Headlines about global crises — whether energy insecurity, environmental degradation or growing inequality — can often be met with a head shake or shrug of the shoulders. But entries in this year’s best business school student start-up category suggest a new generation of entrepreneurs is willing to respond to some of the world’s biggest problems with much bolder actions.
Each project targets a unique issue but shares a commitment to sustainability. From renewable energy solutions and healthcare financing to water treatment and urban greening, these student start-ups see challenges as opportunities for impactful change.
Just as important, the founders of these projects are demonstrating early signs of resilience, persistence and creativity as they scale their initiatives while navigating complex regulatory, logistical and cultural hurdles. Whether they are integrating advanced technologies such as AI and electrochemistry or pioneering circular economy models, they are learning and proving that sustainable development and business can go hand in hand.
A green transition for rural India
Zor, co-founded by Harvard MBA students Rea Savla and Vishesh Mehta, is trying to tackle rural India’s energy crisis with an innovative battery-sharing solution.
Farmers often lack electricity due to poor grid infrastructure and find themselves relying on costly diesel, which can account for up to 40 per cent of their harvest costs. Zor provides them with modular, pay-per-use batteries that run on grid or solar power, cutting costs, boosting farmers’ productivity and reducing their carbon emissions.
The goal, says Savla, is to reduce energy expenses and improve livelihoods in a sustainable way.
The project began with extensive research. Savla and Mehta spent 18 months visiting 25 villages and interviewing more than 700 farmers to understand their needs. This hands-on approach, they say, shaped Zor’s community-driven model, which places charging stations locally and involves residents in operations.
Early successes include pilots in Odisha and Jharkhand, with farmers quickly adopting the service because of its convenience and cost savings.
Some of the biggest challenges, says Savla, included overcoming misconceptions about subsidised energy solutions and navigating rural infrastructure gaps. Building trust in the local communities has been vital in overcoming those challenges. “In rural areas, solutions don’t come from directories or online platforms, they come from relationships,” says Savla.
“We’ve worked tirelessly to build partnerships with local stakeholders, access informal networks and inspire excitement about the changes we’re introducing. By bringing communities into the process and making them feel part of the solution, we’ve fostered a sense of ownership and commitment to the project that has provided us more active collaborators.”
Looking ahead, Zor hopes to expand its technology, creating lightweight, stackable batteries for diverse uses — from irrigation to electric vehicles. Savla and Mehta are also aiming for at least 50 per cent of the project’s field staff to be women, generating income opportunities for this traditionally marginalised group.
They are also building partnerships with rural entrepreneurs and manufacturers, to scale the project’s impact. Zor has financed its work so far through grants, winning several Harvard Business School start-up competitions, and is now preparing for a seed funding round to fuel growth. “They have built incredible partnerships and a novel concept that seems very scalable,” says Amelia Angella, director of Harvard’s Social Enterprise Initiative, “and they really understand the needs of this population.”
Helping healthcare to access capital
By using an AI-powered credit scoring platform, Christian Nwachukwu’s project, called 10mg, enables lenders to provide fast, collateral-free loans to healthcare providers in emerging markets — and ultimately improve patient care. A graduate of Aston Business School, Nwachukwu describes the platform as offering real-time, accurate assessments of creditworthiness, helping to overcome barriers such as high interest rates and long approval processes.
Nwachukwu previously worked for a pharmaceutical company. “I experienced first-hand the lengthy loan approval processes that often take months, high interest rates exceeding 30 per cent, and collateral requirements that made financing inaccessible,” he says.
Nwachukwu gained early support from Aston University’s BSEEN start-up support programme, which recognised his vision to tackle some of Africa’s healthcare financing challenges. “It was clear to the selection panel from his very first pitch that Christian was one to watch, an incredibly innovative and driven entrepreneur,” says Carolyn Keenan, head of Aston Enterprise and Entrepreneurship.
“He had exceptional digital talent, combined with a desire to lead a purpose-led business that could solve one of the biggest pain points in his home continent of Africa.”
According to Nwachukwu, more than 90 per cent of Africa’s population lacks adequate health insurance; he estimates that a lack of financing options for healthcare providers in the continent has led to a loss of more than 6 per cent of GDP annually. To begin to address these issues, 10mg has developed SaaS APIs — cloud-based tools that enable communication between various applications — and created partnerships with UK lenders Fintech Farm, Plend and Blend to promote sustainable lending practices to healthcare providers in Africa.
Today, Nwachukwu says 10mg has signed up nearly 5,000 healthcare providers in Nigeria and Senegal, enabling more than $1.25mn in loans and affecting 173,000 patients monthly. He adds that it has had a particularly positive impact on previously underserved communities. A key achievement, he says, has been partnering with Senegal’s national pharmacy, SEN-PNA, to provide $40,000 in funding, covering part of the overall budget for supplying medications to 745 hospitals.
Nwachukwu says he now wants to expand into Ghana and other countries, with the aim of working with 10,000 healthcare providers and helping more than 1mn patients monthly. He is refining the platform’s accuracy and forging partnerships with global development agencies.
