Webinar: How can we use business to drive environmental sustainability?

ABOUT

Stellenbosch University LaunchLab is very excited to present a webinar: How can we use business to drive environmental sustainability? This webinar will be a fireside chat hosted by Josh Romisher, CEO of SU LaunchLab and the following inspiring panelists: Sam Parker, CEO of the Shell Foundation; Jess Schulschenk, Director of the Sustainability Institue and Dr. Pieter Olivier, Director of MAPSS. We will be hearing about why these purpose-driven leaders care and how they are making an impact.

About the panelists:

Sam Parker

Graduating from Oxford University in 1983, Sam Parker started his career in business, working for 6 years in the agrochemical industry, with a focus on Latin America. After a two-year break, working as a volunteer with street children in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Sam returned to business with 11 years at a UK-based commodity trading company. Following posts in London, Caracas, New York and Singapore, Sam was appointed Managing Director of the company’s Asian business. In 2002, he returned to the development sector with a role at the International Save the Children Alliance, leading the organisational development of its 30 national members. 2006, Sam joined Water & Sanitation for the Urban Poor (WSUP), as its first CEO. WSUP is a not-for-profit company, which brings together private sector and NGO expertise to address the pressing global challenge of delivering water and sanitation services to the growing number of people who live in urban slums. In 2014, Sam won a Skoll Foundation Award for Social Entrepreneurship. In 2015, Sam was appointed CEO of the Shell Foundation, which co-creates and fosters the growth of social enterprises in the renewable energy, mobility and SME finance sectors.  

Jess Schulschenk

Jess is the Director of the Sustainability Institute and an extraordinary lecturer with the School of Public Leadership at the University of Stellenbosch. She is also African Partnerships Director for the Embedding Project, a global public-benefit research project that helps companies embed sustainability across their operations and decision-making. Jess holds a Ph.D. in Business Administration with the Graduate School of Business at the University of Cape Town, holds an MPhil in Sustainable Development from Stellenbosch University and a BSc in Ocean and Environmental Sciences from UCT.

Dr. Pieter Olivier

Pieter is an ecologist and co-founder of M.A.P Scientific Services (MAPSS). He completed his PhD at the University of Pretoria in 2015 after which he was awarded an Innovation post-doctoral fellowship by the National Research Foundation, and an Ecologist in Africa grant by the British Ecological Society. In 2017, he co-founded MAPSS with the vision to create a better and more sustainable future for people and biodiversity. To do so, MAPSS applies science and geospatial technology to develop scalable solutions that support the Sustainable Development Goals.

Josh Romisher

Josh is a serial entrepreneur with a wide array of ventures, including a boutique investment bank in New York, solar irrigation start-up in India, frozen yogurt franchise in San Francisco and solar home systems across Sub-Saharan Africa. His mission is to create impact at scale with a specific focus on climate. He is driven by the opportunity to provide hard-working people across the globe with the platform to put their skills to work in affecting positive social change.

We look forward to insightful discussions with our panelists about how they are driving sustainability.

Please sign up for our webinar!