By Director of Sustainability Erica Choe ‘25 This Fall, Harvard Undergraduate Consulting on Business and the Environment partnered with Tree Boston to organize Sustainability Day! CBE members visited Noyes Playground in Boston to help with park tree maintenance activities, such as mulching, weeding, and filling up water bags.  Sustainability Day is a cherished CBE tradition, and we look forward to seeing CBE members continue to contribute positively to the greater Boston community! Special thanks to Tree Boston and Tree Care Associate Lily for accepting our volunteering contribution.

By Claire Swadling ‘26 Through both casework and internal programming, CBE has always been committed to the life sciences. A substantial portion of our research each semester engages biology-inclined students with relevant sector-based experience. Additionally, we’ve held an annual MCAT book giveaway for students preparing to apply to medical school.  Last semester, we debuted a new board role to specifically support our cases and members inclined towards the pillar. The Life Sciences Director is responsible for managing our company’s life sciences related cases, leading LS training, spearheading LS think tanks, facilitating community service events, and organizing pre-professional opportunities for LS-interested students.  “The position itself has tremendous potential, and I am honored to have played a role in shaping life science experiences and opportunities for CBE’s broad membership,” said Stephanie Wang '26 , who was the inaugural LS Director this past spring. At the beginning of the semester, Stephanie led the organization through our first LS training, a bootcamp for CBE members on LS cases. An MD-MBA candidate guest speaker walked analysts, associates, and case team leaders through the interface of life sciences and business, with topics such as the pharmaceutical approval pipeline.  Stephanie also organized LS think tanks, an opportunity for groups of students to dive into biology industry trends outside of traditional casework. Topics included trends in drug access inequality and how shared-decision making could affect HIV health literacy.  Overall, she enjoyed helping CBE members learn more about the intersection of biology and consulting during her term. “It was an incredible experience to support members in delving deeply into important topics within the life sciences,” said Stephanie, “I got to see the students grow their research, writing, and teamwork skills over the course of a semester that went hand in hand with their casework success.” This Fall Our current LS Director, Alex Chou '26 , seeks to continue the momentum built over Stephanie’s term. Specifically, he’s interested in making LS more institutionalized as a pillar by solidifying the engagement opportunities available for LS-interested students. Accordingly, he’s continuing CBE’s traditions while building new ones. LS think tanks continue with a new focus on generative AI in medicine and sustainability in hospital systems. Alex also led CBE on their first Jimmy Fund Walk in support of the Jimmy Fund this October, a Boston-based nonprofit affiliated with the Dana-Farber Cancer center that raises money for cancer research and care. Members enjoyed getting their steps in while raising money for an important cause. “ Thus far, serving as Director of Life Sciences has been immensely gratifying, and I am thankful to have been able to contribute to several new and old traditions,” said Alex. “Whether organizing the annual MCAT/LSAT prep book giveaway, participating in the Jimmy Fund Walk alongside peer CBE members, or researching healthcare industry challenges in our think tank teams, I feel lucky to have had the opportunity to both share with others my passion for the biosciences and also promote meaningful projects in the Harvard community and greater Boston area.” Looking Forward Through initiatives that improve relevant sector knowledge for members while providing bonding opportunities for members, CBE is committed to making the life sciences an integral part of our casework and beyond. “ My hopes are that these efforts substantiate and institutionalize CBE’s involvement with and investment in the life sciences,” reflects Alex. “Moving forward, I am excited to see future leaders of the organization enhance the expansiveness of our industry casework and community initiatives in the healthcare realm.”

By Jordan Chan ‘27 Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) are fundamental values that many businesses target at every level of their organization. Though DEI efforts may boost company profitability and productivity, many companies see these efforts as more than a business strategy — they are a social and moral responsibility. This article provides insight into what DEI looks like in the consulting world, why it is so important, and how CBE has implemented practices aligned with these values.  Defining DEI While closely related, diversity, equity, and inclusion are values with independent meanings. Diversity refers to the goal of bringing in representatives from a wide variety of demographic groups (e.g. people of different genders, sexualities, ages, abilities, ethnicities, backgrounds, and perspectives). Equity is about treating people from this diverse pool fairly, allowing everyone to have an equal opportunity to contribute to the company. Equity accounts for and accommodates differences across groups without assuming that each individual’s needs can be satisfied in the exact same way. Inclusion refers to creating an environment where everyone feels like they belong. No matter what background someone comes from, they should feel listened to and valued ( University of Michigan ). Ideally, a company’s hiring practices, treatment of employees, policies, and culture all showcase a commitment to DEI. Benefits of DEI Global management consulting company McKinsey has published multiple studies exploring how diverse workplaces — especially those with diverse executive teams — are more likely to outperform their competitors financially. Their reports found “clear correlations between diversity and business performance” and an overall positive view of diversity from most employees, although negative sentiments around DEI programs are still commonplace. McKinsey focused particularly on how, when it came to profitability, companies with more women and more ethnic and cultural diversity had the edge over comparable companies with less diverse representation.  