Enactus Memorial to compete for World Cup in Beijing

By Susan White | Oct. 15, 2014

Enactus Memorial will compete for the 2014 Enactus World Cup in Beijing, China, from Oct. 22-25. They are pictured here with the trophy from the Canadian competition, which they won in April.Enactus Memorial heads to Beijing, China to represent Canada at the Enactus World Cup this month.

From Oct. 22-25, the undergraduate student team, representing the faculties of business and arts at Memorial University, will take on schools from around the globe as they compete to demonstrate the impact of their business-focused community outreach projects.

“It’s an honour for us to be competing at the World Cup competition once again,” said Jonathan King, president of Enactus Memorial, who is in his final year of Memorial’s commerce program. “The growing impact of Canadian teams on the world of Enactus has skyrocketed over the past three years and last year, the Canadian delegation was one of the largest at the World Cup. Being able to represent this great nation once again is a privilege and we are excited to share our story with the world.”

Enactus Memorial is a student-run volunteer group, part of an international non-profit organization mobilizing university and college students to develop outreach projects that improve the quality of life and standard of living for people in need through the application of business processes and models.

It’s one of the most successful Enactus teams in the world, having won the national championship seven times in nine years. The team won the World Cup in 2008 and was the runner-up in 2007.

The St. John’s-based team earned the right to represent Canada through the impact of projects such as:

  • Project Bottlepreneur: empowers local unemployed and under-employed individuals who collect recyclables for a living. With 10 bottlepreneurs in Newfoundland and four in three other provinces across Canada as well as 2,150 participating households, nearly two million containers have been recycled this year.
  • The Prince’s Operation Entrepreneur: assists ex-military members transition to civilian life by helping them to start their own businesses. This business bootcamp has worked with 32 businesses, creating 49 jobs and $888,079 in revenue. The program has expanded to seven university campuses across Canada and is expected to expand to Australia and the United Kingdom in 2015.
  • Project Stitch: helps Haitians with physical disabilities return to the workforce by becoming professional sewers. Project Stitch provided a six-month training program for 13 participants this year, who now earn five times the average daily wage in Haiti. Enactus Memorial also raised over $66,000 to open a new production facility in Haiti.

In the past year, Enactus Memorial has run 10 community projects that have established 60 new businesses, created 90 new jobs, generated $1.1 million in revenue and changed the lives of over 4,000 project participants.

Other projects help people with autism to run community gardens as a means of meaningful employment; assist local farmers to keep their farms open and reduce energy emissions through energy audits and low-interest loan programs; and help new Canadians create business plans and launch new businesses.

“I couldn’t be prouder of the students in Enactus Memorial,” said Dr. Wilfred Zerbe, dean of the Faculty of Business Administration, which supports the group. “The leadership, dedication and creativity that these students put into each of their community projects are inspirational and I commend them on their success to date.

“Each student involved in Enactus Memorial is an excellent ambassador of Memorial University, our province and our country. They represent the best of our university, and I wish them good luck as they take on the world once again.”

Support for Enactus Memorial’s participation in the Enactus World Cup is provided by Memorial University, the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency and the Department of Business, Tourism, Culture and Rural Development. 


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