Focused on recycling eyewear
Ophélie Vanbremeersch, an MSc international business student at IESEG Lille, hopes to transform the eyewear industry by giving glasses a second life. Her venture, Zac, collects unused eyewear, reconditions the frames and sells them affordably, prioritising sustainability and social impact. “Our aim is to be the leading solution for the circular economy in optics,” explains Vanbremeersch, “and to make refurbished products a truly accessible alternative to new ones.”
A first store in Lille served as a showcase for Zac’s frames, reconditioned in the north of France by a team of “sublimeurs”, many of them people with disabilities or on vocational rehabilitation schemes. Now, more than 250 opticians are on board, says Vanbremeersch, including the chain Écouter Voir, and there are plans to expand the Zac Collection into 3,000 stores by 2028.
She adds that Zac offers 20 renowned brand frames, and opticians can choose from pre-designed selections or create their own by choosing the frame styles. With each pack, opticians also receive point-of-sale displays and a communication kit to help them explain this new concept in-store and on their social media.
“Convincing opticians and ensuring second-hand frames are refurbished like new ones have been major challenges,” says Vanbremeersch. To stay competitive, Zac prices frames at 40-70 per cent below new equivalents, she adds.
Next, Vanbremeersch aims to raise €1.5mn to scale Zac’s logistics and traceability systems, make collection boxes available to at least half of all French opticians, and develop reconditioning workshops across France that help vulnerable people find employment.
“As professors, our goal is to ignite the entrepreneurial spirit in our students, and Ophélie embodied this, excelling in the course, with dedication and passion,” says Albert Campagnolo, who was Vanbremeersch’s marketing professor at IESEG. “What sets Ophélie apart is her ability to turn a dream into a structured, operational business vision, not just an inspirational one.”
Innovation in water treatment
The chemicals we rely on to treat water are running out, says IMD MBA graduate Jasper Schakel, co-founder of Chemical Innovations in Water Industries (CIWI), which seeks to transform water treatment using innovative electrochemical technology.
It was during a pilot project in Ghana that Schakel and co-founder Erik Kraaijeveld, an engineer from Delft University, were able to test their electrocoagulation technology under tough conditions, overcoming extreme heat and material scarcities in a remote location.
In addition to an IMD MBA Venture award, the pilot project in Ghana won a prize in the RELX Environmental Challenge, earning $25,000. “The pilot project not only tested their resilience but also marked a great step in the understanding of building resilient electrochemical water treatment facilities,” says Jim Pulcrano, IMD adjunct professor of entrepreneurship and management.
The technology produces metal-based agents for coagulation, phosphate and hydrogen sulphide removal. Supported by TU Delft and IMD, the pair honed their system to produce water treatment agents on-site, reducing the need for traditional chemicals such as iron chloride. CIWI’s technology also minimises CO₂ emissions and integrates easily into existing infrastructure, making it practical and eco-friendly.
Now, CIWI is in a pilot phase with Dutch utility Brabant Water, meeting 10 per cent of its treatment needs, with the aim of reaching 50 per cent by the end of 2025. The technology is also being tested in municipal wastewater treatment systems, and there is talk of potential collaborations with global companies such as Coca-Cola and Danone. “We don’t want to be disruptive technology; we want to be sustainable technology,’’ says Schakel. ‘‘Our goal is to create solutions that are easy to implement within existing infrastructure, seamlessly fitting into the systems already in place.”
Next steps include proving the technology can work across diverse applications — drinking water, sewage and industrial use — and expanding the technology through strategic partnerships.
Transforming suburban spaces
Arboricomposting is the innovative concept devised by ESSEC masters student Victor Magaud for turning urban spaces into green havens. By combining above-ground planting with organic waste recycling, his start-up, called Phytopolis, enables plants to thrive in environments where traditional in-ground planting isn’t possible. In essence, arboricomposting enables plants to grow as if in the ground, using nutrients from organic waste to sustain themselves.
Victor says his inspiration came while observing a fruit-laden apricot tree in Cergy, near the business school campus. The cost and impracticality of in-ground planting makes the planting of such trees in cities a challenge — about €6,000 per tree, according to the Institut Montaigne, based on figures from the city of Grenoble. Above-ground solutions, while cheaper, often fail because the trees lack nutrients. Victor’s eureka moment was designing the “arboricomposter”, an above-ground device that consists of two compartments: one for soil, worms and a plant and another for organic waste deposited by local people. As the waste decomposes, it provides the plant with all the water and nutrients it needs for growth.
Since launching, in May 2024, Phytopolis has introduced 17 arboricomposter designs, supplying local authorities, schools, nursing homes, airports, car dealerships and shopping malls. Clients can grow fruit trees, vegetables or flowers while at the same time reducing organic waste.
A standout success is in the town of Champniers, where Phytopolis installed an apple tree that thrived despite extreme conditions. It converted 300 local residents to the practice of composting in just two months.
Looking ahead, Phytopolis plans to expand internationally, to countries including Spain and Germany, while developing new arboricomposters for both outdoor and indoor spaces. Victor has set a target of planting 1mn urban plants in the next decade. “While the idea of Phytopolis may seem simple in conception, it requires exceptional entrepreneurial ambition and effort to bring it to life,” says professor of entrepreneurship Jan Lepoutre, who taught Victor in his cleantech entrepreneurship and innovation class. “I have rarely encountered entrepreneurs as inquisitive, smart, humble and yet fiercely ambitious as Victor.”
Read the full article here