Over the years, McKinsey’s studies have garnered significant influence and attention from professionals in the business sphere. Some have cast doubts on the company’s research methodologies, wondering whether they could prove a definitively causal link between financial performance specifically and diversity ( WSJ ). However, recent studies from other sources corroborate McKinsey’s findings, often citing how diversity might improve factors like brand equity and legitimacy, thus contributing positively to profitability in the long run ( Sage Journals  and Springer ). This factor tracks with findings from McKinsey, as well as other consulting organizations like Boston Consulting Group, with studies on the performance benefits of DEI that are not explicitly “profitability” but do contribute to a company’s overall success. These include enhanced talent acquisition, better insights and creative innovation, reduced attrition, and higher levels of employee motivation and satisfaction ( McKinsey  and BCG ).  Naturally, researchers will continue to refine their work exploring the role of DEI in the workplace, but it is important to note that most critics of studies on DEI even acknowledge how research flaws do not negate the societal and moral benefits of increasing diversity in the workplace.  From CBE’s perspective, when a consulting organization has members bringing diverse perspectives, they can come up with solutions that suit the diverse needs of their client base. All the while, the organization can uplift groups of people who have historically been underrepresented and undervalued, pushing back against the structural inequities that make success in business more difficult for marginalized demographic groups.  How Consulting Companies Embrace DEI Almost all major consulting companies have publicly committed to values similar to those outlined above in some way, shape, or form. For example, to expand the diversity of their recruitment systems and the industry at large, many major consulting companies host special summits and internships for undergraduate students coming from specific backgrounds. Some well-known programs include McKinsey’s Sophomore Summer Business Analyst internship, Bain’s Building Entrepreneurial Leaders Program, and Boston Consulting Group’s Growing Future Leaders Program, which all seek Black, Hispanic/Latin American, and Indigenous candidates. There are also well-known programs for women, such as PwC’s Women’s Consulting Experience initiative and Bain’s Connecting and Resourcing Empowered Women opportunity.  Companies also make efforts to support employees from different backgrounds after they hire them, forming affinity groups to connect employees from similar backgrounds, fostering rich mentorship opportunities, investing in DEI research and consulting services, and more.   A Long Way to Go It is no secret that despite all of the buzz about DEI in recent years, the business sector still tends to lack diversity, particularly in top leadership positions. One salient example of this is what some refer to as the “women’s leadership gap,” where women are much less likely to hold senior management positions than men. For example, figures show that the top positions in Fortune 500 companies are dominated by men even though the percentages of men and women in lower positions are more equal ( CAP ). Another striking example is the underrepresentation of Black employees in management positions and in high-growth, high-paying industries ( McKinsey ). Furthermore, recent news has shown that major companies are moving back from DEI initiatives, with The Wall Street Journal publishing an article titled “ Banks, Law and Consulting Firms Are Watering Down Their Diversity Recruiting Programs ” this June.  Simply having a diverse set of summer associates is not enough to be a true champion of the values of diversity, equity, and inclusion. Even if companies have more diverse recruitment systems, employees from specific demographic groups might still face limited opportunities for advancement, high attrition levels, unsupportive work environments, and implicit biases from peers, which contributes to a persistent lack of diverse representation across the industry ( WSJ  and McKinsey ). Thus companies must embody the values of diversity, equity, and inclusion at every level, ensuring that these values permeate every facet of their culture and environment — they are never simply words on a website. DEI in CBE CBE has grown immensely as an organization in the past few years, taking on more cases and more members than ever. With this growth, we want to continue to prioritize diversity, equity, and inclusion and create as much positive impact as possible on our internal and external community. Through affinity groups, a program that we expanded last spring, we try to create supportive sub-communities for people with similar backgrounds to connect with one another. CBE also offers financial aid  to members, recognizing that students from different socioeconomic backgrounds may have financial responsibilities that make it more difficult to commit the time and effort required to complete casework. Furthermore, CBE welcomes any student to apply to join, valuing passion and potential for growth over factors such as past experience in consulting.  This perspective helps us deliver the highest quality of work possible, allows members to work towards the best version of themselves, and is mindful of how the diverse set of students at Harvard have not all had the same access to experiences as one another in the past. We also hold ourselves accountable by getting advice from experts on DEI in the industry and closely reviewing feedback from our community on how we can improve — efforts overseen by a dedicated Director of Internal Engagement & Inclusion on our executive board. We recognize that we, too, have a long way to go. But we take this responsibility seriously and proudly commit to embodying the growth we hope to see in the consulting industry.

