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Let’s say you’re a scuba diving aficionado as well as an MBA student focusing on sustainability. Imagine getting the opportunity to develop sustainable diving operations and expand the sustainable diving certificate for Ocean First Institute. This is one of the projects MBA students were able to choose from at the 5th annual Project Marketplace event in January, sponsored by the Impact Catalyst program in association with the Center for Education on Social Responsibility (CESR) and the at the Leeds School of Business.

Impact Catalyst is an MBA consulting effort in  where students work with companies to complete the B Impact Assessment and thereby help with the growth of the B Impact movement.

Boulder Brands, Cardno Environment, CU Environment and Sustainability Visioning Committee, Goddess Garden, Miracle Ventures, Ozuke, POINT380 and StickerGiant were invited to pitch sustainability projects to students, who could then choose to work with the company over the course of a semester. Many companies were looking for help with their sustainability initiatives and seeking guidance in obtaining B Corp certification through the B Impact Assessment.

The assessments are guided using the Impact Catalyst Student Manual developed at the University of Colorado. The manual is the most comprehensive manual in the country for how students can guide companies through a B Impact Assessment. Students work with companies to complete the assessment and recommend strategies for improvement and alignment with core competencies.

Many of the 20 students at the event were enrolled in the Topics in Sustainable Business MBA-level course, which awards credit for the project work.

“This class is practical theory being tested in practice with companies in real need,” said Dave Payne, CESR’s course instructor and director of the event. “It’s all part of an overall strategic initiative to get our students engaged in the real world.” This semester, all businesses that participated were matched with at least one MBA student.

What is Net Impact Club?

Net Impact is an international nonprofit organization whose mission is to mobilize a new generation to use their careers to drive transformational change in their workplaces and the world. Spanning six continents, Net Impact membership makes up one of the most influential networks of MBAs, graduate students, and professionals in existence today.