A business school focuses on the poor

Trekking through rice paddies in Bangladesh is not the typical image one has of a business student’s summer internship. But for some of the inaugural class in Colorado State University’s Global Social and Sustainable Enterprise program, it’s just part of their graduation requirements. For a group of GSSE students, this past summer’s field assignment was to conduct a market study on creating a $100 irrigation “super pump” that could increase crop yield and income. This master’s of science in business administration is focused on business models that serve the needs of the bottom of the pyramid, a term coined by C.K. Prahalad, a professor at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business, to describe the overlooked market for products and services that help the poor. GSSE is the first business school program to center its curriculum entirely on the poor and the environment. It is part of the growing list of business schools around the globe that offer concentrations and electives focusing on social innovations, including Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business, Cornell University’s Johnson School of Business, the Center for Sustainable Global Enterprise and the Presidio School of Management. People, planet, profit The goal of the GSSE program is to create a new generation of social entrepreneurs and executives who can shape markets that benefit the poor and the environment sustainably. The GSSE curriculum is a blend of traditional business topics, and courses focusing on social enterprise and the environment. It entails three semesters over a period of 18 months and involves a final thesis or project. Joseph Darnell, a GSSE student, said, “80 percent [of the curriculum] is traditional MBA classes but modified to take into account the social, environmental dimensions.” Lucinda Kerschensteiner, the program’s corporate relations representative and an MSBA candidate, added that “in a traditional MBA [program] you would have to take these topics as electives.” The student profile ranges from “age 23 to 51 years with very diverse and nontypical backgrounds,” according to Kerschensteiner. About two-thirds of the inaugural batch of 20 students is from the United States. Field project A team or individual field project in a developing country complements theoretical learning under the program. The field study component matches students with an economic development-focused nonprofit or for-profit entity that uses a business model to assist the poor. Some members of the inaugural class hoped to develop these projects into new social ventures upon graduation. For example, a team of GSSE students created Small Engines for Economic Development to conduct a market study on the feasibility of developing a microdiesel pump for small farmers. The inspiration for the proposed microengine originated from project partner International Development Enterprises. The four-person team interviewed farmers, business leaders and government officials in Ethiopia and Bangladesh in order to determine the pump specifications and develop a business model for its distribution. The comparison between the two countries allowed the team to understand how a design might vary depending on environmental factors and market demands. “I got the best education from the farmers themselves,” said Mitesh Gala, a student and SEED project team member in his final semester. After returning from the field, the team collaborated with engineering students at CSU’s Engines and Energy Conversion Laboratory to develop a pump design. After graduation this past December, the group is seeking funding to turn its design into a working prototype and eventually bring it to market. Darnell used his background in the construction and green building industry to create Su Casa, a sustainable solution to global housing issues. Darnell spent his summer in Yucatán, Mexico, and worked with a team of architecture students from Universidad Autonoma de Yucatan to create green and affordable housing for low-income families. The team discovered that in this part of Mexico, the most sustainable and cost-effective home design draws from Mayan huts with dome shaped roofs. But, the traditional Mayan hut design has a stigma in the local community due to its association with poverty. So the Su Casa team created a “Mayan hut 2.0, modernized for this century; making the housing inspirational and not just something with poverty stuck all over it,” said Darnell, who also is trying to secure funding for the sustainable hut idea. Growing the program Starting a new curriculum does come with challenges such as increasing the volume of relevant case studies and building relationships with employers. A major question that is facing the GSSE program is whether to set up a business incubator that could support postgraduate ventures with financial or administrative resources in the early stage of development. To address the immediate needs of this year’s class, the school invited social venture capitalists to participate at the students’ thesis defense and project presentations. Students pay between $19,000 and $38,000 to attend the program, exclusive of the costs for undertaking field assignments. Close to 75 percent of GSSE students receive some form of financial aid. Comparatively, tuition at big-name business schools or for international development programs may cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. 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