MBA internship fellowship
This MBA internship puts you on Earth5R’s sustainability work with companies, with a mentor who reviews your analysis at each stage. You study how a company or market can cut waste or emissions, test the idea against field data and build a simple business case that a manager could act on.
For school students who plan to study business, and for BBA and MBA students who want a strategy project with real numbers behind it. Online, with field work near where you live. The fellowship is paid because every fellow receives time and attention from senior researchers and leaders.
Why business strategy matters for sustainability
Companies decide what goes into a product and how it is packed and sold. Those decisions shape how much waste and carbon a market produces. Managers adopt a cleaner option faster when it also cuts costs or business risk. Business students learn to set out that case with costs and savings, in a form a board can review and approve.
Earth5R runs employee volunteering and sustainability training for companies, and installed solar panels and solar street lights in Mumbai as part of a corporate CSR project. Its TERRA Score work checks the BRSR filings and annual reports of 1,200+ companies listed in India against field data. As a fellow you use this work to see how companies plan sustainability, and where their reports and the ground differ.
This work links to the UN Sustainable Development Goals: Goal 12, Responsible consumption and production and Goal 13, Climate action.
Available projects in the MBA internship fellowship
You join Earth5R’s live work through your own subject. Your mentor shapes the final project with you.
Business case for less packaging
Use brand audit data from lake and beach cleanups to see which packaging a market leaves behind, then build a business case for one company to cut it.
Zero waste society model
Work out the costs and savings for a housing society that composts its wet waste in Earth5R drum composters, and write a plan another society could adopt.
Company reports against field data
Compare what a listed company says about waste or emissions in its BRSR filing with field data, using the TERRA Score CvR Gap method, with company names masked.
Market plan for a green product
Size the market for a product made from waste, such as the paper bags made in Earth5R’s women’s livelihood work, and plan its pricing and sales channels.
What you do in the field
- Join a waste audit or brand audit in the field and record the data on the Earth5R app
- Interview residents, shopkeepers or building staff about costs and habits
- Read company annual reports and BRSR filings, with names masked
- Build a cost and savings model in a spreadsheet
- Write a short business case with options and a recommendation
- Present your case in a research conversation and defend your numbers
Skills you build
On a MBA internship, you collect your own data near where you live, using the Earth5R app and data forms. Earth5R checks the data on its platform before it goes into your project report.
How the MBA internship fellowship works
Every fellow moves through four phases. Each phase is checked by your mentor before you move on.
Observe and Map
Go into the field near where you live and collect primary data for your project in Business Management and MBA.
Frame and Design
Find the root cause in your data and frame a problem worth solving, with your mentor.
Model
Build a working model, analysis or design for your solution, and test it.
Build and Deploy
Put your solution to work, measure the result and publish a verified record on earth5r.org.
Along the way you take part in research conversations with professors at MIT, Oxford, Cambridge, LSE and other universities, and ask your own questions. See how FIELDWORK works.
Where this can take you
Degrees this work supports
- BBA or BMS (Bachelor of Management Studies)
- BCom or BSc in Business and Management
- MBA with a strategy or sustainability focus
- MSc in Management or Sustainable Business
- PGDM or PGP in Management at an Indian business school
Careers in this field
- Sustainability strategy consultant
- ESG or sustainability manager in a company
- Management consultant
- CSR programme manager
- Business analyst
Universities known for Business Management and MBA
Strong MBA and management programmes look for applicants who have worked on a real business problem and can explain the numbers behind their choices. A fellowship project gives you a business case built on field data, reviewed by your mentor and recorded on your verified earth5r.org profile. Students use a MBA internship to build a record of real work for applications to universities like these.
USA · Harvard Business School
Harvard Business School teaches a two-year, full-time residential MBA with a general management curriculum built around the case method. It also runs doctoral programmes, executive education and online courses. Its Business & Environment Initiative connects students, alumni and faculty working on climate change and the use of scarce natural resources.
Stanford Graduate School of Business (Stanford GSB)
USA · Stanford Graduate School of Business
Stanford GSB offers a full-time, two-year MBA, the one-year MSx Program for experienced leaders, a PhD and executive education. MBA students can add joint degrees such as the MS in Environment and Resources (E-IPER)/MBA. The school’s Center for Social Innovation educates leaders for social and environmental change.
Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania (Wharton)
USA · The Wharton School
The Wharton School teaches undergraduate business degrees, a full-time two-year MBA with majors and electives, an MBA for Executives and doctoral programmes. Its Impact, Value, and Sustainable Business Initiative studies how business affects natural, human and social capital. The initiative includes the Climate Center and the Impact Investing Research Lab.
