The University’s Enactus Liverpool team, supported by the University of Liverpool Management School, reached the semi-finals of this year’s Enactus UK National Expo. The team is made up of both undergraduate and postgraduate students from across the University.
Enactus is a not-for-profit organisation that enables students to develop projects that have a positive impact on communities. Their aim is to tackle social problems by applying business and economic concepts through an entrepreneurial approach.
The Enactus UK National Expo is an annual competition where teams from around the UK come together and compete. This year over 60 teams took part with Enactus Liverpool making it to the semi-finals as one of the top 25 teams, where they were awarded the title of “Most Improved Team”.
Charlotte Till, Business Management student and member of Enactus Liverpool, said “Personally, I have learnt so much from being a part of Enactus in general. I went in not knowing what I wanted to do in the future, and now with all of my transferrable skills and industry knowledge in HR – I’ve never been more sure that’s the path I want to proceed with! Alongside this, being part of Enactus has developed so many entrepreneurial skills that every student needs; time management, innovative thinking, forward thinking, team work, leadership – the list goes on!
“From the competition, I have learnt that it is so important to think creatively about your execution, and ensure that your presentation pitch flows like a story. You can never be too engaging, but you can be too ordinary – and when you’re going against 60 teams – ordinary is not the aim you want to achieve!”
The Expo also hosts the annual awards and achievements ceremony. The Management School’s Chris Barlow, Enactus Liverpool’s University Adviser, was nominated by the team for “University Adviser of the Year” and won the award alongside Laura Brown at Enactus Newcastle. The team nominated him for his amazing guidance and support, where he helped the team with big decisions and strategies. He sought out support from university colleagues so they could provide the team with constructive criticism to help them progress to the semi-final, and he also ensured the team were motivated throughout a challenging year of working remotely.
Team Liverpool’s projects
Enactus Liverpool’s two key projects that have allowed them to have this success, and which will be looking to continue developing next year, are:
Cancel Cyberbullying
The ‘Cancel Cyberbullying’ project is an online short course aiming to address the issues and implications of racial abuse/trolling online, whilst simultaneously educating the empowerment of diversity and inclusivity in the workplace.
Partnered with EY, the team of University of Liverpool students have created an online short course that targets 13–17 year olds with topics of ‘What is Racial Cyberbullying’ and ‘What is Diversity’ with engaging animations and interactive quizzes that accompany the course and a certificate awarded after completion.
EmployABLE
EmployABLE is a social enterprise project that seeks to boost the confidence of young adults (age 16-18) by educating and equipping them with key employability skills that employers look for in the workplace such as written and verbal communication skills, digital awareness and commercial awareness. It takes the form of a 6-week online programme with the topics of:
- Importance of Volunteering and Skills
- How to do a Presentation
- Digital Awareness: LinkedIn and social media presence
- CV, Cover Letters and Psychometric Tests
- Interviews Do’s and Don’ts
- Live Event with Placement students/Employers