Eco-Innovators: Students pitch sustainable business ideas

Learn more about the Undergraduate Certificate in Business and Sustainability.

Complex business theories will be on display for real-world feedback at the Student Sustainable Business Showcase on October 3. 

Students from the Undergraduate Certificate in Business and Sustainability program will present 26 examples of sustainable business models at a drop-in event, hoping to engage local business owners and operators in exploring how these theories apply in real-world settings. 

“The students are really coming offering to share ideas and opening up to the community for some feedback. It’s a dialogue around ways of doing business that support the environment,” says Todd Thexton, assistant professor and director of the School of Business.

From slow fashion to circular economies and zero-emission and green chemistry initiatives, 13 students will be available to share information and discuss these ideas. They have been asked to identify ways that these models could be applied to businesses like those most commonly found in the City of Langford.  

The students are not coming as experts, Thexton says, noting they are in the fourth week of their studies and are looking for feedback to help refine their ideas and to have the opportunity to work on their presentation skills.

“The theories are often nice and tidy, but the real world is fraught with complexities and trade-offs and compromises,” Thexton says. “By getting feedback from the business community, the students are going to learn about the limitations of the models they are presenting and what they would need to do to ensure those ideas become feasible.”

The drop-in event is open to the public, and members of the local business community are encouraged to attend. For the guests, it’s an opportunity to learn about new ideas that might benefit their businesses. 

“We are hoping we can contribute to the imagination of the business community here,” Thexton says. 

The event is the first public forum for students to share their ideas with the community in the newly opened RRU Langford, John Horgan Campus, which opened in September. The campus is a partnership between Royal Roads University, the University of Victoria, Camosun College, the Justice Institute of B.C. and the Sooke School District. 

“The vision of the John Horgan Campus has always been about more than making post-secondary education accessible to Westshore students – that’s important, but it’s not the only part of the vision. It’s about building meaningful collaborations between the university and the community,” Thexton says. “This is what we are really hoping for here – a collaboration where the students benefit from the knowledge and the experience held by the community and at the same time the community has an opportunity to develop their ideas in a way that builds community wealth.”

The Student Sustainable Business Showcase is on Friday, October 3, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the multi-purpose room on the first floor of the John Horgan Campus, 798 Goldstream Avenue. The drop-in event is open to the public, and members of the local business community are encouraged to attend. 

Learn more about the Undergraduate Certificate in Business and Sustainability.