MIT Sloan School of Management (MIT Sloan)
USA · MIT Sloan School of Management
MIT Sloan offers bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral programmes, including a two-year MBA, an Evening MBA, an Executive MBA, the Sloan Fellows MBA and a Master of Business Analytics. On climate, students can earn a Sustainability Certificate and complete S-Lab projects, and the school uses the En-ROADS climate simulator with students and leaders.
Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University
USA · Kellogg School of Management
Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management offers a Full-Time MBA with programmes lasting one to three years, an Evening & Weekend MBA, an Executive MBA and executive education. Through Social Impact + Sustainability, it trains leaders in corporate impact and sustainability, impact and sustainable investments, and climate, energy & the environment.
UK · London Business School
London Business School teaches the MBA, Masters degrees such as the Sloan Masters in Leadership and Strategy, a PhD and executive education. Faculty from all of its subject areas research sustainability, from accounting standards and investment to strategy and supply chains. The school also hosts the Wheeler Institute for Business and Development.
Saïd Business School, University of Oxford
UK · Saïd Business School
Oxford’s Saïd Business School teaches the Oxford MBA, the 1+1 MBA and an Executive MBA, along with MSc courses, DPhil programmes and the BA Economics and Management. Its Responsible Business research looks at corporate purpose through projects such as the Economics of Mutuality Lab and the Oxford Initiative on Rethinking Performance.
Cambridge Judge Business School, University of Cambridge
UK · Cambridge Judge Business School
Cambridge Judge Business School runs the one-year Cambridge MBA, which offers concentrations and a sustainability pathway, along with other master’s degrees and executive education. The school is home to the Energy Policy Research Group (EPRG), which researches energy and environmental economics policy and holds regular Energy & Environment seminars.
France · INSEAD
INSEAD runs a full-time, one-year MBA that students can begin at its Europe Campus in Fontainebleau or its Asia Campus in Singapore, plus a Global Executive MBA, a Master in Management and a PhD in Management. Its Hoffmann Institute explores the intersection of business and society, with tools for sustainability and social impact.
France · HEC Paris
HEC Paris offers bachelor’s and master’s programmes, a full-time MBA of 12 or 16 months, an Executive MBA, the TRIUM Global Executive MBA and a PhD. Its Sustainability & Organizations (S&O) Center, the school’s first interdisciplinary centre, studies how businesses can respond to climate and social sustainability challenges.
This list is for guidance. These universities are widely known for Business Management and MBA. Earth5R has no admissions arrangement with them, and admission decisions rest with each university. Fellows get help researching universities, scholarships and applications, depending on the programme.
What your fellowship fee pays for
An internship fellowship at Earth5R is time and attention from senior researchers and leaders. Each part below takes staff time and resources that we set aside for every fellow.
Live mentoring with experts
One-to-one mentoring in most fellowships, with regular check-ins on your project.
Dialogues with global researchers
Academics from international universities and renowned scientists, who answer your questions and discuss your work.
Support in the field
Guidance while you collect data and work on your project in the field.
References for your next step
References when you apply for jobs, higher studies and research programmes.
Your work, hosted for life
Your work and data stay on Earth5R’s website and servers for life, where universities and employers can check them.
Time from senior people
Each fellow receives time and attention from senior researchers and leaders, set aside for them.
Fee details available on request.
Choose your fellowship
The fee pays for live mentoring, dialogues with global researchers, support in the field, references and lifelong hosting of your work. Fee details available on request.
MBA internship: common questions
Can school students do this MBA internship?
Yes. School students who plan to study business start with field audits and simple cost models. BBA and MBA students take on larger company analyses. Your mentor sets the level of each project to match your stage.
What business tools will I use?
You’ll use spreadsheets for cost and savings models, company annual reports and BRSR filings, and field data from the Earth5R app. You also learn simple methods for sizing a market and for writing a business case a manager can read in a few minutes.
Will an MBA internship help my business school application?
It gives you a real strategy project to describe in essays and interviews, with a verified record on earth5r.org that admissions teams can check. Entry requirements and admission decisions rest with each school.
Is the MBA internship fellowship paid?
Yes. It is a paid, mentored internship fellowship. The fee pays for live mentoring, dialogues with global researchers, support in the field, references and lifelong hosting of your work. Fee details are available on request.
Can I do this MBA internship online?
Yes. FIELDWORK runs online, and your field work takes place near where you live. Your mentor guides you through each step.
Who can apply?
School and university students from India and other countries. The fellowship prepares you for university, postgraduate study and work.
What do I get at the end?
A certificate, a letter of recommendation, a project report and a verified profile on earth5r.org, where universities and employers can check your work.
Related internship fellowships
Apply for the MBA internship fellowship
Work on a live Earth5R project in Business Management and MBA with a mentor, take part in research conversations with global researchers, and build a verified record of your work. Fee details available on request.
