University of Nottingham crowned ENACTUS UK 2020 National Champion

17th April 2020

On the 6th and 7th April, the top 27 Enactus teams of Next Generation Leaders from Universities across the UK competed virtually in the 2020 Enactus UK National Expo. 

The dynamic, energy-filled online event brought together virtually over 1,000 university students, academics, and senior UK business leaders across two days in celebration of the best in Youth Social Action and Enterprise.

Enactus teams competed over two days for the title of 2020 Enactus UK National Champion, showcasing their social and community projects to business executives serving as judges. 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 of over 60 senior business and social sector executives. 

Enactus Nottingham won the competition after showcasing two of their inspirational social enterprises; Foodprint, a social supermarket in Nottingham, tackling food poverty and food waste in their local community through supplying food 60% cheaper than supermarkets and redistributing free food to local charities and school breakfast clubs. Their International project in Uganda - Nutrigreens, uses the power of innovation to combat malnutrition in Ugandan school children. The team used entrepreneurial leadership to design a vertical farming system and taught local farmers how to grow microgreens sustainably.

The winning projects of the sponsored Individual Topic Competitions were also announced which amounted to over £66,000 of grant funding awarded by Enactus UK to university teams on behalf of its corporate partners.

Enactus Nottingham will now go on to represent Enactus UK in the 2020 Enactus World Cup in Utrecht, The Netherlands on the 8th-10th September. 

Iain Patton, CEO at EAUC and one of the judges at this year’s competition said: "It is reassuring to see such passionate cross-discipline students using their creative flair and ingenuity to find solutions to so many eco and social problems through business enterprise. The bright initiatives show how important is for students to have the opportunity to step out of the classroom and develop first-hand skills and the perspective that is essential to responsible leadership in an ever-more complicated and challenging world."

Enactus provides a platform for teams of university students to develop social enterprise projects that tackle key societal and environmental challenges and create solutions that work towards advancing the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Enactus currently operates at 60 Universities across the UK and has a network of dedicated University Advisers that support team activities.

We at EAUC are proud to have partnered with Enactus and create a new institutional volunteering role - EAUC Sustainability Adviser - that will help you engage with young leaders at your university. We strongly believe this will be a great opportunity for EAUC members to connect with a group of sustainability engaged students and colleagues, to collaborate and develop further projects together.

Through this role you will be able to:
1) Connect Enactus student teams with existing sustainability initiatives on campus and
2) Provide sustainability insights and expert advice to existing Enactus projects.

If you want to become the EAUC Sustainability Advisor for your Enactus team and support these exceptional student-led sustainability initiatives, please follow the instructions below and  watch this short 6 minute video for further information on the position. For more information, please contact Enactus UK via Rosie Connolly - rconnolly@enactus.org. 
 
Find out more details here. 

ENDS