Ghana has been ravaged by deforestation from mining. Team Ghana was challenged to make specific suggestions for restoring the natural environment.
The Meyer Business on the Frontlines program first partnered with Newmont Mining seven years ago. When the opportunity came again to partner with the world's largest gold mining company this winter, Frontlines students were eager to dive in. Working closely with Newmont's sustainability team in Ghana and its NGO partner, Conservation Alliance, the team of six students and two advisers was tasked with making recommendations for how the mine could achieve its biodiversity offsets in the Atewa forest range over the coming decade.
Kathryn Gibson, a dual Notre Dame MBA and Master of Global Affairs student, explained, "When Newmont opened one of its Ghana gold mines in 2011, the company signed an agreement with the government committing to compensate for the acres of land that would be deforested as a result of its operations." Newmont planned to give back by helping to reforest the nearby Atewa range while promoting sustainable livelihoods for those living in more than 40 communities in the area.
Ghana has been ravaged by deforestation, which results from both legal and illegal small-scale mining practices (known locally as galamsey). Team Ghana was challenged to make specific suggestions for restoring the natural environment and empowering locals with related training and economic development opportunities.
"Within our first Zoom meeting with our partner while we were still on campus, we saw that they wanted us to look at a huge systemic issue,” said Gibson. “It was a powerful experience to break down that big problem and identify what our team could meaningfully contribute in a semester."
Initially, they got lost in the weeds trying to gain proficiency in mining and biodiversity offsets. Eventually, the team realized that the challenge involved more finance than forestry.
"What Newmont needed wasn't a team of rocket scientists,” said Braden Weldy (MBA '14). “It was about getting a more robust forest by analyzing the financial viability of several solutions. That could only be informed by time in Ghana with boots on the ground."
Once Team Ghana arrived in country, Newmont narrowed the focus by assigning the students to visit just three Atewa communities: Dwenase, Kobreso and Obuoho. The team's first task was to meet with residents, entrepreneurs and local leaders. The residents of all three expressed a need for more reliable economic development opportunities.
Antonio Gonzalez (MBA '24), who came to Mendoza and Frontlines with a decade of accounting and finance experience, expected to analyze the 30 different agroforestry solutions recommended during the meetings and then be able to come to a clear recommendation based on spreadsheets and Excel formula expertise.
He realized almost immediately that the problem was more complicated than that.
"This project helped me look at things from a qualitative sense without just assuming we could unlock our answers purely through quantitative analysis," Gonzalez explained.
For example, while the team members went into the field assuming that ecotourism was the way forward, they learned through in-person meetings with the client that this category of solutions wasn't compatible with the mining company's goals.
Every conversation ultimately looped back to stopping galamsey. However, rather than simply clamping down on the practice, the team began to see how many people involved in this industry were desperate to earn enough money to support their families.
Ultimately, they recommended a strategy based on agribusiness development, capacity building and raising awareness. Newmont could achieve results by making short-term investments in projects that strengthen agricultural value chains by supporting producers who plant and harvest crops that reforest the local ecosystem. They dubbed this category of investments "Agroforestry +."
Gonzalez left Ghana with an unexpected understanding of his own personal history. Identifying as Black and Puerto Rican, he was amazed to find that many of his favorite Caribbean dishes were derived from Ghanaian recipes. When the team visited Elmina Castle, a former slave trade port, he was deeply affected. "I had the stark realization that the only reason I'm American today is because of the slave trade. I started to come to terms with that in the Castle," he shared.
Although Weldy has advised teams since 2020, this trip to Ghana was extraordinary for him as well; it marked almost 10 years to the day since he'd come to the country as a Frontlines student when he was an MBA candidate and a U.S. Navy veteran.
"The biggest thing I've learned at Frontlines is that everything we do as leaders is a choice,” he said. “Individuals drive corporate decision making, and it's up to us to determine how we will serve. I see students carry that realization into their careers long after graduation."