It is often said Vermont is a small and unique part of our world, however for students enrolled in our Sustainable Entrepreneurship MBA (SEMBA) the world comes to them.
Today we were honored to receive three distinguished guests, each of whom are creating sustainable and positive changes in their respective fields of healthcare and food.
Dr. Macharia Waruingi, MD, originally from Kenya, talked about the Thompson and Grace Medical City project in the Niger Delta. The project was developed under the three overarching guiding principles of: (a) health living for all (PEOPLE), (b) sustainable and low-impact development (ENVIRONMENT), and (c) project feasibility and economic and cultural development (ECONOMY).
The City will establish a “LIVE, WORK, PLAY, and LEARN” model for future healthcare development projects in Africa and beyond. The goals of the City are to:
- Promote healthy and active living
- Foster a sense of place and community identity
- Ensure safety and security
- Provide efficient multimodal transportation systems
- Provide diverse and mixed land uses and housing options
- Incorporate multi-functional green infrastructure
- Support sustainable and low impact developments
- Integrate productive landscapes and food systems planning
- Support employment and education opportunities
- Accommodate development phasing and expansion needs
Dr. Emmanuel Umoh, Phd, PMP talked about his role to address the challenges of creating and building the Thompson and Grace Medical City and incorporating sustainability into their vision.
Finally, Don Seville, Co-director of the Vermont based Sustainable Food Laboratory, talked about while many large global food manufacturers have moved from asking why do we need to do this sustainably, to how do we do it? He outlined many of the the challenges of sustainable food production across its entire supply chain.