Unleashing the power of students to create a better world

Through the Enactus network, students at 1,700 universities worldwide not just develop innovative business ideas that make the world a better place. They put them into practice. 

With 72,000 active students across 1,730 campuses, Enactus is one of the world’s largest student networks – and perhaps the largest social entrepreneurship network worldwide. At Enactus, it is all about entrepreneurship and social innovation as a force to make the world a better place:

• Entrepreneurial – igniting business innovation with integrity and passion
• Action – the experience of social impact that sparks social enterprise.
• Us – student, academic and business leaders collaborating to create a better world.

Every year, students* from 35 countries join together in project groups and engage in some 3,800 social entrepreneurship projects which they have designed with the support of the academic tutors or some of the partnering 550 enterprises. All projects refer to the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, with a particular focus on improving people’s quality of life and protecting and preserving our environment. This is achieved, among other things, by the teams creating jobs, driving business innovation and providing new think-out-of-the-box solutions for the social impact sector.

«Engage the next generation of entrepreneurial leaders to use innovation and business principles to improve the world» – Enactus Mission Statement

In Germany there exist Enactus teams across 32 campuses

Enactus has been active in Germany already since 2003 and since then has seen a continuous increase in the number of universities, members and partners – Enactus teams are now active in 32 university campuses, engaging around 1,900 students. Students can apply to join a team or even found a new team at a university. They can participate in existing projects, in the Enactus association itself, or by jointly putting a new idea into practice. The projects of the young innovators are supported and promoted by former Enactus team members (alumni), professors and lecturers at universities as well as managers and experts from well-known companies and institutions in an advisory capacity. For example, weekend workshops on team building, coaching on financial topics or feedback rounds for the final presentations at the competitions are organised and financed by sponsors. When a student leaves the university, he or she can continue to participate in the Enactus network as an alumni, support younger students and projects and also benefit from the network itself.

«We celebrate diversity of culture, abundance of ideas and the synergy of cross-generational leadership in action»

Partners, sponsors and supporters of Enactus Germany include corporations, medium-sized companies, institutions and private individuals such as KPMG, BASF, Ernst&Young, Haribo, Franz Haniel & Cie, Villeroy&Boch, Procter & Gamble, Bahlsen, Peek&Cloppenburg, Allianz Global Investors, Deutsche Bildung AG and the GreenTech Awards.

 

The Enactus project Blauherz supports their mentally
impaired sewer Rahel at their production site

 

Ideally, each Enactus project will result in an independent company that is financially self-sustaining and is spun off. It is then possible for the project or company to be supported by student Enactus teams. For example, the project Blauherz of the Enactus team from Mannheim is integrated into a supporting organisation of the Diakonie, through whose workshops the sustainable fashion label produces its goods. The social travel platform Socialbnb is currently being financially supported by the NRW Ministry of Economic Affairs and supported by the Duisburg-based Impact Factory in finding the right model for a spin-off.

Numerous supporters from the corporate sector and academia

In their search for partners, the university teams are supported by the umbrella organisation Enactus Germany. In addition to the numerous workshops, competitions are also held to link students and partners, such as the Enactus Startup Accelerator for Sustainable Business (ESA). At this event, projects in the categories “Startup” and “Innovation” are evaluated and placed by more than 40 company representatives on the basis of a pitch and Q&A. As an award for their work, the teams receive monetary support and professional coaching to help them start up.

This year the event will be held at Franz Haniel & Cie. in Duisburg. In addition to the presence event for a limited group of people, the event will also be made available as a live stream to all interested parties. In this way, the unique Enactus spirit, which is usually spread among like-minded students and partners, is to be maintained this year as well.

A positive team spirit as Enactus’ core asset

This spirit and team spirit is not limited to national events – the Enactus network runs regular exchanges and “sportive” competitions among countries on the international level. The biggest highlight is the annual World Cup; the principle is based on world championships in sport: In independent national competitions, all university teams of the country compete with their most effective projects, and the winning team is allowed to represent the respective country at the festive World Cup. The format, rules and criteria of the judges are the same in each country.

