Schulich Students Travel Support Entrepreneurs in Costa Rica
For its second offering, the SUST 6151: Innovating for Sustainable Impact course continued to show the influence social innovation can have on sustainable solutions addressing pressing environmental and social challenges. This predominately project-based course provides MBA, MMgt and MES students with an immersive and exploratory experience beyond the classroom to work directly with disadvantaged populations in Costa Rica.
“I strongly recommend that every MBA student take at least one international course. Stepping outside the classroom and into a new environment creates a level of learning and impact that you simply can’t replicate on campus,” said Candice Ooi (MBA ’25) . “Unlike other courses, we designed our own field days—choosing which stakeholders to engage with, testing our hypotheses directly in the field, and rapidly adapting our approach based on what we learned. That hands-on immersion was unlike any case study or simulation back on campus.”
In April 2025, 16 students traveled to San Isidro, Costa Rica accompanied by Professor Geoffrey Kistruck, RBC Chair in Social Innovation and Impact to collectively discover innovative business models, aimed at creating meaningful work for disadvantaged local populations.
“This course stood apart from any other I’ve taken at Schulich because of its hands-on, immersive nature. The classroom was the community, and learning came from engaging directly with stakeholders, vets, small business owners, farmers, and even local youth,” said Malaravan Balachandran (MMgt Candidate ’25). “I had to let go of the instinct to propose one size fits all solutions and instead learn how to deeply listen and adapt. It reshaped the way I view innovation, no longer as a product of isolated brainstorming but as a collaborative, evolving process rooted in empathy, trust, and humility.”
SUST 6151 is part of the newly revamped Sustainability specialization and Graduate Diploma in Business and the Environment designed to offer an experiential and global learning experience to prepare students for impactful careers in sustainable development.
“I wholeheartedly recommend this course to anyone looking to build meaningful, sustainable impact through business. It stretched my thinking, expanded my cultural lens, and reaffirmed my desire to build a career in nonprofit and community-based leadership. The experience taught me that even with limited resources, systems thinking, cultural sensitivity, and genuine care can create solutions that truly serve,” said Balachandran.
