The University of Wisconsin – Whitewater Enactus team are first time national champions of the United States National Exposition. The team will advance to the World Cup in October 2021 and compete against 34 Enactus teams from across the globe.
What is Enactus?
Founded in 1975 in the United States, Enactus is a non-profit on a mission to “engage the next generation of entrepreneurial leaders to use innovation and business principles to improve the world.” Today, the Enactus is global in 36 countries with 317 universities and 5,900+ student participants (Learn more about Enactus United States).
Enactus enables students to take the business concepts they learn in class, apply them to world problems, and ultimately identify a self-sustaining model. Every year, Enactus teams present their projects and compete in the Enactus United States National Exposition. Business leaders evaluate the projects and rank the projects according to how successful they were at using business concepts to improve the standard of living and quality of life for those in need. The National Exposition champions advance to compete in the Enactus World Cup.
The Shakti Project
Photo Courtesy of UW-Whitewater Enactus
The UW-Whitewater Enactus team presented the Shakti project, aimed at transforming lives and providing a vision of hope. The goal of the project is to create a sustainable model to combat blindness and empower young women in India.
Through the Shakti project, young women are trained to become eye screeners and travel to remote villages to provide screenings, eyeglasses, and referrals. The young women are empowered, receive decent-paying jobs, and can transform their own life as well as the lives of their families.
With the support of their partners, the model is implemented in rural northern India, Uttar Pradesh. UW-Whitewater Enactus partnered with Combat Blindness International (CBI) for funding, Dr. Shroff Charity Eye Hospital (ScEH) for Certified Ophthalmic Paramedic (COP) training, and CleaVision for the data collection technology used in the eye screenings.
According to the University News, eight Shakti screeners conducted eye screenings for 2,841 individuals, provided 200+ eyeglasses, and referred 500 patients to clinics. With the self-sustaining model, Uttar Pradesh is only the beginning, and the UW-Whitewater team plans to expand to help others throughout the world.
UW-Whitewater Enactus Team
Photo taken by Craig Schreiner, UW-Whitewater
The 2021 Enactus team includes:
Jason Jaworski, President
Chase Boudreau, Project Director
Hannah Zanow, VP of Marketing
Collin Olsen, VP of Finance
Katie Childs, Director of Creativity
Grayden Gruchow, BAB Liaison
Jonathan Schreurs, Executive Member
The University of Wisconsin – Whitewater Enactus team is led by:
Choton Basu
John DeGraff
Mark Johnson
The team is also guided by their Board of Directors who include:
Peter Layton
Jim Caldwell
Sara Amiri
Dave Adam
Mark Leslie