By Director of Operations Ever Marinelli ‘25 When I first joined CBE as an analyst, I had little academic or career direction, knew very little about CBE and absolutely nothing about consulting. All I knew was that I wanted to eat free food and spend more time with my roommate Dan Ennis ‘25 , CBE’s former president, who was a Managing Director at the time and shamelessly plugged the org at all hours of the day. I certainly did not expect to be writing “Why CBE” blog articles two years later. But as everyone knows, it’s easy to sell something you actually believe in. So allow me to sell you on CBE as Dan did to me — with perhaps a bit less emphasis on roommate bonding.  At the Early Insights program this year, a participant asked the Board to describe the CBE community with one word. I found this remarkably challenging, and was thankful to have the question addressed by someone else (our President Andrew Gong ‘25 answered “wholesome”), but I spent considerable time thinking about it. I ultimately landed on “supportive.” In the most broad sense, CBE is a supportive environment where everyone genuinely cares about the wellbeing and success of other members. At a case team level, members in each role support each other – from Case Team Leaders seeking advice from their Managing Directors to analysts collaborating on research in the underbelly of Lamont Library. Professional development opportunities serve to support members’ career aspirations by passing down knowledge from upperclassmen and CBE alumni. Everywhere from study breaks to recruitment events, I am continually impressed by the generosity and warmth with which CBE members treat each other. So while I find “supportive” to be a rather bland adjective, it’s an excellent answer to the question.  It's easy to find friends within such a community — even if you have zero interest in consulting post-grad, or you’re a little afraid of the life sciences, or maybe even have pretty un-sustainable practices in your daily life, you’re sure to find a like-minded CBE member making their way through a similar journey. Whether the latest CHEM-17 exam has you questioning if pre-med is really for you or you’re warding off a panic attack before your BCG case interview, someone else in CBE has either been in your shoes or is currently standing in them alongside you. Perhaps you chat about it over (free) coffee at a Board coffee chat, or commiserate over (free) Chipotle at a weekly study break. And, more likely than not, you’ve just started a friendship that will last much longer than your tenure at CBE. I speak from experience — I was always someone who found myself rather nervous making new friends, but CBE offered the ideal platform to bond with so many interesting and warm people, it was almost impossible not to find those who resonated with me. And I can now safely say that CBE members constitute a large proportion of my friends on campus.  You may find yourself thinking that this friend business is all fine and dandy but you already have plenty of friends from FOP or your eight person freshman dorm and you’re more worried about that BCG case interview I mentioned earlier. While I can’t personally offer any casing guidance (I plan on making next to no money grinding out a PhD instead), CBE’s wealth of professional development opportunities certainly can. You name it, CBE offers it: coffee chats with Board members on similar career journeys, case interview workshops, a constant email chain of internship opportunities, life sciences speakers, robust alumni networking, the list goes on. And while all these opportunities and even just having CBE on your resume can certainly help you land that big three summer internship you’re dreaming of, the soft skills that CBE casework helps you develop are, in my opinion, the most valuable and widely applicable prof dev resources the org provides. As an analyst, you’ll learn quickly how to conduct thorough high-quality research and feel confident presenting your findings to a real client. As an associate, you’ll further hone your slide making skills and become an expert at clearly conveying dense information in an accessible way. As a CTL, you’ll learn how to communicate and problem-solve with clients, and how to manage a team. And as a board member, you’ll apply those communication and problem-solving skills to a larger team dynamic. These skills are paramount, and the best part is, they’re not industry specific. When I have to present data or communicate with my lab supervisor, I frequently find myself drawing on the skills I developed as an analyst and CTL. So even if the thought of working as a full time consultant sends shivers down your spine or you’re not quite sure about the life sciences, I can guarantee (yes, 100% guarantee) that CBE has something invaluable to offer you as you begin your career.  At CBE, I genuinely believe there is a place for anyone, with any background experience or future aspiration. Curiosity and passion are the most important things we look for in an applicant — do you want to creatively solve a problem, contribute meaningfully to our community, or drive tangible change in client companies? There’s no specific background or set of prior abilities that can replace an emphatic “Yes!” to those questions, so if you find yourself resonating with any of them, I encourage you to consider CBE. Hopefully you’re sold, or at the very least intrigued. And if you’re not quite there, I’ll remind you as Dan once did, that we also have excellent perks.  In all seriousness, CBE is incredibly excited to welcome Fall 2024 analysts to our community, and I hope to see you among them. I am always more than happy to wax on about the joys of CBE, so don’t hesitate to reach out with questions, or just to chat.  Best, Ever Marinelli ‘25 Director of Operations evermarinelli@college.harvard.edu

By President Andrew Gong ‘25 My first impression of CBE, much like everyone else’s, was analyst training. It was the fall semester of my freshman year, and I remember wandering around a still-unfamiliar Harvard campus trying to find the lecture hall where training was scheduled. When I arrived, I grabbed a slice of pizza, settled into my seat, and struck up conversations with a few neighbors as we waited for training to begin. It’s been almost 3 years since that day, and my freshman self would be shocked to see the CBE of today after several semesters of exponential growth. Trainings have moved from Harvard lecture halls to offsite events in swanky hotel ballrooms. One-off pizza parties have been replaced with recurring study breaks replete with free food for the entire organization. Our organization has ballooned in size, allowing us to work with more clients and admit more students than ever before. We have also become more institutionalized; in these 3 years, we have hired an auditor, revamped our website, and registered as an official 501(c)3 non-profit. We are now among the largest (if not actually the largest) fully student-run non-profits by revenue in the country. I’m now entering my senior year and my seventh semester