Ms. Phyllis Costanza, Head of Social Impact and CEO of the UBS Optimus Foundation was recently hosted by the student-led Social Impact Club. In conversation with Akhil Pawar and Jane Lu, Ms. Costanza discussed the foundation’s work and shared her experience in pioneering innovative financing mechanisms and impactful interventions as well as her vision for…
Over the past decade, corporations have moved away from traditional corporate social responsibility – a ‘nice to have’ – to corporate sustainability, now an imperative that is embedded in a corporation’s systems, practices and products. This year, the Social Impact Club launched its Corporate Sustainability and Innovation (CSI) pillar to signify the increasing push for…
Mr. Adar Poonawalla, CEO of Serum Institute of India (SII) – the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer – was recently hosted by the student-led LBS India Club. Mr Poonawalla discussed with Krati Jain MBA2022 and vice president of the India Club, his ambition to accelerate vaccine equity across the globe, and his thoughts on how the…
It’s June 2021. You are in Manila, and the temperature is touching a sweltering 310C. Normally you would be at work, but since the COVID-19 pandemic took over the world in March 2020 and forced you and everyone you know into a (seemingly never-ending) lockdown, you have been let go by your previous employer. Your…
If you live in a developed country, you have the luxury of turning on a faucet and witnessing a gush of drinkable chemically treated water emerge. Anytime there is a drought in an area, such as in my home state of California, the government usually handles it by rapidly importing or sourcing water from various…
Following the 2021 COP26 summit (formally known as the United Nations Climate Change Conference) in Glasgow, there are a few pressing questions around challenges and knowledge gaps that may impact implementation of the agreed-upon measures – how do we encourage private investment by better aligning efforts of public institutions with needs of the private sector?…
Gazing down the dirt street, with houses stretching on either side. Houses that look like crooked teeth, wooden slats cobbled together with large gaps between, some constructed with only a partial roof, structures that can easily be destroyed when the rains come. A guard standing at the entrance, working on behalf of the traficante (drug…
“No culture can live if it attempts to be exclusive” Mahatma Gandhi. If you ask the average person from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region whether they have a standard checking or saving account, they will likely respond “No”. MENA countries consistently rate among the lowest in participation of the population in the…
The road to net-zero for India is strewn with challenges, the greatest of them all being reviving the country’s ailing electricity distribution companies. Climate action: where things stand now One of the most important and seminal events of this year is inarguably the Conference of Parties, better known as COP26, currently underway in Glasgow, Scotland.…
In the case of Indian farmers vs. Prime Minister Modi, it seems that the Indian farmers won… or have they? Narendra Modi’s tenure as Prime Minister (PM) of India has yielded its fair share of controversies, though few hit international headlines to the same scale as the Indian farmer laws and subsequent protests. For some…
