Originally published in News Miami Edu
Ricardo Caporal has created an innovative endowed scholarship model through which new development projects in South Florida can help educate the next generation of responsible real estate professionals.
When Ricardo Caporal received an unexpected scholarship during his sophomore year at Babson College in Massachusetts, it changed more than just his immediate financial situation. It planted a seed that would grow into a vision for transforming real estate education at the University of Miami.
“The Class of 1949 had recognized that I was working really hard at school,” recalls Caporal, founder of Mattoni Holdings and current chair of the School of Architecture’s Master of Real Estate Development and Urbanism (MRED+U) board. “They wanted me to work less and have more time for school. That was such a beautiful act of service.”
Now, decades later and leading a private equity firm involved in some 5,000 residential units across the Southeast, Caporal is paying that gift forward with an innovative twist that could revolutionize how the real estate industry supports education.
Caporal, through his company, has seeded what will eventually become the NextGen Fund, an endowed scholarship designed to create a self-sustaining ecosystem where Miami’s building boom can directly fuel the education of future developers. The concept is simple: every new building, rehabilitation project, and development that rises in South Florida has the opportunity to contribute a small portion of its budget to the scholarship fund.
“Every building that goes up, every project that gets rehabbed in Miami or South Florida, a little bit of that budget can be designated toward this endowment fund to teach the future generation how to do that responsibly,” Caporal said. “Within these budgets, you’re already paying city permit fees, impact fees, architects, and advisory companies. There’s all this stuff that goes out of your budget. Why not contribute a little stipend back to this endowment fund?”
The request is minimal, typically $25,000 to $100,000 from project budgets that often run into the tens of millions. But the impact could be transformative, especially as MRED+U’s 70-plus board members collectively touch hundreds of sponsors, developers, and investors throughout the region.
For Caporal, who started his real estate journey buying 150 individual homes during the 2008 recession and grew his company from five-unit deals to 200-unit developments, the vision extends beyond financial support. It’s about ensuring that South Florida’s explosive growth happens responsibly.
“There is an impact every time you build a building, for good and for bad,” Caporal said. “MRED+U does a fantastic job of not only teaching you how to do it, but how to do it responsibly, and how to think about things from a more holistic point of view. It’s not just putting bricks on bricks. It’s about water and the environment and the neighbors, building height, sunlight, and so on.”
This philosophy aligns with Caporal’s own approach at Mattoni Holdings, where the focus is on what he calls “necessity-based real estate.” In other words: middle-market, Class A housing that people can afford. “We try to design and build best-in-class, world-class, beautiful projects that people can afford and are proud to live in and can stay there for long periods of time,” Caporal said.
Caporal’s chairmanship has brought renewed energy to MRED+U, with three major initiatives underway. These include the development of a comprehensive five-to-10-year strategic plan, the expansion of the Impact Conference that convenes industry leaders on campus, and the NextGen Fund—an initiative he hopes will outlive his tenure and serve generations of students.
His advice to current MRED+U students is both practical and aspirational: connect with the exceptional board members who represent the region’s real estate leadership and seize the opportunity presented by Miami’s unique position as a city in transformation.
“Because Miami is so vibrant and dynamic, these students have access to a developing city that you might not have in other locations,” Caporal said. “These are things you don’t get in the classroom. That’s a true gift, and every student should take advantage of that.”
From Brazil to Belen Jesuit Prep in Miami to Babson College to Harvard Business School, and from his first entrepreneurial venture launched before graduation to building thousands of housing units across the Southeast, Caporal’s journey exemplifies the power of education combined with opportunity. Now, through the endowed scholarship fund at MRED+U, he’s ensuring that the buildings shaping Miami’s skyline also shape the minds of those who will lead the industry forward.
“I think it’s part of our general responsibility to take some time to give back,” Caporal said. And in doing so, he’s created something rare: a giving model as sustainable and forward-thinking as the developments he builds.