in CBE. It’s been striking to witness these changes as I’ve grown alongside the organization. But even more than that, it’s remarkable to witness the elements that have remained unchanged at CBE’s core. I wanted to take this blog post to reflect on that change and constancy within CBE — and what it means for the future of the organization. Community Throughout our dizzying growth, one value has always held firm in CBE: a vibrant, friendly community. Many organizations fall into the trap of overly fixating on work, foregoing social connections, and producing a corporate, impersonal culture. While CBE is by no means perfect, I can firmly say that across my 2 years on the board of the club, bolstering our community has always been a north star in leadership conversations. This emphasis on community goes back even longer than these 2 years. In a   CBE blog post  written over 6 years ago, our former CFO Jeff Cott '18 wrote that “the spirit of mentorship and passion for support” defined CBE in his time, and “will never go out of style.” It was a bold prediction, but it still holds true today after weathering a global pandemic. As we’ve grown, we haven’t lost sight of our community; instead, we’ve dedicated more and more resources to launch new initiatives for our members like engagement events, study breaks, and professional development opportunities in finance and consulting. And as a result, we’ve seen our community grow even stronger with each passing semester. Those initiatives have certainly worked out for me; my conversations with neighbors at analyst training have since spiraled into some of my closest friendships today. My college life would look markedly different (and markedly less enjoyable!) if I hadn’t joined CBE, socially as well as professionally. Impact Another core tenet of CBE that has persisted through the years is a commitment to positive social impact. With our growing scale, we’ve been able to put our revenue to create impact in the Boston community and beyond, dedicating hundreds of thousands of dollars each year to initiatives like our Sustainability Grant, Boston Public Schools scholarship, Ventures competition, and need-based financial aid for our members. Our commitment to social impact isn’t just an afterthought, a sink into which we pour our excess revenues. It’s an active element of what it means to be a member of CBE. Two semesters ago, we started our “Community Initiatives” program, which Jordan Chan ’27 covered brilliantly in a   blog post  earlier this summer. These initiatives pair CBE sibfams with service opportunities in the Boston area to give back to the community and embody our organizational values. We also celebrate Sustainability Day, which sends battalions of CBE students to assist a local sustainability non-profit for one day each semester. Recent semesters have seen members don gloves for trash cleanup along the Mystic River watershed or get their hands dirty pulling weeds at Jamaica Pond Park. I’ve loved participating in these activities, not only because they’re fun and strengthen the bonds within our community, but also because they remind me why I love CBE: every day, we work to make the world a better place. Change and Constancy Where do we go from here? I’m sure CBE still has so much to learn, and so far to go. We are a newborn organization compared to most institutions at our centuries-old college. Our revenues, client list, and roster have plenty of room to expand. We will continue launching new initiatives to nurture connections in our community and open up professional opportunities for our members. We will become even more institutionalized, as our Board builds more of the critical infrastructure needed to lead a growing consulting business. But I also hope that future generations of CBE don’t lose sight of where we came from. Student organizations are a fickle thing because every four years, the entire organization graduates, cycles, and begins anew. This makes it profoundly difficult to preserve institutional memory and pass down our values. To that end, I’m writing this blog post as a persistent reminder. It’s very likely that a future CBE President is reading this article right now, and doesn’t even realize it. To them, I would say: hold fast to CBE’s values — never let go of our supportive community and commitment to impact — and once you have done that, take this organization to new heights.

By CBE Blog Staff With more and more companies vowing to embrace and incorporate Environmental, Social, and Governance ( ESG) strategies into their business practices, we want to highlight several top companies that have seamlessly demonstrated their commitment to upholding and integrating these standards into their business practices. Contrary to popular belief, ESG goes beyond just green initiatives — it extends into ethical business practices, corporate philanthropy, inclusive impact, diversity, equity, and inclusion, and more. ESG standards create stronger partnerships between stakeholders, customers, and other businesses that aim to uphold similar standards. Moreover, ESG serves as a beacon of inclusivity by supporting marginalized identities and communities as a whole.  Climate Change and Sustainability  Nvidia Corporation is a Santa Clara, CA-based company that has made significant strides in the field of AI. As one of the most highly valued and innovative companies in the world, Nvidia’s largest product is its GPU chip which has increased in demand as the AI field continues to grow. Its corporate sustainability standards are no less — by the 2025 fiscal year, Nvidia expects to use 100% renewable energy  for its office and data center use. As an effort to further reduce energy use and maximize efficiency, its GPU chips are estimated to be about 20x as efficient as traditional chips. As more and more industries shift towards AI technology, Nvidia has supported multiple companies across the globe to uplift their communities. In the healthcare technology  industry, for example, Nvidia has offered its services to create AI models for healthcare services including prescription drug creation, screenings, and medical imaging. In partnership with Amazon Web Services, Nvidia’s AI Enterprise has increased its services to a variety of healthcare and life science companies across the industry to promote healthcare innovation. Due to its efficacy and efficiency, this initiative will speed up drug development across industries. A-Alpha Bio, a large biotechnology firm experienced a 10x efficiency in their engineering of protein samples.  Avocados are a tremendously popular food,  known for their numerous health benefits and nutritional value; however, a significant number of avocado pits end up being thrown out which further contributes to global food waste. Bioengineering company, Biofase  has made impressive strides in creating plastics from avocado seeds and reducing food waste. Traditionally, bioplastics are created from corn or potato-based grains. The Mexico-based company was founded by Scott Munguia in 2013 and has developed a technology that uses avocado pits to create 100% compostable and biodegradable utensils called Biocom compostables.  