Business of Global Goodwill

Starting in a few weeks, just over 20 students from Colorado State University will embark to locations throughout the world with an eye toward marrying business, social responsibility and environmental awareness.

The first class of CSU’s Global Social and Sustainable Enterprise master’s program is finishing its second semester. While the master’s students are concentrating on finalizing course work, they are also preparing to conduct field work in projects spanning the globe – ranging from distributing wheelchairs for the disabled in Zambia to access to electric lighting for alpaca farmers in Peru.

Social MBA programs have gained popularity throughout the country during the past decade, but students of CSU’s program said that this one offers something different.

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“It’s really unique,´ said Joseph Darnell, who found out about the program in an e-mail advertisement. After more research, he discovered that it offered a different focus.

“It’s a whole degree dedicated to the convergence of business and sustainability, he said.”

The GSSE program combines a full load of course work with real-life experience. The students formed teams working toward creating sustainable businesses focused on markets in the developing world.

‘Triple bottom’

 “Traditionally in business, you look at one bottom line – the financial,´ said Carl Hammerdorfer, director of the GSSE program. The program focuses on the “triple bottom” – the financial, social and environmental bottom lines.

“The idea is it’s not sustainable for the business, the planet or us to only look at the financial bottom line,” he explained.

At the same time, the program is exploring individuals at the “bottom of the pyramid,” those living in poverty in developing countries, as customers and not just charity cases.

“There are three to four billion people living on less than $2 per day,” Hammerdorfer said. “We need to view them not as impoverished peasants, but as customers, entrepreneurs and people with aspirations. Our teams are looking to sell to millions of people in those markets.”

For Hammerdorfer, one of the most important elements of the program is that the practicum would be as important, if not more so, than the course work. The GSSE program was not meant to be a course focusing only on the social aspects, he said. The curriculum was set to be quantitatively challenging like any other MBA program.

This month, the GSSE faculty will meet with an outside advisory board to discuss potential changes to the program. Hammerdorfer said he feels that overall the program hit its major objectives, but that there will be some small adjustments.

For example, he would like to improve the method for connecting students with successful entrepreneurs. It was an element of the program during the past year, but Hammerdorfer said he would like to “do more, better.”

Bohemian support

Funding mechanisms will also be an issue that needs further discussion. The GSSE program received several donations including one from the Bohemian Foundation to funnel $100,000 to the program for four years and $50,000 from Boulder-based Philanthropiece to support student travel.

“A key skill as an entrepreneur is to be able to sell the sizzle of your venture,” Hamerdorfer said. The GSSE faculty would like the students to be involved with funding their own projects. However, he said he doesn’t want to see the costs become all-consuming, especially for international students. The cost to complete the program for students who are not Colorado residents is more than $37,000 in tuition and fees, and that doesn’t include fieldwork.

Students in the program have been actively raising money to support their ventures through fundraising events and business plan competitions. Anyone can donate funds, either to a specific project or the whole program, through the College of Business giving program.

The program is already gearing up for the next round of GSSE students. Hammerdorfer said that there has been great interest and the admissions have already proved highly competitive. He estimates there have been about 100 inquiries and applications for the 25 open spots. The final deadline for applications is June 1.

Already there have been twice as many applications from international candidates – including two Fulbright scholars and an Edwin S. Muskie fellow. The international students are coming from locations all over the globe, including Taiwan, Vietnam, Iraq, Venezuela, Egypt, Paraguay, Korea and Moldova.