Green Business
Fostering Green Entrepreneurship and Social Innovation is part of our unique approach to sustainability.
As part of their business education, our students seek to solve real world challenges with market mechanisms. They frequently start here, on our campus. In compliment to structures like the Entrepreneurial Residential Tower and the Rocket Pitch competitions held on campus each year, Babson students and faculty are developing sustainability-related counterparts, designed to fertilize the ideas that might eventually become green businesses.
Students in the graduate business school, for example, have used our campus as a living laboratory, successfully making the case for single stream recycling on campus, which is now implemented.
Green businesses are a growing percentage of the portfolio of businesses started by Babson students and recent alums. A few businesses recently started by or with Babson alumni include:
ThinkLite: ThinkLite retrofits existing lighting fixtures to be more efficient.
Top Sprouts: Builds greenhouses on top of or alongside existing buildings. Top Sprouts greenhouses are, in part, kept warm by the waste heat of their host building and they produce food crops that can then be sold to building occupants.
Big Belly Solar: Managed in part by a Babson alumnus, Big Belly makes solar powered compacting trashcans for outdoor applications. Babson is home to several Big Belly units. By compacting trash, Big Belly trashcans reduce the number of truck trips and bags required to empty outdoor garbage containers.
Preserve: Founded by a Babson alumnus, Preserve makes consumer products such as toothbrushes and razors from recycled plastic materials.
Down to Earth Waste Solutions: Founded and run by a current Babson student, Down to Earth is an early stage waste recycling and vermicomposting startup.
SKYNJA: SKYNJA, founded by a recent Babson alumnus, is a consumer demand response company working to reduce the energy load on the grid by orchestrating end users to shut down computers at peak moments.
LiveProud: LiveProud makes clothing from reclaimed and recycled materials such as sail cloth.
Stone Hearth Pizza: Co-founded by a Babson alumnus, Stone Hearth makes incredible pizza using locally sourced, frequently organic ingredients and sustainable practices.
Emergent Energy Group: Co-founded by a Babson alumnus, this company helps public and private entities assess, optimize, and create on-site clean energy systems.
Cocomama: Founded by a Babson alumnus, Cocomama is a nutrition-based, gluten-free food brand that uses ancient grains to make healthy, convenient products.
In addition, Babson seizes sustainability as an opportunity to train students as leaders and change agents. The Eco Reps program, for example, explicitly provides students with leadership skills to be used in a business context, all while working on meaningful projects to make Babson sustainable.
If you’re a Babson alumnus who started or work with a green business, or who wants to work with Babson students to do so, please contact us!
Green Jobs
Are you a student looking for a green job? Find out about on and off campus opportunities below.
On campus
Eco-Reps – 12 Eco-Rep positions and 2 coordinator positions are filled early each Fall. In the spring we may need additional positions filled. If it is approaching fall semester, email us with your resume and a cover letter briefly describing your interest. If it is the spring, contact us to find out if there are any open Eco-Rep positions. Read more about the Eco Rep program in the Student Involvement section.
Sustainability Office Undergraduate Interns – the Sustainability Office hires two interns each year. Inquire with us to find out if we have any open positions.
Lewis Institute Fellows – the Lewis Institute hires several fellows each semester. Contact them to inquire about open positions.
Graduate Fellows & Assistants – Among Babson's many graduate student fellows and assistants, some choose to focus on on-campus sustainability projects that are their original ideas or support Sustainability Office activities.
Off campus
Sustainability Recruiting - A Facebook page dedicated to” fulfilling the hiring needs of socially responsible businesses.”
GreenBiz - GreenBiz.com's green jobs and career center has jobs in solar and renewable energy, cleantech, green building, sustainable businesses and socially responsible organizations, and more.
Idealist.org - A "global clearinghouse of nonprofit and volunteering resources", offering a directory of volunteer opportunities and other resources.
Indeed.com – Search this easy-to-use job site using some green keywords (i.e. sustainability, energy, clean tech).
Justmeans – Their “Good Jobs” site is a leading site for green jobs.
MBA – Visit the MBA Center for Career Development, which has developed specific industry focus and proficiency in Clean Energy and “CleanTech” as a growing area of job creation, opportunity, and interest for Babson students.
Undergraduate – Visit the Undergraduate Center for Career Development for assistance with getting a position off campus.