, the projects are thus evaluated by their financial viability. The projects must also be “collective” in nature with a strong stakeholder component to help ensure the sustainable value of each enterprise. The fund exists officially since November 2012 and the Research Chair’s coordinator, Prof. Bernard Paranque, and the first projects have been funded. The fund is expected to produce more than 75,000 USD each year for project financing.