Hande Ilhan and Dominic Mensah; 2025-26 recipients of the Social Entrepreneurship Fellowship
In recent years, the School’s Social Enterprise Initiative has seen a sustained increase in HBS students launching social impact ventures. In response to this exciting interest, HBS is piloting a new Social Entrepreneurship Fellowship to support two graduating HBS students who are launching a social enterprise that will create significant social or environmental value in a sustainable manner.
The fellowship offers financial support to supplement the recipient’s salary, as well as resources designed to support the significant work of launching and scaling organizations.
“Students increasingly want to start their careers by tackling important social problems,” said Shawn Cole, Social Enterprise Initiative Faculty Chair. “Social entrepreneurs are developing new service models, often designed from the beginning to be financially sustainable, and allow for significant scale. This fellowship will allow our students to follow their passion at the start of their careers – and we look forward to seeing them incubate and grow these enterprises.”
“We are so pleased to support our graduating students choosing to make a difference in the world by founding and running social enterprises,” added Amelia Angella, Director of the Social Enterprise Initiative. “Our Fellows are bringing their skills, expertise and innovative ideas to some of the world’s most difficult problems. The spirit of social entrepreneurship is strong and growing at HBS, and this Fellowship is an exciting step forward in our mission to educate and empower the next generation of social impact leaders.”
The 2025-26 recipients are:
Hande Ilhan (MBA 2025) is the co-founder of Kykloris, a climate-tech startup that turns crustacean waste into sustainable biopolymers. By replacing chemicals and petroleum-based materials with natural biopolymers, Kykloris helps reduce food waste, advance circularity, and promote a more sustainable future.
Hande is an engineer-turned-climate-tech entrepreneur. Before HBS, Hande worked at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), specializing in climate-tech investments. She played a pivotal role in guiding companies across diverse regions toward green innovation and sustainable business practices. Her work in ESG investing reinforced her belief that entrepreneurship is key to solving climate challenges. As a second-time founder, she took this mission into her own hands, launching Kykloris to drive systemic change in the materials industry and accelerate the shift toward sustainable alternatives.
“I’m excited about the Social Entrepreneurship Fellowship because it will enable me to fully dedicate the coming year to scaling Kykloris,” said Hande. “This support will be instrumental as we accelerate product development, strengthen our relationships with community and stakeholders, and expand the environmental and social impact of our work.”
Dominic Mensah (MBA 2025) is the founder of Dombelfarms, a venture focused on empowering the 100 million+ small and medium size farmers in Africa trapped in systemic poverty. Dombelfarms provides agro-inputs, farm productivity software and access to buyers to alleviate poverty in rural villages, enhance food security and promote environmental sustainability.
Before attending HBS, Dominic spent three years at EY-Parthenon in technology strategy consulting. He also worked with the food and agriculture practice playing a key role in publishing EY’s 2022 Food Reimagined Report, focusing on smallholder farmers’ challenges and solutions. Raised in a village by farming parents, Dominic draws on his experiences and believes rural villages are mired in poverty because they have historically been deprived of capital, education, and quality products and advisory services.
“I’m so grateful for the strategic funding and mentorship this fellowship provides to accelerate Dombelfarms’ mission,” said Dominic. “Over the next twelve months, we aim to reach 1,000 farmers in Ghana by launching our farming advice platform to double famers’ productivity and incomes. The Social Enterprise Fellowship makes this progress possible.”