UNC club brings together students with interests in business and sustainability

The UNC Sustainable Business Club aims to inform its members and the community about sustainability and connect students to sustainable business opportunities.

Established in fall 2019, the club has now launched several initiatives to reach these goals.

“We are trying to plan a hack-a-thon for the spring where it’s almost like a case competition,” Adriana Jordan, the club's diversity and inclusion chairperson, said. “Where we could consult for businesses on Franklin Street and tell them how they could be more sustainable.”

Last year, the club also helped evaluate and select UNC Sustainability Awards winners for companies in North Carolina. They researched companies, interviewed them and applied sustainability frameworks to decide who to nominate for the awards.

Members of the UNC Sustainable Business Club said they are doing a speaker series where they invite alumni to speak at meetings, sharing their industry experiences and offering advice to attendees.

They also plan to partner with the Kenan-Flagler Business School's chapter of the Net Impact Club, an organization intended to empower students to use business as a tool for positive change, to start a mentorship program and lead a COP26 simulation, which is modeled after the COP26 United Nations conference for climate change.

There have been clubs resembling the Sustainable Business Club in the past at UNC, but none gained enough traction to stick around, Co-president Joey Schreder said in an email. 

The club started off with about 15 members, but now has more than 180 people on its listserv who receive bi-weekly newsletters, Schreder said. 

Lauren Hall is the newsletter coordinator for the club. She said the newsletter includes club news and job fair opportunities as well as information about events, speakers and internships.

Hall said she likes that the club allows people with such different backgrounds and career plans to come together with a common goal of sustainability.

“It really can be applied to whatever your area of study or focus is,” Hall said. “It’s not just business majors or sustainability majors. We have club members that are all different kinds of majors.”

Center for Sustainable Enterprise Executive Director Jeffrey Mittelstadt, the club's faculty adviser, said it is doing a great job spreading understanding throughout the undergraduate community at UNC. 

He said sustainability weaves in and out of every industry, and the club has helped students learn how to incorporate sustainability into whatever career they pursue.

“It provides experiences that they get to talk about in their cover letters and in their interviews that are going to set them apart from other students and other applicants,” Mittelstadt said.

Sustainable Business Club Co-president Srilekhya Vennamaneni said helping people see business value and profitability in making sustainable choices is another long-term goal of the club.

“Climate change is just such a pressing, urgent issue that it can no longer be an area of interest or a hobby,” Vennamaneni said. “I think everyone needs to see sustainability intertwining with their major or their interest areas and find opportunities where they intersect.”

Looking forward, Vennamaneni has big aspirations for the club — she wants to create a sustainability hub at UNC.

Vennamaneni said the club has been talking to the Center for Sustainable Enterprise, their partner organization, about funding for the hub. 

“A startup and innovation hub where we invest in student ideas and provide them with mentorship or resources or industry connections,” Vennamaneni said. “So, definitely our long-term, big picture goal is to have that one-stop place for all things sustainability.”

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