A World in a Week – My experience at the Enactus World Cup 2015

 “I went in to make a video, a few months later, I was in South Africa.”

As acting VP of Marketing and resident artsy kid for @BrockEnactus, I was tasked with reviewing our experience at the Enactus World Cup 2015 in Johannesburg, South Africa. Sometimes documenting an experience like this can be difficult..

Fortunately for me, I can sum it up in a short statement, it was incredible.

I had the opportunity to observe Social Entrepreneurship projects that were inspiring in more ways than I could list, I made genuine friends from around the globe and finally, I was energized for my faith in humanity as a whole.

My travelling buddy was Ahsan Saleem, fourth-year Accounting student and President of the Brock University chapter of Enactus. He was actually the one to present me with this opportunity.

His constant reassurances of “Trust me bro, you’ve never seen anything like it,” rang in my ears for months.

It allowed me to go into the event optimistic and open minded toward the series of humbling experiences I was about to endure.

Before I dig in too deep though, I should help explain what Enactus is. A quote from their website sums it up best,

“A community of student, academic and business leaders committed to using the power of entrepreneurial action to transform lives and shape a better more sustainable world.”

We have been doing some great things at the Brock chapter, from assisting with financial literacy at the Resource Association for Teens(RAFT) in downtown St.Catharines, to helping formerly incarcerated men find employment through our Discovery program.

The teams meeting in South Africa were the national champions from 36 countries, from all 6 continents.

The trip included cultural sessions, open discussion panels, networking sessions and of course, the competition. School chapters from around the world competed based on their ability to help others in a completely sustainable and wholesome way.

The team representing Canada was from the University of Ottawa. They presented an initiative that is innovative in eliminating the high amount of cigarette butts disposed of on our city streets. Appropriately named CigBins, the program employed people that were suffering from various mental health related illnesses to clean and empty these disposal units for landowners whose property they were on. It allowed the employee to work a structured job and have the opportunity to adjust to the pressures accompanied with the work force.

All the while, these collected butts were then recycled to be made into both compost and other plastic materials. Page: 2 of 2

Our country made it to the semi-final round with this idea, which was given a run for its money by the four countries that made it to the final round: Korea, Morocco, United Kingdom and the United States.

The United Kingdom came first with the United States in a close second, I would advise you to check out www.enactus.org to see the results and case competitions. Otherwise I’d be going on forever!

At the end of every day there were panels that brought doctors, documentarians and UN ambassadors from all over the world to discuss current and future world issues.

Topics ranged from ending world hunger and the global diet, to the rise of female equality both in the workplace and global culture as a whole. It was truly humbling because these topics are not usually discussed in such a large inclusive setting.

Proclamations of empowerment and unity rang through the room as 70,000 students and staff were electrified by the movement.

This ended up bringing the members of Enactus together without any boundaries. It allowed me to meet wonderful people from Singapore, Ireland, Australia, Poland, South Africa and Swaziland, just to name a few.

Not only am I excited to see these people again and to work with them in the future but what is even more comforting is that next year the Enactus World Cup is being held in Toronto!

This not only means that I get to enjoy the event but it allows schools from all over our nation to have the opportunity to easily experience it for themselves.

Oh yeah, just without the lion petting and ostrich feeding I was able to experience while in Africa…

The most humbling aspect of the trip overall for me was the chance to know what it truly means to be a global citizen. Since I was writing for my college paper covering the International Department, I awaited the day that I would know what that term truly means.

Through Enactus, and the values of Entrepreneurial Action, I finally feel like I understand it. I would recommend that anyone get involved, feel inspired and do something of value with their spare time!

You can’t change the world yourself, but you can always contribute to making a difference.