On November 11 and 12, 2019 a group of WHU full-time and part-time MBA students attended the workshop “Sustainable Entrepreneurship and New Businesses Development”. The goal of the workshop being to motivate future leaders to integrate social and environmental issues when launching new business projects in a corporate context or when founding new ventures on their own. The environmental and social challenges, that our society is facing today, make it increasingly important to understand that profit-making can and should be in symbiosis with the environment and society.
The workshop was taught by Dr. Monika Hauck (Managing Director of WHU Entrepreneurship Center) and had special focus on the food and fashion industries. Various guest speakers from established organizations and startups contributed to the course: Tai Ford, Entrepreneur in Residence at CANO & retraced, spoke about sustainability and transparency issues in the fashion industry. Lina Maria Kotschedorff, Founder of LinaRennt, and Oliver Kuschel from Anthropia contributed their insights on social activism and impact finance. On the second day a visit to the Pure Note zero waste shop was on the agenda. Here Marcel Clemens, founder of Pure Note, presented his business idea to the students. The sustainability topic was followed up by Nina von Radowitz, Head of Corporate Responsibility at METRO. Nina, in an interactive session, highlighted the key sustainability issues in the food industry and elaborated on how METRO is working on innovative solutions to address them. Finally, Sarah Herms, Lead Manager Sustainability at Tchibo, spoke about business model innovation and circular economy.
The wide-ranging course content engaged the students in practical as well as philosophical discussions and gave inspiration for their future professional lives.