However, in the competitions the teams not only come together to present their projects on stage in front of jurors from business and science, but also to exchange ideas and network. Former Enactus members also take part as jurors and thus remain part of the organisation.

Cooperation and mutual support within the teams and among each other is particularly emphasized at Enactus, and the competitions are not only about winning, but also about the shared passion to give their best to achieve good. The atmosphere is positively charged and electrified, and the students give their all to compete against each other in friendly competition.

The Enactus team from Mannheim was awarded
at the World Cup 2019 one of the four best global teams.

Last year, all the university teams from Germany came to Wuppertal for the German National Cup and presented their best projects in the historic Stadthalle in front of over 80 company representatives and 700 students. The WDR television reported live. In addition to the overall winner for the projects with the greatest social impact, the most functional business model and the most effective innovation, a winner in the ‘Spirit of Enactus’ category will also be chosen. The team that radiates the most enthusiasm and excitement for their project will be honoured with this award.

The subsequent World Cup in San José, California, where all winners of the national competitions present their project results and are evaluated in the categories “Entrepreneurial Leadership”, “Business Principals”, “Innovation” and “Impact”, follows a similar pattern. True to the motto #WeAllWin, the three-day event offers numerous workshops, panel discussions and networking events on the topics of young leadership, sustainability and responsible action in our society.

New event formats because of COVID-19

Due to the COVID-19 situation, both the National and World Cup had to be held digitally this year. Enactus Germany cooperated with RTL and rented a studio in Cologne to host and broadcast the national competition. With videos of the teams, a selfie challenge during the event and moderators from the Enactus framework, the competition offered the usual exuberant atmosphere. Even alumni, who otherwise would not have been able to participate due to the physical distance, were present, revived their Enactus time and gave valuable feedback to the presented projects. The subsequent World Cup was similarly organised: With live streams, key note speakers, networking sessions and the opportunity to see the passionate work of all teams, a comprehensive programme was offered over three days. Due to the large time zone differences, the project results of the finalists were not presented live. Instead, the teams produced a video in advance, which could then be viewed by the jurors within a set time frame and was also made available online for the entire community.

Enactus Germany was represented by the University of Cologne this year. With their projects Save the Grain and Socialbnb the team won the National Cup in June 2020 and used the summer months to prepare for the World Cup. During this time, a presentation was created, for which not only the Cologne team invested time and passion, but also the idea of competition was put on the back burner and the team worked together throughout Germany.

• “Save the Grain”, who are concerned with the waste of grain in Togo due to lack of drying and storage facilities, developed an optimised version of their solar-powered and communal dryer. This was particularly convincing in the “innovation” category and brought them a big step closer to their mission of creating food security for Togolese subsistence farmers.
• The start-up “Socialbnb”, on the other hand, does not focus on a specific impact field, but supports a wide range of NGOs worldwide through its travel platform. In doing so, they connect the underfunded but often with unused/potential overnight accommodation capacities with young travellers who not only want to go on holiday, but at the same time show commitment to our society. The tourists sleep in rooms converted into accommodation, pay a fixed price directly to the aid organisation and also always have the opportunity to get to know the local work of the NGO. Socialbnb now has 32 countries in its repertoire, has more than doubled its range of sleeping facilities in the last 12 months with over 1000 beds, and has thus been able to celebrate great success despite Corona. Although the team did not make it to the finals, the results are clearly positive: more team cohesion, a grown partner network, inspiration from other large projects, for example the winning team from Egypt, and many new friendships now accompany the Cologne students into a new semester.

Partnership with Gexsi

We are excited to have been able to support five Enactus projects so far: OneDollarGlasses, Liter of Light, Samaki Aquaponik, the Bottle Refund App Pfandgeben and Socialbnb, about which you can read more about on our project pages. We at Gexsi are inspired by the diversity of ideas and the commitment of the young entrepreneurs and want to support more Enactus teams step by step. Further projects are already in the planning stage. The Enactus project Moufense has won the Runner-up Award of the Gexsi Impact Challenge in July 2020 and is now entitled to a slot on the Gexsi platform. Gexsi is also a partner of the Enactus Germany Startup Accelerator in November 2020.