JOIN USThey have been in news lately for their innovative and noble work but as a group too, they deserve much encouragement and appreciation.
ENACTUS – an international community of academic and business leaders – has been mobilising students across the world to come up with thoughtful projects to benefit the underprivileged. They have on their rolls the best of colleges including IIT(D), Hindu, Hansraj, Ramjas, LSR and Jesus and Mary in Delhi. Their projects, like Akshar (recycling waste paper) and Life on Wheels (modified rickshaws), have brought them to the limelight and benefited many.
ENACTUS, which stands for Entrepreneurship, Action and Us (the team) – was formed in 1975 in Texas, US. Starting with the Missouri University, it spread to almost all the colleges in America and now has over 1600 colleges worldwide in its fold. As per ENACTUS criterion, each of these colleges has to have a dedicated team of students with a president, vice-president, business advisory board, Director – Finance, HR and spokesperson – exactly the way a company functions.
These students then choose a project for themselves and work to fulfil it in a time-bound manner. There are monthly meetings, reviews, reports and final submission of the project.
CEO, ENACTUS India, Farhan Pettiwala says, “The motive is to develop an entrepreneurial spirit in the students. In today’s world, it is not enough to just ‘know’ things but also how to apply your knowledge.
“When a student embarks on a project with us, he or she not only starts thinking of means to use his knowledge but also learns team-work, field work and time
management.”
“On the other hand, they design a project for a disadvantaged community and carry the pride of having done something for the
society at large.”
If the project culminates into a product, the students are also free to approach different companies to make it marketable. ENACTUS’ business partners like Walmart, TATA group, Unilever, KPMG, HSBC, Coke etc.
receive these projects and provide them support if required.
Also, it holds a world championship every year where top business leaders reward the best project made by each country. “Last year, our world cup was held in Washington and received by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton herself. 3500 students and business leaders from the world over participated. That is the kind of recognition we enjoy,” adds Farhan.
In Delhi, member colleges are trying their best to bring the trophy home. Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies is training slum women to make sanitary napkins while IIT(D) students are marketing handicrafts made by refugee Burmese in Delhi. Jesus and Mary girls are working with the disabled while Ramjas students are helping transgenders build a jewellery business.
Dr Abhay Kumar of the SRCC-ENACTUS team, which has become renowned for its modified rickshaw, says, “ENACTUS has helped our students tremendously. It has sharpened their thinking, people and communication skills. Now, they know how to design a product, garner funds and sell it to companies.”