Southampton named 2021 National Enactus Champion for student enterprise
Enactus Southampton will represent the UK at the world cup of student enterprise after winning a national competition aimed at inspiring students to improve the world through entrepreneurial action.
MEng Aeronautics and Astronautics/Spacecraft student Dimitris-Marios Stoidis was also honoured with the Entrepreneurial Spirit Award at the Enactus UK National Expo, highlighting his innovative business that makes a carbon-negative beer from surplus bread.
The Southampton students joined University teams from across the country to compete for the UK title, showcasing their social and community projects to business executives serving as judges.
“The feeling of success and validation for all the hard work and late nights we put in is unbelievable,” branch president Dimitris says. “Especially in such a hard year and with so many other amazing projects that were presented in the final round.”
Dimitris was joined in the national finals by team members Victoria Wiesmath, Leo Seus, Gian Marco Caramelli, Natasha Salhan, Tara Landmark, Gracie Horton, Maleeha Mahmuda and Yasmeen Sherif.
“Enactus has been the best thing that I have done during my time at the University and I recommend everyone to be part of it,” Dimitris says. “It has opened my eyes to the concept of social enterprises and provided a platform to experiment and improve my leadership style. It has undoubtedly changed my career path and future.
“Through Enactus I have had the opportunity to lead a team of over 100 students, visited India to set up a social enterprise that tackles water scarcity and founded Future Brew to revolutionise an emission heavy industry. Our focus is now on expanding this venture across England, Europe and hopefully the world.”
Future Brew’s innovative business model tackles food waste by using surplus bread that otherwise would go to waste as one of their main ingredients. In combination with their 26 pledges, they produce carbon negative beer whilst driving social mobility through their supply chain. Ten percent of their profits are reinvested back to climate-related initiatives.
Dimitris clinched a £33,000 investment offer for the start-up at a Dragons’ Den-style event hosted by the University’s Future Worlds on-campus accelerator this autumn.
This month’s online Enactus UK expo brought together over 2,000 university students, academics and senior UK business leaders virtually across the three days.
Student teams were evaluated on how successfully they demonstrated entrepreneurial leadership to drive business and innovation for sustainable positive impact, to benefit people, planet and prosperity this academic year.
Enactus Southampton will now prepare for the Enactus World Cup in October, where they hope to emulate their victory in the global title in 2015.
Sarah Rogers, Student Opportunities and Enterprise Manager at Southampton, says: “It is fantastic to see all of the hard work of the Enactus Southampton team recognised in this way. They have shown incredible commitment in challenging times to really make a difference and make things happen. We will be very proud to see them representing the UK in the Enactus World Cup.
“We are also delighted to see Dimitris’s leadership acknowledged with the Entrepreneurial Spirit Award. He has been incredibly determined, enterprising and resourceful, and has embraced so many of the amazing opportunities provided at the University for enterprising students, including the support provided by the Student Enterprise Team (Careers and Employability Service), Future Worlds, the Students’ Union as well as the University of Southampton Social Impact Lab.”
Amy Brereton, COO of Enactus UK, adds: “Congratulations to the 2021 National Enactus Champion team from the University of Southampton, and all of our 65 teams and over 3,000 students who delivered so much more social and community impact through their projects this year. Every stage of the many competitions was fiercely contested this year and that is down to the hard work of all involved in the programme; from team members, business coaches and volunteers, as well as the support from the university and alumni mentors.”
To find out more about how to join Enactus Southampton, visit the team’s social media or website presence.
