Taking on the world: Geography students win national enterprise competition
Geography undergraduate Rachel Willey will be part of a team from the University of Southampton, which will represent the UK in the Enactus World Cup in Mexico in September 2013.
Enactus is an international student society that aims to use the power of entrepreneurial action to transform lives and shape a better, more sustainable, world. Rachel, a second year BA Geography student, is International Vice-President at Southampton and works with 147 undergraduates and postgraduates who are committed to working on projects to make a difference.
"I joined as a fresher and now have a management role supporting the international projects," she explains. "It's amazing how ordinary students volunteering in their spare time can really help people around the world."
In the UK finals in London, they competed against the Universities of Nottingham and Sheffield, Royal Holloway University of London and BPP; altogether 41 British universities took part in the challenge. Rachel was one of the seven-strong presentation team, which described the progress of projects at home and abroad to judges from 30 Enactus sponsors.
Southampton projects include providing solar lights to people in Madagascar, Kenya and Uganda, improving sanitation in Kenya by designing and building toilets out of recycled materials and supporting aspiring entrepreneurs in Southampton who want to set up their own businesses.
Follow their progress via Twitter to see how they get on at the Word Cup later this year.