Phi Chi Theta and The Green Business Society hosted a talk on Social Responsibility Frank Auditorium of Van Munching Hall.
The panel included Jackie Carrera, President & CEO of the Parks & People Foundation, Brian Le Gette, CEO and Co-Founder of ZeroChroma LLC and Big City Farms LLC, and John Harich, Montgomery County branch manager of Ruppert Nurseries.
Each of the three panelists gave a presentation about their companies and described their oath to being socially responsible.
The Parks & People Foundation was founded in 1984 because Baltimore children’s sports were cut, there was a large unemployment rate and the parks that had existed were unkempt due to a lack of money to support them, according to Carrera.
This organization has since then turned vacant lots into parks and gardens and established a sports program.
“We’ve planted about 29,000 trees,” Carerra said.
Parks & People is non-profit, but Carerra also talked about the other options a company has including for profit, for profit with a social focus and double-triple bottom line business. The example she gave was The Body Shop.
The Body Shop not only “set up indicators up on their own products but also on how they treat their employees and far beyond,” according to Carerra.
“The business of business should not just be about money, it should be about responsibility. It should be about public good, not private greed,” said Dame Anita Roddick, Human Rights Activist and Founder of The Body Shop according to their website.
Some of The Body Shop’s values include, “support community trade, defend human rights, against animal testing, activate self-esteem, and protect our planet,” as stated on their site.
Students remarked that this type of a business is not something they are used to hearing about.
“My idea of the business world was you are either a money making business or a non-profit, said Nick Verderosa, 21,a junior marketing major. “Those companies really showed how you can truly make a profitable company while having your main focus be helping our planet.”
LeGette also showed that it is possible incorporate both. His company ZeroChroma makes cases for mobile devices such as Apple’s iPhone and iPad, and Amazon’s Kindle.
“All of the cases are made of materials that can be easily recycled anywhere across the country,” LeGette said. He added that when he is no longer continuing on a product, and has a surplus leftover, he donates them to schools and places where they can be of use, rather than disposing of them.
“We wanted to put together a panel of business owners who were socially responsible” said Christa Ursini, 21, Junior Marketing & Studio Art. “I thought it was interesting the way Brian used it in his [consumer products] company [ZeroChroma]. He stuck with me the most”
The start up of LeGette’s other company, Big City Farms, has been like “water going down hill,” as he stated.
Big City Farms is an urban farming business that turns old parking lots into greenhouses.
“We can grow organic foods anywhere,” said LeGette. When approaching restaurant owners with “produce from across the street that’s organic and made from local labor” rather than shipped from across the country with extras pesticides, preservatives and fees.
LeGette remarked that bad communities don’t see fresh produce very often. He hopes to bring education and classes to greenhouses.
“I thought it was interesting when he talked about food and how everything comes back to it, and if we fix food, everything will work itself out around it,” said Brandon Carrera, a member of Phi Chi Theta who helped put the event together.
“From an inside perspective we wanted more time for questions and audience reactions, but other than that I think it went really well” said Ursini.
“I think it was the best speaker event we’ve had,” said Dipti Badrinath, 21, a finance and supply chain major, secretary of Phi Chi Theta.