Businesses have a vital role to play in solving social and environmental issues through innovation, market development, and entrepreneurship.
With more than 20 years’ experience, the Center for Sustainable Global Enterprise works with faculty associated with the Business of Sustainability Theme who are at the forefront of research, teaching, and engagement related to helping businesses address these problems. We provide students distinctive experiential learning opportunities and collaborate with organizations to help to tackle the grand challenges of our time, such as climate change, ecosystem degradation, and poverty.
News and Stories About the Center for Sustainable Global Enterprise
The Center for Sustainable Global Enterprise celebrates 20 for 20 honoree Agata Smeets, MBA ’11, head of environment and product sustainability at Gap Inc.
There is a rich microfinance and development economics literature that addresses financial inclusion issues in developing countries around the world. Yet limited attention has been given to issues surrounding financial inclusion in developed countries, despite financial systems in developed countries far from being totally inclusive. Recent estimates indicate approximately 8.4 million US households are unbanked (ie: do not have an account at an insured financial institution), with an additional 24.2 million US households classified as underbanked.
In this research, Bogan and Wolfolds look at drivers of this financial exclusion, and focus on intersectionality, specifically the intersection of race and gender, to better understand the probability of being unbanked and underbanked in the US. They find that Black women are significantly more likely than Black men or any other group to be unbanked or to be underbanked. Further, they find limited wealth, rather than fees or trust, is more frequently cited by Black women as the main reason why they do not engage with the banking system.
The Center provides hands-on learning opportunities for graduate students interested in learning how businesses address environmental and social problems through innovation and enterprise. Click on the map to learn more about the diversity of companies and types of challenges we work on.
My best decision at Johnson was joining SGE. Hands down!
Mikey Arsnow, MBA '19
The SGE program is more than a class, it is a community building exercise. We worked hard but also played hard while learning about win-win solutions for business and the world.
Mercedes Moran Enriquez, MBA ‘20
Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫ’ Land Acknowledgment for the Ithaca Campus
Cornell University is located on the traditional homelands of the Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫ’ (the Cayuga Nation). The Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫ’ are members of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, an alliance of six sovereign Nations with a historic and contemporary presence on this land. The Confederacy precedes the establishment of Cornell University, New York state, and the United States of America. We acknowledge the painful history of Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫ’ dispossession, and honor the ongoing connection of Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫ’ people, past and present, to these lands and waters.
