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Starting a business that respects the environment and still turns a profit is
quite a challenge -- one I've learned to meet
MBA INSIDER: A DAY IN THE LIFE
Taja di Leonardi, Managing Partner
Ecohome Improvement
MBA Class of 2005, Presidio School of Management
Starting a business that respects the environment and still turns a profit is quite a challenge -- one I've learned to meet I am the founder and managing partner of Ecohome Improvement, a retail showroom in the San Francisco Bay Area that sells paints, flooring, wall coverings, kitchen cabinetry, and countertops that are eco-friendly and safe for people to use. My business took shape in my final semester at Presidio School of Management in San Francisco, where I was part of the first graduating class in this new MBA program dedicated to integrating social and environmental values with the application of practical business (see BW Online, 7/15/05, "It's Getting Easier Being Green"). I saw the intersection of quality, price, and style in eco-friendly products and an underserved market of people who care about their health and the environment. So, just days after graduating, I put my business plan into action. After scouring for months with my managing partner, Nina Boeddeker -- a pharmacist and biologist whom I met while working at Gilead Sciences (GILD ), a biopharmaceutical company that develops drugs to treat HIV and hepatitis B and C, among other illnesses -- we found the perfect storefront on a busy, up-and-coming street in Berkeley. We opened on Nov. 9, 2005.
SPREADING THE WORD. Before starting my business, I thought that business owners have more financial and personal freedom. Not true. I work harder than I have ever worked. One-hundred-hour weeks are common and filled with the stress of dealing with customers' issues, product quality, constant education, and staying on top of finances. But there is power and joy in being a part of a local economy. I get to know my neighbors because I buy from them. I feel good supporting and being supported by a community. If I were still in B-school, I would take a classes in time-management and methods of dealing with stress. I also would have taken courses in supply chain management, techniques for managing people, and running a retail business.
ESSENTIAL EXPERIENCE. Anyone in or considering business school should see their classmates and professors as a learning community, an incubator for your business idea, and as people who will help you, and whom you will help, in the future. Use this time notto compete for grades, but to cultivate your connections and networks. Coming to a job like this with an MBA will help you start off strong and make business decisions quickly and
confidently. But if you have business experience or can afford to make mistakes, you don't need an MBA. My MBA in sustainable management enabled me to learn the hard skills of business in synergy with decisions that affect the natural environment and social systems. This, coupled with two years of class presentations where I could talk out my plan and get feedback from 23 intelligent minds, helped me open my business within three months of graduating. Before starting my business, I thought that business owners have more financial and personal freedom. Not true. I work harder than I have ever worked. One-hundred-hour weeks are common and filled with the stress of dealing with customers' issues, product quality, constant education, and staying on top of finances. But there is power and joy in being a part of a local economy. I get to know my neighbors because I buy
from them. I feel good supporting and being supported by a community. If I were still in B-school, I would take a classes in time-management and methods of dealing with stress. I also would have taken courses in supply chain management, techniques for managing people, and running a retail business.
ESSENTIAL EXPERIENCE. Anyone in or considering business school should see their classmates and professors as a learning community, an incubator for your business idea, and as people who will help you, and whom you will help, in the future. Use this time not
to compete for grades, but to cultivate your connections and networks. Coming to a job like this with an MBA will help you start off strong and make business decisions quickly and
confidently. But if you have business experience or can afford to make mistakes, you don't need an MBA. My MBA in sustainable management enabled me to learn the hard skills of business in synergy with decisions that affect the natural environment and social systems. This, coupled with two years of class presentations where I could talk out my plan and get
feedback from 23 intelligent minds, helped me open my business within three months of graduating.
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