From solar cities to ‘impact banking’: students reimagine WA finance at the 2025 SDG Challenge

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From solar cities to ‘impact banking’: students reimagine WA finance at the 2025 SDG Challenge

Friday, 05 September 2025

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What does WA’s next generation think a sustainable financial future for our state looks like?

During an intense 36-hour sprint at ECU’s Joondalup campus, whiteboards filled, coffee cups stacked, and ideas began flying for the SDG Challenge 2025 hosted by ECU School of Business and Law.

Nearly 60 students from across WA’s four public universities had one weekend to answer a deceptively simple question:

What would finance look like if people and planet both came first?

Universities Unite for Global Goals

The WA Students Doing Good (SDG) Challenge is a hackathon-style competition that pushes students to tackle urgent sustainability questions.

It’s part of the Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME) initiative, a United Nations-backed network that inspires responsible leadership worldwide.

In WA, it’s co-led by academics from ECU, Curtin, Murdoch and UWA, with our School’s own Dr Dilhani Kapu Arachchilage steering this year’s event.

This year, the challenge encouraged students to design “sustainability-driven strategies for the finance industry” in partnership with National Australia Bank (NAB). Teams were cross-disciplinary, blending business majors with law, engineering, and other fields to spark fresh perspectives.

Crash Courses to Big Ideas

Before pitching, students were immersed in intensive workshops on topics like open-source tech, doughnut economics, ESG frameworks, and circularity principles.

They used this knowledge to fuel ideas for their team: sketching and refining concepts that spanned everything from solar-powered cities and greener supply chains to re-engineered housing finance, “impact banking,” and even a prototype for a sustainability coin.

“What impressed me most was the creativity under pressure,” said Dr Dilhani Kapu Arachchilage.

“These students weren’t just giving textbook answers; they were reimagining finance in ways that connected to people’s real lives and the planet.”

ECU students in the winner’s circle

Eight teams pitched to a panel of mentors from NAB, PLS Minerals, BAE Systems Australia, UWA, and Murdoch.

The winning pitch, a digital sustainability platform titled “Track, Earn, Thrive”, included three ECU SBL students – Birnadette Balbacal (Accounting), Tshewang Dema (Master of Management Information Systems), and Jiya Nayee (Accounting) – alongside four peers from UWA.

In second place was an all-ECU team with their project, “Impact Banking”.

In total, 14 of the 19 students across the top three teams came from ECU’s School of Business and Law; a result that underscored the talent and innovation within the school.

Recognition beyond the campus

The event wasn’t only about pitching ideas. It was about learning outside the classroom, testing ideas in real-world conditions, under time pressure, and to a brief with industry relevance.

One judge summed it up best: “These ideas don’t just belong in a classroom – they belong in boardrooms.”

As an added honour, the winning team will be recognised at the United Nations Association of Australia WA Gala in October. A fitting stage for a project born from the belief that finance can serve both people and planet.

For ECU, hosting the SDG Challenge was more than an event. It was proof of how education, industry, and community can come together to make a change.

It showcased the University’s role in WA’s innovation ecosystem, tested students in live environments, and reaffirmed the school’s commitment to business education that is industry-relevant, globally connected, and future-focused.

School of Business and Law