The technology uses the biopolymer from the pits called polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) elements to replace traditional plastic consumption in the form of polystyrene, polyethylene, and polypropylene. Beginning in the production process, the avocado pits are cleaned and then converted to biopolymer plastic. They are then mixed with organic compounds and transformed into a resin that builds their heat tolerance. Their other offering includes a Biocom Hybrid product which is made up of about 60% composted vegetable matter. Since the creation of Biofase, they have been awarded numerous times including the 2017 Forbes 30 under 30 Latin America award, FRISA Award for Entrepreneurial Development, and the 2012 Cleantech Challenge. In an industry where sustainability is just as important, Alleyoop  is a cosmetic and wellness brand that offers products ranging from body care, to makeup brushes, and makeup pens. Founded in 2019, the company has received multiple awards from Elle and Allure magazine due to its cleaner ingredients free of parabens, aluminum, and latex. Their sustainability model  prides itself on its “multifunctional” designed packaging which reduces the need for multiple items because the products and tools needed for a makeup object are already included in the design. Not only is their packaging locally and sustainably sourced, but it also uses far less land, water, and energy sources to create their packaging in the first place. Alleyoop has committed itself to net-zero plastic packaging and has reused about 21,000 lbs of plastic found in the ocean. To top it all off, all of Alleyoop’s products are vegan and cruelty-free to promote its dedication to preserving life and natural resources.   Social Responsibility and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Sodexo, a French food and merchandise company founded in 1966 has won numerous awards for its gender-based DEI initiatives in the workplace. Serving over 100 million customers on a daily basis, the company was given a perfect disability equality index score, named Forbes’ 2022 best employer for diversity, Seramount’s best company for multicultural-identifying women, and Employer of the Year by the Massachusetts Commission for the Blind. The company continues to spearhead the DEI space through representation, inclusivity, and educational training . About 60% of the board of directors, 29% of its executive governing committee members, and over 55% of its total staff are women. Thousands of their company leaders and managers participate in DEI training annually. Swiss-based company, Novartis  is one of the leading global pharmaceutical companies in the world. Novartis strives to include historically underrepresented voices in the world of medicine and has been awarded for its gender equality and LGBTQ+ employment efforts. It was included in Bloomberg’s 2023 Gender Equality Index and awarded Stonewalls’ Top Global Employer in 2022. Novartis employees can join numerous Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) to receive support and create bonds with those of similar backgrounds, interests, and perspectives. To impact underserved communities, it announced a 10-year-long partnership with over 25 Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) across the country  to mitigate the ongoing impacts of healthcare disparities. As the COVID-19 pandemic further exacerbates these impacts, Novartis aims to increase diversity “among trial participants…clinical trial investigators, medical school students, and physicians.” Novartis will support the education of future Black healthcare providers through mentorship in collaboration with the Thurgood Marshall College Fund and by establishing Digitally Enabled Clinical Trial Centers for Excellence to increase racial diversity in medical trials which can be incorporated into textbooks and future studies. Are you looking to implement sustainable best practices in your operations? CBE's high-impact focus on sustainability, technology, and life sciences allows us to deliver research-driven solutions catered to the needs of our clients. If you would like to learn more about how CBE could work with your organization, contact us at info@harvardcbe.com  or by navigating to the Contact page of our website.

By Isis Rodriguez ‘27 Last spring, a team of CBE members partnered with Brothers Building A Better Nation  (BBABN), a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping young Black and Latino men in the Newark area meet all of their needs, thrive, and succeed. The CBE team delivered recommendations for Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) the nonprofit can use to continue to develop their growing financial and organizational practices to maintain transparency and accountability both internally and to external funding and community partners. In working with Brothers Building a Better Nation, the CBE team was able to gain key insights into the unique challenges and research techniques of nonprofit KPI development, ultimately helping BBABN develop KPIs that uniquely support their financial and organizational development. KPIs for Nonprofit Versus For-Profit Organizations CBE team members underscore that nonprofit and for-profit organizations have very different motivations which greatly impact how KPI research was both researched and presented to the client. Analyst Joseph Price ‘27,  found in his research process that there was a much larger emphasis on qualitative KPI development for BBABN, especially given the vast community-driven programs the nonprofit runs, including mentorship and harm reduction. He stated that nonprofits are “like businesses that [do] charitable things” and that while for-profit organizations focus on KPIs catered towards revenue, nonprofit KPIs have the objective of “maximizing impact” on their designated community. Thus, in Joseph’s research process, he largely focused on putting himself in the place of the young men of color BBABN serves, asking himself what kinds of programs he would look for, and subsequently discovering whether data largely supported his feelings and devising plans and KPI metrics accordingly. Case Team Lead Theresa Huang ‘26  shared a similar sentiment. “There is a difference,” she stated. “Nonprofits are geared more towards the community whereas for-profit organizations tend to be more revenue driven.” However, regardless of motivation, Theresa notes that “analysis largely remains the same” and the main aspect of research and final deliverables that changes is the language used to present, which more accurately reflects the different goals of each type of organization. She gave the example of “competitive analysis” for a for-profit organization, a term that becomes “nonprofit comparison” in the nonprofit context. Research for this case and its deliverables aligned more with qualitative, community-based goals outlined in conversations with the client — a departure from our research for for-profit organizations that often centers around maximizing profitability and ROI for continued operations. The Major Challenge A large challenge of working with nonprofits like BBABN is devising strategies around BBABN’s limited financial resources.  