BUSINESS+IMPACT PREPARING TOMORROW’S BUSINESS LEADERS The primary objective of Business+Impact at the University of Michigan Ross School of Business is to unlock the power of business as a force for building a better world. As a top business school, Michigan Ross leads in addressing the grand challenges of our time. Business+Impact (B+I) integrates positive impact across the school through research, learning experiences, and outreach to business, nonprofit, and policy leaders. The initiative, open to all Ross students, aims to create, organize, and publicize efforts that highlight and guide business as a force for positive societal impact, positioning Michigan Ross as the leader in the theory and practice of business as a force for good.
ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE YEAR B+I expanded its reach and impact in very significant ways this year. In fall 2023, B+I launched the Environmental, Sustainability, and Governance (ESG) Concentration, one of the first top full-time MBA programs to offer this specialty. The launch included several ESG Data Workshops, drawing over 75 Ross MBAs and 100 MBAs from top programs for a ClimateCAP 2024 workshop. The Detroit Neighborhood Entrepreneurs Program (DNEP) moved to Michigan Ross from the Ford School of Public Policy, serving more than 850 Southeast Michigan small business clients and engaging nearly 400 students per year. This program will be a crucial part of the forthcoming U-M Center for Innovation, enhancing the connection between Ross and Detroit. Michigan Ross and the Impact Studio incubator programs were recognized by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) as exemplars of social innovation in business education. This recognition included a BBC Storyworks video highlighting 2022 program participant Jarrad Henderson, which garnered 200,000 views. Other accomplishments include launching a new website in January 2024, increasing pageviews by 11 percent and time spent on the site by 5 percent. In February 2024, Impact Studio alum Sasha Kolodkin won the Michigan Business Challenge Seigle Impact Track with her venture, Affirmative. B+I also hosted the first Prototype Demo Day to showcase student venture prototypes. The Nonprofit Board Fellows program continued its 25-year tradition of placing Michigan graduate students on boards of local nonprofit organizations to complete yearlong strategic projects. In May 2024, B+I partnered with Just Capital and the Human Capital Management Coalition to gather 100 experts to discuss workforce transitions due to climate change and artificial intelligence (AI), with plans to publish a report on the findings. These stories showcase B+I's commitment to innovation in business education, outreach to communities and business leaders, and amplifying impact at Ross and across U-M. The launch of the ESG concentration and Impact Studio achievements highlight educational innovation. Initiatives such as Nonprofit Board Fellows emphasize community engagement, while the workforce transition conference demonstrates outreach to business leaders. The new website and AACSB video enhance awareness and engagement. Welcoming DNEP to Ross and B+I significantly advances the mission for engagement and external impact.
2023–2024 IMPACT BY THE NUMBERS B+I engaged 833 students through experiential programs, courses, funding support, and workshops B+I reached 21,956 users on its main site and 5,901 on the Impact Studio site through awareness campaigns and regular updates
B+I supported 141 projects, organizations, and venture teams B+I engaged 1,465 people via external engagement including program partnerships, summits, workshops, and newsletter subscribers DNEP engaged 85 clients and 380 students