A Poole College opportunity starting this summer will help prepare undergraduates to be leaders in the business sustainability movement, a fast-growing sector in the Triangle region and worldwide.  

And the pilot program itself will be sustainable through a planned new business course available to many more undergraduates.

“The aim is to equip students to drive positive impacts once they get into their first position after they graduate,” says Jessica Yinka Thomas, director of the Business Sustainability Collaborative and an associate professor of practice. “We want to develop them to be change-makers and bring the lens of sustainability into their role to help them drive change.”

Creating Future Business Sustainability Leaders

The Future Business Sustainability Leaders Summer High-Impact Experience program received a Poole College High-Impact Experience mini-grant, for initiatives that supplement classroom learning with real-world, hands-on skill-building and mentorship.

The program’s pillars will be

• Students’ work as professional consultants on remote, global teams to solve real business challenges,
• Visits to North Carolina companies in the fall
• One-on-one mentorship from NC State alumni    

About five undergraduates will participate this summer in the B Impact Teams program, modeled on Thomas’s MBA 582 B Corp Clinic Sustainability Practicum, which helps businesses improve their environmental and social impacts through B Corp certification.

“Through site visits and interactions with business sustainability leaders right here in the Triangle, students won’t just learn the theory of corporate responsibility, they will get to see it in action, building the professional network and the practical confidence needed to lead in the modern business landscape,” says Rachel Haynes, program manager of the Business Sustainability Collaborative. She will lead the summer high-impact experience initiative.

The new summer program is a partnership with B Academics, a global, nonprofit business sustainability network of which Thomas and Haynes are on the leadership team. 

Haynes is finalizing a group of Triangle-area companies that students will work with this summer. During the academic year, in addition to field trips to meet local sustainability leaders, students who were in the summer program will engage with mentors through the NC State Sustainability Career Development Program.  

Long-Term Goals

The goal is for the summer initiative and a proposed follow-up program next summer to be a pilot for a new, permanent, undergraduate business sustainability practicum at Poole.  

The new summer opportunity is distinctive in the Triangle area because, by modeling the program on the MBA B Corp Clinic, students will gain professional consulting experience rarely accessible to undergraduates.     

“The aim is to equip students to drive positive impacts once they get into their first position after they graduate.”

The initiative will generate lasting benefits, for students and the Triangle’s sustainability sector, by providing a pipeline of future leaders ready to excel. 

“Local businesses are increasingly vocal about the need for professionals who possess both a sustainability lens and the core management skills required to bring complex environmental and social projects to life,” Haynes says.

Thomas adds that, by applying the theoretical to the real world through high-impact experiences, “We are helping students become impactful leaders, and preparing them to join companies and really hit the ground running.”  

This post was originally published in Poole College of Management News.