BBABN founder and leader Quadeer Porter  agrees that nonprofits like his are very community focused. His organization and others like it — nonprofits born out of the pandemic and not bringing in steady streams of income — face issues defining boundaries of the limits of the organization's powers within the community. Porter outlines that BBABN helps as many people as possible. However, the nonprofit’s stream of funding, which comes from donations, is no match for the power of the income stream of for-profit organizations with clientele who buy into the organization both literally and figuratively, and with investors that supplement and support major spending ventures. As such, nonprofits face a double burden of heightened responsibility to those they serve without all the necessary financial resources to always comfortably and adequately serve them.  Our Solutions To bridge the gap between financial limitations and maximized community impact, Theresa and Joseph stress, per Theresa’s words, “balancing the quantitative and qualitative metrics.” Although nonprofit KPI metrics are often largely qualitative, the research to create them is not much different from the research involved in developing quantitative KPIs for for-profit organizations. Thus, being intentional about quantitative KPI development in the research process proves to be a powerful way for nonprofit organizations to have a variety of metrics measuring the strength of the relationship between the nonprofit and the communities served against the internal financial organization of the nonprofit. For BBABN, it was important to remain creative in the KPI development process, as the increased financial burden of nonprofits affects the feasibility of any solutions a case team may devise. Joseph reflected that the limited resources of the nonprofit sector forced him to think more “creatively” about affordable programming BBABN could implement for increased public exposure in community and donor sectors. Joseph also got creative with affordable technology for KPI data collection, so that BBABN could have all the necessary financial and programming data continuously. Theresa encourages nonprofits, especially those founded more recently, to build up data before launching the organization into the games of comparison with other nonprofits. As the nonprofit establishes its niche, the KPI sample data taken in the short term may no longer be an accurate data set for the nonprofit’s newfound long-term plans. This conflict necessitates a reframing of the KPIs, as well as a restructuring of data collection and data analysis metrics. Critically, by advising both long-term and short-term flexibility around their KPIs and developing key metrics to gauge success, CBE helped ensure that BBABN can adapt to the ever-changing needs of the community they serve in a sustainable manner going forward. Are you looking for a personalized approach to measuring organizational outcomes through creative KPI development? CBE is committed to delivering thoroughly researched, high-impact solutions catered to the needs of our clients. If you would like to learn more about how CBE could work with your organization, contact us at info@harvardcbe.com or by navigating to the Contact page of our website.

By Jordan Chan ‘27 Although HUCBE is a professional consulting organization providing real-world clients with valuable research and recommendations, our members also participate in community initiatives beyond our casework. One of our fundamental goals is to create a meaningful impact by giving back to the community — through initiatives such as Boston Public School scholarships, our Ventures competition, sustainability grants, pro-bono work, and a series of volunteering events in the Greater Boston area.  Volunteerism can boost productivity and member engagement within organizations, and CBE is no exception. CBE members get to know each other not just as colleagues, but also as friends by contributing to community service projects together. Furthermore, volunteering with people with a variety of experiences and opinions helps our members produce work that keeps the full range and diversity of people it may impact close to mind. This broad perspective is beneficial when we work with larger clients whose high-level operations may have consequences for individuals in ways that may not seem as salient in, for example, a statement of work. In this way, volunteering in our community is about more than just the organizations we benefit — it is about incorporating a deeper purpose into all of the work we do. Here’s a recap of a few of the exciting volunteering events CBE members participated in during the Spring 2024 semester! Harvard University Dining Services Heat-N-Eats Program Seven CBE members did not have to travel far to make a difference this semester, going to Harvard’s very own Annenberg dining hall to package meals for food-insecure individuals in the surrounding Cambridge area through the Heat-N-Eats Program . These microwaveable meals — containing a balanced mix of proteins, rice or grains, and vegetables that did not get consumed during meal service — are donated to local residential hotels and shelters that lack the capacity to prepare healthy food for residents on site. The program rescues food that would have otherwise gone to waste, meaning it has environmental benefits as well as humanitarian ones. Director of Sourcing Audrey Zhang ‘26 , who participated in Heat-N-Eats with CBE this semester, mentioned how she would often see leftover food at the end of meal service and wonder where it all went. “I didn’t think they would just throw it all away,” she explained, “but being able to see behind the scenes…and help out with packaging made me really see how [the Harvard University Dining Services] is doing something tangible.” It also “opened [her] eyes to just how much food is left over.” Audrey recalled that she and her team of volunteers formed an assembly line, scooping items like leftover grains into bags and meal boxes, then packaging them with saran wrap. She is grateful that CBE community initiatives help her get off campus and engage with the community, expressing that community is “a very important value that we want to make sure all of our members, including future members, take to heart.” Friday Night Supper Program CBE members helped provide nutritious three-course meals to individuals in need in the Greater Boston area through the Friday Night Supper Program (FNSP) . According to the FNSP website, they are “one of the longest running supper programs in Boston” and have served dinner to people experiencing homelessness or poverty every Friday evening since 1984. Speaking to why her experiences at FNSP were particularly meaningful, Analyst Jeeya Patel ‘27 emphasized how “being able to work in a soup kitchen has a very direct impact on people who are homeless or who just maybe can’t afford a meal that day.” She “learned a lot…and met a lot of different people” during the several hours that she spent in Arlington Street Church washing and drying dishes, assisting with wrap-up, and maintaining the cleanliness of the kitchen and eating areas. Other volunteers helped serve the food and check in on people coming in for a meal.  