ClimateCAP Fellow brings global perspective to sustainability at Haas

At 3 years old, Chidera Osuji, MBA 26, moved from Atlanta to Nigeria, where she spent three years.

While many memories of that time are hazy, her return trips to Nigeria left her struck by the differences in consumption habits between the two places. Her family members in Nigeria, for one, repaired rather than tossed out and replaced belongings. She began to think a lot about resource management.

“I saw a different version of sustainability from how we think about it in the U.S.,” she said. “My family members have to make a lot out of very little and make it last for a long time. When I came back to the States, there was just too much of everything. My experiences in Nigeria began to shape the way that I try to move through the world and understand what is enough, to be content with what I have, and to inspire others to think critically about what they need and want.”

That interest in resource allocation drew Osuji to apply for a yearlong ClimateCAP MBA Fellowship during her first year at Haas. She is now among a cohort of 16 ClimateCAP Fellows, which includes two other students from Berkeley Haas: John Wells, MBA/MCS 26, and Esa Tilija, MBA 26. The Fellows will attend the annual ClimateCAP Summit from Feb. 28 to March 1, which will be held at Haas for the first time. 

Over 500 MBA students from across the country will attend this year’s Summit, organized by the Haas Office of Sustainability and Climate Change.

In addition to being the newly elected VP of Sustainability for the student-run MBA Association, Osuji is also the chief of staff for this year’s ClimateCAP Summit, coordinating the activities of 20 other student leads.

“After less than six months at Haas, Chidera has proved herself a leader among her peers in sustainability,” said Katherine Baird, director at the Haas Office of Sustainability and Climate Change. “I am excited that the ClimateCAP Fellowship, alongside her classes and time at Haas, will give Chidera a national platform to explore her climate interests and potential career paths.”

Sharing goals

The ClimateCAP Initiative, a partnership between more than 41 b-schools, aims to educate MBA students on how to respond to climate change as business leaders. Launched by Duke Fuqua in 2016, the Initiative includes the ClimateCap Fellowship Program, a virtual learning series, and the annual ClimateCAP Summit, held at a different b-school each year.

As a ClimateCAP Fellow, Osuji said she’s looking forward to being part of a community of people who share similar interests and goals. 

“This will help me structure my thoughts around these topics that I am passionate about both personally and academically,” she said. “I want to flesh out what this all means to me.”

Osuji’s interest and understanding of sustainability have evolved over the years. After graduating from Yale in 2019 with a degree in economics and ethnicity, race, and migration, she joined a corporate law firm. In a rotational program, she learned about land and environment resource practice, architecture, and design. Hoping to explore these themes further, she enrolled in a landscape architecture summer program at UC Berkeley’s College of Environmental Design, where she began thinking about the scope of climate education. 

“When people think about the climate, their thoughts immediately go to energy,” she said. “Sustainability encompasses human rights, resource management, waste management, and consumption patterns.” 

Osuji then joined a landscape architecture studio in New York that worked on municipal and private projects such as public parks and waterfront access ways. While working in design, she realized that the work depended on understanding how to pull the levers to get projects supported and funded. This influenced her decision to apply to a business school instead of a graduate program in design.

In addition to access to various workshops and networking events, each fellow receives a $3,000 stipend. Particularly interested in the impact of fast-fashion, Osuji said that she plans to use the stipend to explore “themes of excess” in a fellowship project focused on fashion circularity. 

The project will include an interactive map of a garment’s lifecycle to encourage businesses and consumers to reevaluate their understanding of consumption habits. 

“Everyone has to consume to live, but how can you do that more responsibly and reduce the harm that you cause yourself and to your neighbor?” she said.