B-School Graduate Sustainable Start-Ups to Look Out For in 2020

As the climate crisis escalates, new environmentally conscious businesses continue to pop up across the globe. And why wouldn’t they?

Research has found there’s many benefits to founding sustainable companies: they live longer, have a better CEO-to-average-worker pay ratio, employ more women, have cleaner revenue, and generate greater stakeholder satisfaction.

Green entrepreneurship spans from fitness to cooking and travel, showing that there isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach when it comes to looking after the environment.

But there’s one thing many sustainable start-ups have in common: a b-school mindset and ethos behind them.

Here’s six sustainable start-ups founded by business graduates to look out for in 2020.

Food – nearfarms

Berkeley Haas School of Business has encouraged many MBA students to pursue careers in sustainability, Shom Gupta being one of them. With the desire to create sustainable food production systems in local communities, he decided to found nearfarms, an online marketplace based in Berkeley that connects local farmers with consumers.

Through this, people can buy from specific producers in the Bay Area rather than in regular grocery stores, boosting the local economy and raising awareness on the impact of imported foods.

Design – Bau Design

In 2016, Spanish architect Santiago Bautista launched his own architectural design business – Bau Design. In a time where consumerism is at an all-time high, Bau Design’s mission is to make high quality and durable products in a fair and sustainable way. In an interview with Business Because, Santiago said that doing an MBA at Copenhagen Business School was the key driving force behind his business venture.

Parenting – ReMana

Linsday McCurrent, who acquired an MBA from Harvard Business School in 2019, decided to start a consumer goods company that would deliver high quality, convenient and eco-friendly products to families with infants and young children.

ReMana’s goal is to make breastmilk storage easier for parents and reduce not only milk waste, but also the usage of single-use plastic containers.

Energy – A2P Energy

In India, most crop residue gets burned every year, causing worrying health and environmental issues. This is why Indian School of Business MBA graduate Sukhmeet Singh decided to fund A2P Energy, a business that works towards resolving the paddy straw burning problem by converting the straw into sustainable products such as Energy and Soil Conditioners. The project has already won funding from grants such as the #GlobalProsperityChallenge and #GlobalMakerChallenge.

Food – Beyond Meat

Beyond Meat – the plant-based meats producer – is already incredibly popular. Founded by Columbia Business School MBA graduate Ethan Brown, the company aims to help the environment by providing meat-free alternatives that taste like the real thing.

Beyond Burgers are already sold in fast food chains and grocery stores worldwide, but Brown doesn’t want to slow down. His goal for the 2020s? To rival JBS, the world’s largest meat processor.

Beauty – TALIX Organics

Entrepreneur and Northeastern University’s D’Amore-McKim School of Business EMBA graduate Sheena Newman always wanted to be an entrepreneur. After a rocky fashion business venture, she decided to found TALIX Organics, an organic skincare brand that promotes high performance, quality, safety and the use of sustainable ingredients. The company has already garnered a faithful consumer base since 2017, and it’s set to continue down this successful path in 2020.