DCU compete for Enactus World Cup
A team of DCU students will represent Ireland this week in the prestigious Enactus World Cup in Cancun, Mexico. DCU students Hannah Dobson, Liam Redmond, Ciara Ennis, Ciara Egan, Katie Mannion and Olayiwola Ogunsanya will compete against social change teams from universities in 37 countries all over the world for the title of Enactus World Champion 2013.
Enactus, an international, not-for-profit organisation founded in the US in 1975, is the world’s largest university-based partnership between business and higher education for social change. Its objective is to encourage university students to make a positive difference to their communities, while developing the skills to become socially responsible business leaders of the future.
Earlier this year, DCU won the Enactus National Competition for the second year in a row, earning a place to represent Ireland at the Enactus World Cup which takes place in Cancun, Mexico from 29th September to 1st October. Competing against teams from NUI Galway, NUI Maynooth, Trinity College Dublin, University College Dublin, University College Cork and University of Limerick, DCU impressed the panel of judges with how effectively they had applied business and economic concepts and entrepreneurial approach to develop two unique and empowering projects designed to improve the quality of life and standard of living of people.
Their projects included:
• HeadstARTS enables and empowers people with intellectual disabilities to explore their artistic and creative qualities. Weekly sessions are run 35 weeks of the year in arts, such as music, dance, drama and visual arts. At the end of each year, HeadstARTS clubs come together in a friendly, healthy competition which provides realistic and achievable goals for its members.
• AkiDwA Design is a socially conscious, Afro-Irish clothing & accessories line that works in collaboration with migrant woman’s NGO, AkiDwA to develop a sustainable clothing brand. Profits from the venture fund and support AkiDwA projects to empower marginalised migrant women in direct provision centres and the community at large by providing capacity building workshops enabling the women to fully embrace their gifts and talents. The workshops not only act as an activity to keep the women stimulated as they wait to hear if they have been granted asylum but equip them with a lifelong skill-set which they can use to seek and create employment if granted asylum
The Enactus World Cup is a showcase of the impact that Enactus teams are achieving around the world and brings together an international network of over 3,000 student, academic and business leaders, where they present the results of their community outreach projects to a prestigious group of International leaders. Through a written annual report and live audio visual presentation, teams will be evaluated based on how successful they were at using business concepts to improve the quality of life and standard of living for people in need.