Critical Minerals: Where Sustainability Meets Commodities
March 2026, Singapore
By Myriam El Kara
Founder Sterling Acumen as Guest Lecturer at Kellogg School of Management – Entrepreneurship in Critical Minerals
This March, I had the pleasure of returning to the classroom, this time as a guest speaker invited by Professor Brett Saraniti of the Kellogg School of Management (Northwestern University), who previously taught me at INSEAD.
The session formed part of Kellogg’s Global Initiatives in Management (GIM) programme, bringing MBA and Executive MBA students to Singapore to explore how sustainability is reshaping industries and creating new entrepreneurial opportunities across Southeast Asia.
Rather than introducing Sterling Acumen as a business, I wanted to give students a practical framework for understanding one of the fastest-evolving sectors of the global economy.
Together we explored:
- why critical minerals have become strategically important;
- how geopolitics, industrial policy and ESG considerations increasingly influence commercial decisions;
- why supply chains are becoming more interconnected and complex;
- where entrepreneurship is emerging beyond mining itself: in market intelligence, processing, recycling, traceability, financing and dealmaking; and
- what newcomers should understand about the realities of building businesses in this sector.
The discussion drew on examples from battery supply chains, rare earth recycling and carbon monetisation to illustrate how technical, commercial and policy considerations increasingly intersect.
The presentation was followed by an engaging discussion with the students, covering investment priorities, sustainability, industrial policy and the future evolution of critical minerals markets. Their curiosity and thoughtful questions made for an enjoyable exchange that continued informally after the session.
It was a pleasure to contribute to the programme and to introduce a new group of future business leaders to a sector that increasingly sits at the intersection of industry, geopolitics and the energy transition.
