Graduate students in Professor Chris Laszlo’s Quantum Leadership class (ORBH 430), participated in advisory services projects with social entrepreneurs in Australia, India, and Africa. The companies involved were all 2019 Flourish Prize winners, with stories published on the AIM2Flourish website.
Green Afro-Palms: Green Afro-Palms (GAP) reclaims lands at risk of environmental collapse for sustainable palm nut production by outgrowers and small-scale farmers, preventing the slash and burn farming for short-term crops decimating the environment. Green Afro-Palms has created a “SmartFarmer App” which allows people to invest in the farmers Green Afro-Palms works with. Our student group supported GAP by researching stakeholder that could be potential partners and providing insights into marketing the SmartFarmer App to attract customers.
Fred’s Tiny Houses: Fred’s Tiny Houses is the first tiny house builder to develop purpose-fit tiny houses for an Australian climate and a sustainable world. Our student group worked on two projects for Fred’s Tiny Houses. First, they helped them set up a B1G1 donation system for their website. Next, they worked on putting together a contest that Fred’s Tiny Houses could use to involve the DIY industry. The team created a sponsorship package for Fred’s Tiny Houses so that they could approach potential donors to be involved with the contest.
JanaJal: JanaJal makes and operates water ATMS, making water available, accessible, and affordable. JanaJal remotely monitors all the ATMs using an established cloud-based IT infrastructure which works in real time. Our student group worked with JanaJal to provide a market analysis on other countries in Southeast Asia as JanaJal looks to scale their positive impact beyond India.
The organizations had great evaluations of the Weatherhead graduate student teams:
“The Weatherhead student team has been responsive throughout our interactions. They are always willing to help by finding out possible solutions in solving problems. They are consistent and shown professionalism in all our dealings and are always on time.”
“All the students came across as highly sincere and passionate individuals keen to understand sustainability while solving prominent global issues. This is amply evident in the work that they have submitted. The fact that they were able to deep dive into sector relevant data and operating frameworks within a short period of time is noteworthy. We all have thoroughly enjoyed working with these young brilliant minds, and wish them well for bright futures ahead..”
“We experienced the student’s quiet, listening openness in the beginning of the consultative process and this was much appreciated. They paused and stopped to really listen to us right from the start.
And just want to note for this evaluation that they went well beyond just listening to our ideas about the scope of our project together to our raison d’être as a business and what motivates us personally to do what we do. On reflection this was a crucial aspect of their success with us.”
We are so proud of all of our students for their work done with these social organizations.