Jeeya also underscored the importance of community service events in CBE. “People looking at a CBE…will see that we work with multi-billion dollar clients,” she explained. “It’s really good to bring everyone…back to the real world.” Reflecting shared sentiments across the CBE community, she also stressed the importance of humility: “No one gets into Harvard just by their own merits. I think it takes a village to raise someone; it’s really important to give back to the community in whatever way you can.”  Harvard Habitat for Humanity For the next featured volunteering event, Managing Director Joey Liu ‘26 and her fellow members put on their hard hats and tool belts. After a shuttle ride and safety brief from their supervisors with Harvard's chapter of Habitat for Humanity , they stepped onto an active construction site to combat housing insecurity by building a brand-new multi-family house, complete with individual kitchens, bedrooms, and bathrooms. This all-day event kept everyone busy; some members helped install the house’s insulation, while others assisted with cutting and nailing down planks of wood. Building safe and affordable homes like this one is how Habitat for Humanity, a global nonprofit organization, fulfills their vision of  “a world where everyone has a decent place to live.” Reflecting on her experiences, Joey appreciated how hands-on this community service event was. She and other CBE members directly contributed to a project that would give other kids “the opportunity to be protected, have a better childhood, and [gain] the ability to…make a better life for themselves.” As Harvard students, “we are always exposed to the [homeless] community,” Joey mentioned. Housing insecurity “is something I always wished I could help out with.” She added that, after participating, she gained a newfound respect for the work that employees of Habitat for Humanity and similar organizations commit to in the long term. From the moment Joey joined CBE, she has been particularly proud of the organization’s continued commitment to volunteerism. She admitted that being a student at Harvard can be stressful and hectic, so she is grateful that, through CBE, she and other members can take a step back, reconnect with their fundamental values, and use “resources and human capital to really try and make a difference in the community — in whatever way, shape, or form that we can.” CBE is committed to further bolstering community initiatives to maximize our positive impact on those around us as we move into another semester of hard work. If you would like to read more about what CBE is doing to give back, check out our giving report at hucbe.org/impact  or by navigating to the Impact page of our website.

By: Daniel Shen, Sophia Zhou, Fiona Millan, Kevin Tan, Khanh Le, and Daniela Shuman Chinese investment in the African region has steadily increased over the past two decades, ranging in the billions of dollars annually. However, there is little public research about these investments, their motivations, and their outcomes; investment negotiations often occur privately, without opportunity for external stakeholder input. This presents a problem to organizations that have been working for decades with existing governments to develop climate-friendly and resilient transportation infrastructure. How can these organizations gain leverage in negotiations with Chinese investors and African developers to pursue “greener” infrastructure projects? To solve this problem, a team of CBE and Insight Program members developed a comprehensive study detailing the process and outcome of Chinese investment in African transportation projects. A novel motivation framework for these investments was constructed, providing insight on the future of Chinese monetary flow to Africa. This white paper is a contribution to research on Chinese investment in Africa and an informative analysis for those interested in this field of affairs Click here to download our entire slide deck: Click here to download a database of Chinese Investment Projects in African Transportation infrastructure:

As we prepare for the 2020 competition, the CBE Ventures team has reconnected with our 2019 winners and their progress since Pitch Day almost one year ago. Starting from our own student community, these entrepreneurs have made incredible strides to revolutionize their industries, and CBE is proud to support their work towards a better and more sustainable future. Grand Prize Winner: ShelfLife For craft food and beverage producers, ShelfLife’s ordering platform and vendor network provide volume discounts on common packaging materials and services. Since our competition last year, ShelfLife has raised $325K in pre-seed funding from NextView Ventures, MBA Fund, Rough Draft Ventures, Dorm Room Fund, Switch Ventures, HBS Rock Center, and Harvard Undergraduate Capital Partners. ShelfLife has piloted its product with Lamplighter Brewing Co., generating purchase orders for $10,000-$12,000 in raw materials per week. Currently, they are in the process of launching packaging resources and automating purchase orders. ShelfLife is on its way towards its goal of becoming the go-to, managed marketplace for food and beverage primary packaging in the US. Runner-Up: Debate Spaces Debate Spaces is an education non-profit that uses debate to foster activism and connect middle school students from around the Greater Boston area. This past year, Debate Spaces has raised $20K in its first seed funding round and expanded its reach by adding a community organizer and teacher to their team. While the shift to online learning has affected the delivery of education around the world, Debate Spaces has shifted its in-person programming to remote offerings so its students can continue to build their core skills of debate, engage with current events, and meet new friends from their homes. Debate Spaces is also committed to making racial justice a central focus of its curriculum, holding an emergency session to discuss police brutality and systemic racism, as well as raising additional funds to ensure that its services are accessible to students to process and create change regarding racism in our communities. Sustainability Prize: Troav Troav offers a monthly subscription membership, allowing users to access a large inventory of physical goods quickly and easily. For the past few months, the Troav team has been building out a local instant delivery service for the past few months, partnering with gig drivers and suppliers to enhance their reach. They have worked on adapting their model to navigate the pandemic, spending the summer in Boston to build their service for its users.

