On Oct. 20, Wilfrid Laurier University’s Enactus team landed a top-four finish at the Enactus World Cup in Utrecht, Netherlands, representing team Canada.
Enactus competitions are run in 33 different countries, with over 1000 participating campuses around the world.
The top school from each country can compete on the national stage at the Enactus World Cup.
The competition is dedicated to promoting students who have developed purpose-driven enterprises that tackle the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s).
Each team presents their enterprises to a panel of judges and large-scale executives over a span of four days.
“What we at Enactus Laurier do is support students who have a desire to create a lasting impact in the world. Whether we want to tackle plastic waste or clean water or housing. There are no limits to as to what [projects] we can do,”
Jordan Prentice, Co-President of the Laurier Enactus team and founder of Kuponya Innovations
“We want to support students who are trying to make an impact and change in the world, whether it be local or globally.”
The Laurier Enactus team prsented two of their biggest projects, Safi and Kuponya Innovations. Safi is a project focusing on tackling safe milk in East Africa.
“They’ve created a proprietary pasteurization device for small scale farmers, because right now pasteurization is not accessible to farmers because it’s too expensive and large” said Prentice.
Safi has gone to Rwanda, Uganda and Kenya to meet with dairy farmers and receive feedback from industry experts.
While speaking about the inspiration for her project entitled Kuponya Innovations, Prentice stressed the project’s focus on climate change.
“Those who are on the front lines of climate change impacts being hit first and worst are Indigenous peoples and specifically those in remote and Northern communities.”
Further, infrastructure development plays a role. “The housing and constrution industry contributes a lot to climate change. I found this unsettling because the industry that is supposed to protect people from dangerous living conditions is contributing to the problem,” said Prentice.
Last August Prentice had the opportunity to travel to the Northwest Territories.
During her trip, Prentice was able to discover how Indigenous communities have been impacted by housing problems.
“When I saw the situation and state of housing, this solidified that I wanted to be part of the team to create a change,” said Prentice.
Kuponya Innovations is now set to build their first pilot project in March. Prentice stressed the importance of the Enactus World Cup in motivating change.
“I think I speak for the team when I say that it was so inspiring to see all the change leaders and changemakers are creating in their communities. It showed us that what we’re doing is meaningful. Honestly, none of us would rather be doing anything else.”
Jordan Prentice
Prentice also mentioned the value of social entrepreneurship and competitions like the Enactus World Cup.
Interested Alumni can also become involved with Enactus Laurier.
“We have four different enterprises, all of which would benefit immensely from being connected to different alumni. Alumni could be advisors to different projects, become part of our alumni showcase [or] they could give feedback on our presentations,” said Prentice.
The Laurier Enactus team is now preparing to repeat their success in next year’s World Cup.
“Once March rolls around we’ll compete in regionals, hopefully win, make it to nationals, hopefully win and then next year the World Cup is in Kazakhstan,” said Prentice.
For more information about the Laurier Enactus team, world cup and how to get involved, visit the Enactus Laurier website.