From Farmland to Future: Crafting a Carbon Strategy in Fiji

This blog was co-authored by the following MBA'25D students: Alexandra Boretou, Aditya Katyayan, Javier Planas Borrallo, Ives Oliveira Reis, Siqi Ren.

When we signed up for Master Strategist Day, we knew it would be intense. A real client. A real challenge. 24 hours to come up with something that mattered. But none of us expected what was to happen next: a solution that could shift the future of sustainable farming for Pacific Grow and a win we’ll never forget.

Our client was a Fijian agricultural company focused on sustainability. Their vision was inspiring, but they were stuck. They depended too heavily on NGO support, their supply chain had major gaps, and they struggled to reach markets that paid fair value for what they produced. Our job was to help them move forward without losing sight of their mission.

The night that nearly broke us

The night before the final pitch felt like a pressure cooker. We tried everything. D2C brands. Farming tech. Restructuring logistics. None of it felt right. We stayed on campus until 1 am, exhausted but unwilling to give up. When we regrouped the next morning, time was running out. We only had a few hours left. We circled back to a question we kept avoiding: what is Pacific Grow already doing well? And that’s when something clicked.

The soil. The land. The farming methods. That was the key.

The pivot: A carbon opportunity hiding in plain sight

Instead of building something new, what if they could profit from what they were already doing? That is when our mentor, Amanda Michel, really helped us tighten the logic and focus the story.

We proposed a model that allowed Pacific Grow to generate carbon credits by formalising regenerative agriculture practices and getting certified through credible partners. These credits could then be sold on the international market to organisations looking to offset their emissions. It was a way to bring in revenue, improve environmental outcomes, and stay true to the company’s values.

We also included a reinvestment mechanism. Part of the income would go directly back to the farmers and operations, building trust and supporting long-term success. To implement our plan, we also recommended a model to impact more farmers in the region through their community.

Initial doubts, final conviction

When we first shared the idea, we got pushback. The concept of selling carbon credits was unfamiliar, and the CEO raised important questions. But we believed in the model. It was rooted in Pacific Grow’s reality. It was practical, not pie-in-the-sky.  
By the time we stood on stage in the final round, we were confident. And when we finished our pitch in front of 300 people, we knew we had delivered something honest, grounded, and full of potential.

The team behind the idea

What made this team work was not just talent – it was the mix of backgrounds and the trust we built in a matter of hours. 

Siqi, with her experience in HR and marketing, made sure we never lost sight of the people our solution would affect. Alexandra brought years of engineering and strategy consulting to the table, helping us cut through the noise and frame our thinking. Ives came in with a legal background, making sure the structure we proposed could actually hold up in practice. Javier, who had worked across strategy, marketing, and international relations, kept us anchored in the big picture and connected the dots between local and global impact. And, Aditya Katyayan, a former academic and engineer, helped us turn abstract ideas into real numbers and viable projections.

 Each of us came in with different experiences. What made it work was how we listened to each other, challenged each other, and stayed committed to solving the problem — not just finishing the task.  

What we took away

The biggest lesson? Good strategy doesn’t always mean starting from scratch. Sometimes, it means seeing value in what’s already there. And the best ideas are often the ones that survive the hardest conversations.

We walked into that room as five people with different perspectives and walked out as a team with a solution we were proud of. 

We didn’t just pitch a plan. We helped build a path forward.

INSEAD is grateful to the donors of the Hugo van Berckel Award, the Moondance Foundation, and the Andrew Land Fund, for their generous support.

This initiative is supported by the INSEAD Stone Centre for the Study of Wealth Inequality.