I. Overview In the last few years, the Life Sciences industry in the US industry has been facing unique challenges, as costs rise, government regulations change, and operational barriers mount. A new paradigm has been created called the New Health Economy, which also includes consolidating hospitals for efficiency, changing expectations of patients, and increasing calls for price reforms. To combat these challenges, the industry has grown more consumer-facing and collaborative. [1] A significant result of this shift is that life sciences organizations—particularly pharmaceutical groups—have begun to tailor the healthcare experience towards patients directly. Data-driven product development has led to more personalized treatments, although the lack of big data talent in bioinformatics has been hampering growth. In the next few years, companies will move towards a more flexible and interactive approach by directly interfacing with patients, delivering better experiences for patients and gathering valuable data for drugmakers. [2] Life sciences groups have formed geographic clusters, particularly in Boston and in the Bay Area [3]. However, this means that rising rents and an increasingly competitive recruitment pool can lead to increased costs. Finally, many potential external factors must be prepared for, as they could reshape the industry. Changes in insurance policies and the politics behind them can wildly affect pricing and customers’ level of willingness to pay for certain services. Diseases and pandemics can occur without prior notice and could change the drug development focus, as seen with the Ebola crisis. Particular inventions or discoveries (such as new antibiotics and genetic treatments) can also change research directions. II. Industry Sectors Biotech Boston is a major hub for biotech and pharmaceutical startups, including many of our former clients. The gamut of organizations is vast, with capabilities ranging from using virtual reality to cure lazy eye to incentivizing proper health practices with a mobile app. They often focus on individualized medicine made possible through data analytics. Looking forward, the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council expects the following four trends to impact biotechnology: a strategic hunt for revenue growth, an influx of new sources of capital, real estate solutions driven by tight markets, and talent acquisition. A changing tax regime may also have a significant impact. [4] Pharmaceuticals Pharmaceutical organizations generally expect to see returns on investment only after at least 8- 10 years. Thus, drug development is an expensive and time intensive process that requires a long-term commitment towards R&D before monetization. This also means that the pricing of the drugs is usually very expensive and relatively inelastic. A series of lawsuits, nevertheless, has been highlighting predatory pricing in this field, which could bring some relief to customers. Often smaller companies that develop direct market competitors to other pharmaceutical companies will sell themselves to the competitor to gain more resources. Pharmaceutical organizations are focusing on using enterprise analytics and data sciences to influence their business decisions, leveraging big data analytics. As medical records move to the cloud, imaging becomes progressively higher quality, and genome information becomes widely available, these companies take in the large data sets to help with drug development. This means that cloud-services, privacy, and security become primary concerns for the organizations. III. References 1. https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/pages/life-sciences-and-health-care/articles/lifesciences-outlook.html 2. https://www.strategyand.pwc.com/trend/2017-life-sciences-trends 3. http://www.us.jll.com/united-states/en-us/research/industry/life-sciences-companies 4. https://www.massbio.org/news/blog/top-4-trends-impacting-the-life-sciences-industry-ingreater-boston-and-across-the-us-125972

A little over a month ago, we received news that Harvard would require students to move off campus amid growing concerns over COVID-19. Shortly thereafter, we sprung into action. We doubled down on our commitment to supporting our members, providing stipends for relocation relief. And once everyone managed to settle down — to the extent this phrase can aptly describe these unprecedented circumstances — we announced the launch of the CBE COVID-19 Action Team. Within days, the task force expanded to over 50 people, consisting of both past and present CBE members. CBE was founded on the fundamental premise that community matters. Anchored by the “Environment” in its name and the pillar of sustainability that guides its work, CBE has long held the view that generating positive impact is critical in confronting a modern world facing increasingly complex challenges. Moreover, the fundamental aim of consulting is to solve problems. As an undergraduate consulting group, we recognized that there was much impact that students could generate if they collectively leveraged their capabilities and resources to tackle these issues. While we had numerous plans in place to expand our sustainability work and programming this semester, many were crowded out by COVID-19. Yet, in recognizing the urgency of the public health crisis, along with the numerous parallels between the pandemic and climate change, we quickly pivoted our sustainability work towards COVID-19 relief efforts. We formed partnerships with organizations including Response4Life and Group 17a, working on pro bono consulting projects in which we analyzed ventilator manufacturing processes and county-level responses to coronavirus outbreaks in jails, respectively. Through these partnerships, members of the CBE COVID-19 action team were able to not only advance pandemic relief efforts, but also learn more about the insidious challenges that COVID-19 presents. A screenshot taken from our initial COVID-19 meeting. Since then, our team has grown and taken off! Since we kicked off these initial projects, we have pursued several other efforts as well. We launched our first-ever partnership with Harvard Effective Altruism on a “Giving Game” event to welcome the incoming Harvard College Class of 2024. At this event, CBE donated $1,000 to two nonprofits, GiveDirectly and Greater Boston Food Bank — these decisions were informed, in part, by “effective altruism” frameworks to understand how organizations like CBE and their members could maximize the impact of their donations. Furthermore, we partnered with Project Concern International, an international development nonprofit, to create several internships for our members. These members will be analyzing how a better understanding of data analytics and health outcomes can inform and improve COVID-19 relief efforts. We do not intend to stop here. We recognize that we have a long road ahead to adequately stem the COVID-19 pandemic, let alone climate change. We will continue to iterate on the insights we gather from our initial projects and investments to inform a more thorough understanding of how we can best pursue future ones. CBE is, and always has been, about environment, impact, and problem solving — moving forward, we will continue to act with these values in mind. We are eager to partner with organizations on projects advancing COVID-19 relief. If you or your organization could benefit from a partnership or a pro bono consulting project, please do not hesitate to reach out. We eagerly await the collaborative journey that lies ahead.