Project Impact Challenges Lindner Business Honors Students
In a fresh take on the Project Impact experience, Lindner Business Honors students tackle real-world problems for the greater good
Ryan Berg (far right), co-founder and CEO of the Aruna Project, poses with Lindner Business Honors students after their Project Impact presentation.
Integrated into Lindner Business Honors (LBH) students’ first-year Pathways to Business course, Project Impact challenges students to forge bonds with and better the community using their business problem solving skills. Over 10 weeks, students partner with community organizations to solve a real-world problem.
Some of the project’s most recent company partners include: eleeo, via their Hang Clean and Dark Sun brands; Sweet Cheeks Diaper Bank; Cincinnati Youth Collaborative; and the Aruna Project.
Each brand or company provides a different charge for students that can range from developing a marketing strategy to solving logistics and distribution issues. The goal is for students to see the real-world impact that directly benefits people locally and internationally through these organizations.
Students are responsible for managing the project from start to finish. At the beginning of the semester, students receive a brief from the organizations explaining their background and needs. Students are then responsible for handling follow-up communication, scheduling site visits and distributing tasks among their group members. Through this process, students immerse themselves in these organizations and gain greater understanding of the organization’s structure, its business functions and impact on the community.
At each level of engagement, from the freshman Project Impact to upper-level studentsʼ onsite visit to Aruna’s international locations, the students have brought new, fresh and meaningful perspectives for the Aruna team. The full stack from freshman year to senior year helps to provide continuity both for the students and Aruna in a way that aids in a depth of understanding resulting in increased value for all involved.
Ryan Berg, co-founder and CEO of the Aruna Project
Jeena Patel, BBA ’26, worked with the Aruna Project, an athleisure brand that employs and provides support for survivors of human trafficking. Patel visited Aruna’s operations on the ground in India as part of a study abroad experience.
“My time at Aruna was truly unforgettable. I had the chance to immerse myself in the organization’s operations and learn about the challenges of running a non-profit in Cincinnati,” said Patel. “Seeing how the organization empowers and uplifts these young individuals was incredibly inspiring. Looking back on my experience, I feel deeply grateful to have been a part of something so meaningful.”
Annie Rinehart, assistant director of Lindner Business Honors
Project Impact is the first step in LBH’s laddered problem-solving approach. Laddered problem solving maintains touchpoints with the companies students are introduced to in their first year as students matriculate through their college careers. The Aruna Project is one such example that begins with students gaining an understanding of how the organization creates lifelong freedom for survivors of human trafficking. Subsequent courses build on this foundational knowledge.
“Their second year, students are again exposed to the company through a mid-collegiate operations management class, where they understand the logistics of working internationally with distribution and warehouses,” explained Annie Rinehart, assistant director of LBH, who fosters the relationships with project organizations. “Then, in an upperlevel course, they would go to a distribution center in Mumbai, India, to see firsthand how the holistic care works and meet the artisans.”
This approach helps students dive deeper into the business problems these organizations face to challenge their problem solving skills.
“Challenging problems often need new creative solutions. In Aruna’s engagement with UC’s Lindner College of Business, Aruna has presented challenging problems in our company’s mission to create lifelong freedom for survivors of human trafficking through employment supported by holistic care,” said Ryan Berg, co-founder and CEO of the Aruna Project. “At each level of engagement, from the freshman Project Impact to upper-level studentsʼ onsite visit to Aruna’s international locations, the students have brought new, fresh and meaningful perspectives for the Aruna team. The full stack from freshman year to senior year helps to provide continuity both for the students and Aruna in a way that aids in a depth of understanding resulting in increased value for all involved.”