For Denver MBA students Erin Justice, Sarah Sutherland and Brent Troxell, a weekend spent discussing sustainable business practices is a weekend well spent, especially when there’s prize money involved.
Denver MBA students Brent Troxell, Sarah Sutherland and Erin Justice
The trio won second place and $7,500 at the 2019 Net Impact Case Competition Feb. 8-9, beating 16 teams from other universities around the globe who were invited to compete based on their performance in a previous virtual round. The annual event hosted by the University of Colorado’s Leeds School of Business challenges MBA students to tackle sustainability-related business issues for corporate sponsors. This year, Danone North America, the multinational food and beverage company with offices in Broomfield, Colorado, provided the case and sponsorship.
“The case was to develop a new business unit of Danone to increase their social good and B Corp[oration] score (an assessment used to evaluate a company’s impact on workers, customers, the community and the environment) while being financially independent, integrating existing brands and engaging employees,” Troxell said.
Teams from schools around the world, including the University of Oxford, the University of Cambridge, the University of California-Berkeley and the University of Washington, assembled on the CU campus in Boulder, Colorado, to present their ideas for executives at Danone North America.
“We felt good about the creativity of our idea but knew we were up against some serious competition,” Justice said.
Most competing teams were well-versed in sustainable business concepts through their participation in Net Impact—a worldwide organization for students interested in using business skills in support of various social and environmental causes.
“I wanted to join Net Impact because I am passionate about finding ways that businesses can improve their environmental and social impact, while still being successful. This competition was a great way to push myself to think outside the box and to compete against some other very impressive business students,” Sutherland said.
The Net Impact chapter at Daniels recently received “gold status” for going above and beyond in providing its student members with opportunities for professional development, positive community impact and engagement with the larger Net Impact network.
“Net Impact provided an opportunity to learn more about managing businesses with a sustainable operating and environmental strategy and ethical business practices,” Troxell said. “This competition offered a chance to create a solution integrating these components and get experience competing against business schools from across the world.”
For more information on Daniels’ Net Impact chapter, visit http://www.dunetimpact.org/.