First graduate from Sustainability Management in Esbjerg: Malou Enghave Stoltze sets milestone
Malou Enghave Stoltze is the first student to graduate from the cand.merc. profile Sustainability Management at the University of Southern Denmark’s Campus Esbjerg - an important milestone for a programme designed to meet the growing demand for sustainability competencies in business management.
Throughout her studies at SDU, Malou built on the foundation from her bachelor’s degree at Erhvervsakademi Kolding and further strengthened her professional profile by combining academic insights and skills gained through university courses with hands-on experience, including working as a student worker. This reflects the programme’s ambition to combine academic insight with real-world business application and to equip students to translate sustainability theory into practical solutions.
Malou’s thesis, “Voluntary Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Implementation in SMEs: Strategic Response to Stakeholder Pressure – A Case Study of Airco Process Technology,” explores how small and medium-sized enterprises can work proactively with ESG initiatives, even when reporting is not mandatory. The thesis was developed in close collaboration with companies and highlights how expectations from customers, partners, and the wider value chain increasingly influence strategic decision-making in SMEs.
“Malou is an excellent example of our highly motivated students who embrace the flexibility our program offers to connect theory with practice,” says Stefanie Sohn, programme coordinator. Malou emphasises that the programme has provided both strong academic depth and valuable real-world perspectives: “This programme has given me exceptional experiences and opportunities, combining a strong academic foundation with real-world perspectives and the flexibility to connect theory directly to practice,” she says.
Malene Damsted, Head of Education at the Department of Business and Sustainability, says she is proud to see the programme’s early success and is confident that Malou will move into a relevant position where her competencies can make a real impact.