Enactus Southampton to represent the UK at world cup of student enterprise
A team of students from the University of Southampton will, once again, represent the UK at the Enactus World Cup after winning the national competition aimed at inspiring students to improve the world through entrepreneurial action.
Enactus Southampton, winners of the Enactus World Cup in 2015, is under the direction this year of branch president Dimitris-Marios Stoidis who led his team of fellow students in representing the University in the national finals. Together, Dimitris and Enactus Southampton members Victoria Wiesmath, Leo Seus, Gian Marco Caramelli, Natasha Salhan, Tara Landmark, Gracie Horton, Maleeha Mahmuda and Yasmeen Sherif hope to take the global title again later this year at the event which is scheduled to be online, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Southampton students joined University teams from across the country to compete for the UK title during this year’s Enactus UK National Expo, showcasing their social and community projects to business executives serving as judges. The dynamic, energy-filled online event brought together over 2,000+ university students, academics, and senior UK business leaders virtually across three days (12-14 April) in celebration of the best in Youth Social Action and Enterprise.
The student teams were evaluated on how successfully they demonstrated entrepreneurial leadership to drive business and innovation for sustainable positive impact, to benefit people, planet and prosperity this academic year. The final round judging panel comprised over 130 senior business and social sector executives.
In addition to the team award, Aerospace Engineering student Dimitris also received the Entrepreneurial Spirit Award. He founded one of Enactus Southampton’s key successful enterprises, FutureBrew, where they aim to revolutionise an emission-heavy industry by making a carbon-negative beer that is brewed from surplus bread. This innovative business model tackles food waste, climate change whilst driving social mobility through their supply chain with 10% of their profits reinvested back to climate-related initiatives.
During the pandemic, Enactus Southampton also worked with their partners to provide food to 60 local vulnerable families with weekly packages for over a three-month period.
“We strongly believe that every person can become a change-maker with everyday decisions that they make” Dimitris enthused. “You can make a massive impact and that’s the main thing about university because you get so many opportunities to actually create a change to your community but also to the wider public. We saw a need and a problem, and we decided to act.
“With Enactus, you have the opportunity to do amazing things if you just persevere, find people that are also passionate about achieving change and the sky's the limit,” he continued. “We want to show young entrepreneurs a different way to do business, and now that we are about to represent the UK at the world cup we are looking forward to creating an even deeper and everlasting impact by working closely with the University.”
Enactus is a not-for-profit global organisation that works to mobilise university students to make a difference within their communities while developing their skills to become socially responsible business leaders. Guided by university and business advisers, students run real-life projects that create economic opportunity for others.
Sarah Rogers, the University of Southampton’s Student Opportunities and Enterprise Manager, congratulated the achievements of Enactus Southampton this year.
“It is fantastic to see all of the hard work of the Enactus Southampton team recognised in this way,” Sarah enthused. “They have shown incredible commitment in challenging times to really make a difference and make things happen. We will be very proud to see them representing the UK in the Enactus World Cup.
“We are also delighted to see Dimitris’s leadership acknowledged with the Entrepreneurial Spirit Award,” she added. “He has been incredibly determined, enterprising and resourceful, and has embraced so many of the amazing opportunities provided at the University for enterprising students, including the support provided by the Student Enterprise Team (Careers and Employability Service), Future Worlds (on-campus accelerator), the Students’ Union as well as the University of Southampton Social Impact Lab.”
Amy Brereton, COO of Enactus UK was delighted with the success of the event. She added: “Congratulations to the 2021 National Enactus Champion team from the University of Southampton, and all of our 65 teams and 3000+ students who delivered so much more social and community impact through their projects this year. Every stage of the many competitions was fiercely contested this year and that is down to the hard work of all involved in the programme; from team members, business coaches and volunteers, as well as the support from the university and alumni mentors.”
To find out more about opportunities and support for enterprising students at the University of Southampton go to: https://www.southampton.ac.uk/careers/students/enterprise/partners.page
