20_07_01_ECO_award

Four students from Bilingual ADE of the School of Economics of the University of Navarra, coordinated by Isabel Rodríguez Tejedo, Vice-Dean of Office of Academic Affairs and professor at School, have been honored by AIM2Flourish, an initiative of the Fowler Center for Business at Weatherhead School of Management - Case Western Reserve University.

With their story about "Hotel with heart".which invests its profits in Education and financial aid to local communities, second-year students Ana María Londoño, Sara Ioana Popa Bucur, María Catalina Pérez and Laura Puelinckx have been awarded by this international center that recognizes projects related to the UN's Sustainable Development Goals development for diary 2030.

The comforting thing about project, as the teacher explains, is that the students "see firsthand that profit is not incompatible with sustainable development , which can be very inspiring."

The purpose of the Aim2flourish international competition is for students to research and identify a positive business innovation and interview the leader to give visibility to their project and serve as inspirational sources for others. That is why they reward stories based on the quality of the text, in addition to characteristics of the innovation of the business such as: positive impact, social inclusiveness, ability to be replicated, transformative potential...And, according to its coordinator: "Hotel con corazón gets it right in all areas, it is an initiative of great social value".

Sara Ioana Popa Bucur, one of the four students at group, noted how she loves getting involved in inspiring projects: "I thought it was a good opportunity to participate, not only for my professional growth, but also staff". She also said that at the beginning they had two ideas in mind, but that the decision to get involved in "Hotel con corazón" was because "it had an extraordinary story behind it and it was quite easy to communicate with the owner". What she emphasizes is the great opportunity the hotel offers to enjoy a vacation and at the same time help with a positive impact.

Ana María Londoño, a student of group, says that what she enjoyed the most was "seeing real testimonies and data of the positive result of this project in Nicaragua and Mexico. It filled me with inspiration and positivity to see that things can be done well and be mutually beneficial. It fills me with hope to see that the countries in development want to move forward and are taking steps to do so".

But group also had more difficult moments, such as "being concise and writing under the 'word count' margins," according to Ana María. But the effort was worth it. Ana María assures that they never thought they would get this far and that their goal "was never about winning, but about exposing the project and showing how the Sustainable development Goals are being carried out, although of course, the award is an extra, because it is also good to have external incentives".

Sara Ioana wanted to emphasize: "Our teacher has always been a support for us and offered us the best advice". And she indicated how for her "it is not only an academic work , but it represents a project of life, which has the goal to offer an opportunity to young people to continue their programs of study and have a bright future", to which Ana Maria added that she would like to "give it continuity by looking for people who want to support us, but not monetarily because the project is completely sustainable".

Isabel Rodríguez Tejedo has been proposing the activity for three years at class, on a voluntary basis. To date, 23 stories have been published, with the addition of award this year in pursuit of the goal of development Sustainable issue four, Education of Quality, proposed by the UN for diary 2030.