A De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) student society dedicated to building a more sustainable future through social enterprise is celebrating its best-ever finish at a national competition.
Enactus DMU – whose name incorporates the words entrepreneurial, action and us – won three awards and made it to a semi-final for the first time at the UK Enactus National Expo in London.
The team was called to the stage at the Excel Centre to pick up the Community Spirit Award as well as the Most Improved Team award to the delight of Enactus DMU President, Tarnjeet Kaur, who reflected on how far the group had come in the last year.
She said: “I’m still speechless. The team was just amazing and I’m so very proud of everyone at Enactus DMU to help us get this far. Representing DMU at a national level is such a great achievement for the team.
“It was such a warm but surreal feeling claiming the award. All I could hear were people clapping and cheering as we went to pick up our awards.
Enactus UK is a not-for-profit organisation that enables students and young people to engage in social action and work toward the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals.
Each year as part of the National Expo, the organisation hosts a national competition – on top of its individual awards – for social innovation projects, developed by students from more than 60 UK universities.
This year Enactus DMU were able to reach the semi-finals by pitching two of its recently launched initiatives: Project Smile, aimed at eliminating dental poverty in Leicester and Envirogreen, a student-led allotment based on campus that will produce sustainably-grown food for staff and students.
The team’s Welcome Home project, which looks at the causes of homelessness, was also named as one of the three winners of the Early Stage Project Showcase competition.
“Making the semi-final and being named among the top 25 universities is a huge deal for us,” Tarnjeet said. “Unfortunately, we couldn’t carry that momentum through to the final but the feedback we received for our pitches will help us improve and maybe go one step further next year.
“As the President, I oversee all the projects and provide support on everything we do. However, I was project lead for the Envirogreen project, a cause that is very close to my heart. We had many setbacks due to Covid-19 but when I look back on my time at university I will be so proud to be part of this change and contribute towardsmaking campus more sustainable.
“We’re always looking for more students to sign up to Enactus DMU. There are big companies – including Amazon and SAP – involved with our group, so it’s a great chance to expand your network. We even have fast-track schemes to help our members secure mentorship or interviews with our partners.”
As part of Enactus DMU’s unprecedented success at this year’s Expo, the society’s vice-president, Leseca Shantu, was named a runner up for the Enterprise Rent-A-Car competition. Kush Lad, HR lead for the group, was also nominated for team member of the year.
There was also success for Oliver Perry, who was named as the SAP Partner Coach of the Year and Lucia Spisiakova, who picked up the Amazon Partner Coach of the Year. The pair, who work for SAP and Amazon respectively, have both mentored students within Enactus DMU across its various projects throughout the academic year.
Enactus Nottingham, from the University of Nottingham, was named as the national champions and will now go on to represent Great Britain at the Enactus World Cup, which, this year, will be hosted in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Students interested in joining Enactus DMU can join the society by emailing enactus.dmu@gmail.com or purchasing the £3 membership on the DMU Student Union website.
Posted on Thursday 28 April 2022