Sustainable Business

When sports and sustainability come together, the potential for change is tremendous. This was the thinking that inspired undergraduates Weston Cooper and James Walton to work with national clean energy nonprofit Focus the Nation to plan and execute the UO's first-ever Sports and Sustainability Summit.

You've got five dollars in seed money, seven days to brainstorm, and two hours to execute your plan—how do you create value? These are the elements of the $5 Challenge, a core feature in management professor Andrew Nelson's course Recognizing Business Opportunities. Four MBA candidates from the Center for Sustainable Business Practices tackled the challenge by creating a service that would be valued by bike commuters everywhere.

It was a match made in start-up heaven. Doug Anderson, MBA '11, and Paul Clark, MBA '11, were looking for a real-life project to apply the skills they'd honed in the business school's venture launch pathway. UO architecture professor Ihab Elzeyadi was looking for a way to commercialize the SolarStream Awning, an innovative three-in-one green building product he had recently developed.

Can solving social and environmental problems be part and parcel of a competitive investment strategy? The answer is yes, according to advocates of impact investing, a strategy that's recently gained attention even from mainstream financial institutions. For five Fridays this spring, MBA candidates explored this question in depth, in a new class led by industry expert Dave Chen, a principal at the Equilibrium Capital Group.

Business students from the Center for Sustainable Business Practices worked with with master's candidates from the architecture and landscape architecture programs to compete in the ULI/Gerald D. Hines Urban Design Competition. "The MBAs wanted to really crunch the numbers before putting pencil to paper," said MBA candidate Andy Fenstermacher.

Ever wondered how much carbon you're saving when you pedal your bicycle instead of taking your car? Soon you'll know, thanks to the Ride Your Bike There smartphone app. Created by a team of MBA candidates from the Center for Sustainable Business Practices working with students from disciplines across the university, the app was powered by a grant from the Student Sustainability Fund. What sets this carbon calculator apart?