Global impact educator designs new business school coming to Charleston

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCBD) – Charleston will be receiving a new, unique business school designed by an international educator.

Stuart Williams is the founder and chairman of In Place Impact and the CEO of Enlightened Soil Corp. He spent many years of his life working with students at the College of Charleston and even created the Stuart M. Williams Impact Scholars program. The first course challenged students to create a for-profit company that solved a socioeconomic or environmental issue.

Williams stepped away from volunteering at the school around 11 years later. He said other institutions approached him to create a similar program at their institutions, but decided to go in a different direction. One globally recognized family with a global brand came to Williams and asked him to design The Charleston School of Capitalism for Good.

“There were two conditions for me to say yes to that,” Williams said. “The first was that I would do it on the weekends because I’m actively engaged in other things. The second was that it would have to be located in Charleston, South Carolina. I care about that city – I care about that community because of all the community work I’ve been doing the past 14 years of being here.”

Since Williams left, the College of Charleston School of Business has developed its global impact program to have five courses and a new approval of an entrepreneurship major.

However, with plans of the new school, Williams said it will be a one-year program consisting of a cohort of 120 students. It will function similarly to a typical college, but heavily focused on business aspects.

“Mondays through Thursdays from 10 a.m. To 5 p.m.,” Williams said. “Of course they will have school breaks, nothing as long as the current universities give. Fridays will be given over to their capstone project where they have to build a for-profit company, purpose to solve a socioeconomic or environmental problem.”

This program continues to further Williams’ thesis of “making a profit while making a difference.” He acknowledged that the program provides options for students coming out of high school who may want to take a gap year and travel, or for those who want to jump right in.

“It’s a different type of program, it won’t be for everybody,” Williams said. “It will be a one and done. It’s really going to prepare students that are wedded on having a business career. Especially learning management and leadership through the lens of profit for purpose.”

The school itself isn’t expected to require any specifics of the students attending.

“It’s up to them,” Williams said. “What we will being doing is teaching them every aspect of how a business is founded, how a business is managed, pivoting, problem solving, solution building, professional presentation, teamwork, leadership ectara, ectara, ectara.”

The website is expected to be launched soon with the first school year to begin in either the fall of 2026 or early 2027.