BYU–Hawaii’s Enactus team took home top honors being named the U.S. National Champions and receiving a $10,000 prize on April 16 at the annual competition held this year in St. Louis, Missouri. After being among the national finalists the last several years, coming in first place this year BYUH team will move on to compete along with 35 other countries at the World Cup Competition Oct. 14-16 in Johannesburg, South Africa.BYUH’s Enactus team “created projects empowering residents of the Ivory Coast, the home country of Sery Kone, one of its members,” says a press release about the win. “The team inspired women to become entrepreneurs through micro-financing and taught cacao farmers to pollinate crops through beekeeping to increase their production and income.”It continues, “Top executives from America’s most well-known companies including The Hershey Company, The Coca Cola Company, The Schwan Food Company and Unilever, local notables Edward Jones, Enterprise Holdings, KPMG and Walmart, and nearly 100 more gathered to judge entrepreneurial outreach projects created and implemented by Enactus teams from 178 colleges and universities, as well as network and engage with the more than 2,400 students attending from around the country.”Enactus is “part of an international non-profit organization that brings together student, academic and business leaders who are committed to improving the world through entrepreneurial action,” it says. “Guided by business experts and academic advisors at 1,700 universities in 36 countries, the 70,500 student leaders of Enactus create and implement entrepreneurial projects each year impacting more than 1,950,000 people.”Mike Moore, EVP and president, Small Formats Walmart U.S., Walmart Stores, Inc. and chairman of Enactus United States National Advisory Board, said, “Our commitment to Enactus teams worldwide underscores our belief that these talented and dedicated students are making a significant impact on the livelihoods of people in communities around the world. Not only are they doing the right thing for their communities, [but also] they are gaining highly sought-after skills and attitudes that shape our next generation of great leaders.”BYUH’s Enactus team took part in the three-day competition making live multimedia presentations describing its projects “to panels of business leaders in an effort to convince them that they have created a sustainable impact economically, socially or environmentally,” the information says. Students also “interviewed for jobs and internships at a two-day Career Fair where recruiters competed aggressively from this extraordinary pool of talent and in many cases offered jobs on the spot.”Alex Perwich, the president of Enactus United States, said, “The accomplishments of the Brigham Young University–Hawaii team, the 177 other teams that competed this week, and hundreds of other active Enactus teams around the country underscore the fact that participation in Enactus provides university students with the opportunity to make a meaningful difference in their communities, while gaining the experience, skills and contacts necessary to build a successful career.” The other teams placing in the top four were:2nd: La Sierra University (Riverside, Calif.)3rd: John Brown University (Siloam Springs, Ark.)4th: Belmont University (Nashville, Tenn.)
Writer: LeeAnn Lambert
