diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index ff4157e..890d8e0 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -5,6 +5,15 @@
 from setuptools import setup
 from setuptools.extension import Extension
 
+CONDA_PREFIX = os.environ.get("CONDA_PREFIX")
+if not CONDA_PREFIX:
+    raise ValueError("CONDA_PREFIX not set, did you active a conda environment?")
+
+# gurobi seems to be putting its libraries in the top of the conda env
+os.environ["PATH"] += os.pathsep + CONDA_PREFIX
+print("CONDA_PREFIX:", CONDA_PREFIX)
+print("PATH:", os.environ["PATH"])
+
 # enable test coverage tracing if CYTHON_TRACE is set to a non-zero value
 CYTHON_TRACE = int(os.getenv("CYTHON_TRACE") in ("1", "True"))