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A team of student entrepreneurs from the University of Nottingham have won a national competition after developing three inspirational social enterprises.
Enactus Nottingham used three projects - Foodprint, CodeX, and SANkofa SANitation, to show how they are using sustainable businesses to make a difference to people’s lives both home and abroad.
The projects impressed judges at the Enactus UK National Competition, held in London, and won them a place in the World Cup, which will be held in Silicon Valley in September.
Enactus Nottingham is a not-for-profit, student-led organisation that exists within the University of Nottingham. The winning projects are just three of nine that that the team, which is made up of 87 students from all disciplines, is currently running.
The winning projects were:
- Foodprint - a social enterprise tackling food waste and poverty by acting as an intermediary between supermarkets, wholesalers, farmers and the people of Nottingham. Foodprint sell surplus food from partners, at a reduced price, which they are unable to sell themselves due to restrictions, despite still being perfectly fit for consumption. This is done through their supermarket based in Sneinton in Nottingham.
- Codex aims to improve the employability of young people with autism by teaching them to code. They deliver a specialised coding education to neuro-diverse young people through a variety of programmes.
- SANkofa SANitation aims to improve hygiene and living standards across communities in Ghana by encouraging entrepreneurship for locals.
The new Enactus Nottingham President is Annie Clayton, a second year English student. She said: "Joining Enactus this year has been the most rewarding thing I have done in my life, and I am honoured to be leading the team in the year to come, alongside the Vice President Luke Davies. Presenting the social enterprises that our team members have worked so hard to make a success was simply incredible, and with help from Kate Clayson (out-going president), Charlotte Hurst (out-going local director), and Emma Burois (out-going project leader), we were awarded the title of UK National Champions!
“I want to thank everyone who has worked so hard and supported us along the way; from our university advisors, Jackie, David, and Katherine, who have offered their expertise at every point, to every single Enactus member, who have all put so many hours into their businesses to make real social change."
Enactus is a not-for-profit global organisation that encourages 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.
An annual series of regional and national competitions provides a platform for teams to present the results of their projects for judging. Thirty-two teams from across the country competed over two days, showcasing their social and community projects to business executives - who acted as judges. The students were evaluated on how successfully they applied business concepts and an entrepreneurial approach to improve the quality of life of those in need.
Jacqueline Andrews, Skills and Development Manager at Nottingham University Business School, said: “As the University Enactus Advisors we are incredibly proud of the students who participate in the Enactus projects, they demonstrate hard work and commitment to creating social and community impact in the UK and abroad through their nine projects, only three of which were showcased at the competition. Their desire and ability to do this alongside their degrees is inspiring. Congratulations to all of the team and good Luck at the World Cup.”
Andrew Bacon OBE, CEO of Enactus UK said: “Congratulations to the 2019 National Enactus Champion team from the University of Nottingham and all of our 61 teams who delivered so much more social and community impact through their projects this year. Every stage of the many competitions were fiercely contested this year and that is down to the hard work of all involved in the programme be they the team members, the business advisers and volunteers or the support from the university and alumni mentors.”
This is just one award that the Enactus Nottingham team has won, after previously winning the Enactus UK competition in 2016. The team also won the Green Gown award for Enterprise and Employability in 2015 and in 2018 they won a variety of awards including the Wilko Social Entrepreneurship Award.
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Notes to editors:
The University of Nottingham is a research-intensive university with a proud heritage, consistently ranked among the world's top 100. Studying at the University of Nottingham is a life-changing experience and we pride ourselves on unlocking the potential of our 44,000 students - Nottingham was named both Sports and International University of the Year in the 2019 Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide, was awarded gold in the TEF 2017 and features in the top 20 of all three major UK rankings. We have a pioneering spirit, expressed in the vision of our founder Sir Jesse Boot, which has seen us lead the way in establishing campuses in China and Malaysia - part of a globally connected network of education, research and industrial engagement. We are ranked eighth for research power in the UK according to REF 2014. We have six beacons of research excellence helping to transform lives and change the world; we are also a major employer, proud of our Athena SWAN silver award, and a key industry partner- locally and globally.