In Spring 2021, the University of Wisconsin – Whitewater Enactus team took first place in the Enactus United States National Exposition and became first time national champions. Now, the UW-Whitewater Enactus team is headed to the World Cup to compete against 34 other Enactus country champions from across the globe.
About the Project
Photo provided by UW-Whitewater Enactus
The UW-Whitewater Enactus team presented the Shakti project (rebranded as the Aadya project), which creates a sustainable business model to combat preventable blindness by empowering young women in India (View National Winning Video and Annual Report). The project bridges the gap between eye hospitals and communities in rural India by empowering women with mobile phones that have eye screening applications and custom survey software to collect patient data.
The Aadya project was originally implemented in rural northern India, Uttar Pradesh. Young women were trained to become eye screeners and travel to remote villages to provide screenings, sell eyeglasses, and make referrals for the more serious cases. The project has been implemented in a series of phases to test various facets of the business model while working around the pandemic restrictions. In phase 1 over 14 days, the Aadya project created 8 new direct jobs, referred 531 patients for surgery, sold 267 pair of eyeglasses, and completed over 2,800 eye screenings. The UWW Enactus team worked 1,250 hours to impact 2,851 individuals in 3 countries and raised $25K.
As of fall 2021, the original eight screeners have been trained further and assigned to other jobs. UWW-Enactus is working with CBI to expand the program by doubling its eye screeners and recruiting another 15 women to conduct approximately 90,000 screenings over the next six months. On average, each recruit can screen about 1,000 individuals per month. The new location is in three villages in an area called Saharanpur in Northern India. Meanwhile, CBI the project sponsor, has committed an estimated $200,000 to this phase of the project.
Representing the United States
The UW-Whitewater Enactus team will not only represent the University of Wisconsin – Whitewater, but also the United States of America at the 2021 Enactus World Cup. This is a huge accomplishment for the team of students as well as UW-Whitewater, the Whitewater University Innovation Center, and all those who support the entrepreneurial spirit in the community. UW-Whitewater Enactus has already put Whitewater on the global map!
The UW-Whitewater Enactus World Cup team includes Jason Jaworski – Past President, Chase Boudreau – current President, Hannah Zanow - VP of Marketing, Grayden Gruchow – Liaison to Advisory Board, as project leads. Other members are Katie Krueger, Collin Olsen, Jonathan Scheurs, and Katie Childs.
The team may come from a small town, but they are sure mighty! Whitewater is a micropolitan area – a small town on the fringe of large cities with easy access to Chicago, Milwaukee, and Madison. After driving through the country, you will find a bustling downtown with a university and a thriving business community who truly support one another and embrace the entrepreneurial spirit.
Supporting UW-Whitewater Enactus Team
Photo taken by Craig Schreiner, UW-Whitewater
The primary support for UWW-Enactus comes from external sponsors. This year a few unique support areas have emerged to provide additional resources for the team. Additional support comes from student projects and other student organizations on campus.
Dr. Choton Basu is the lead faculty advisor and the Sam Walton Fellow for the UWW Enactus Team. Choton also sits on the board of Combat Blindness International. He works closely with the UWW-Enactus student team and all global partners for the project. Choton is part of the Whitewater University Innovation Center ecosystem working as a mentor for startups that visit or locate here.
Extending the ecosystem to the university, John DeGraff, one of the other faculty advisors, has challenged students in his Marketing 360 (Entrepreneurial Marketing class) to develop marketing plans for UWW Enactus as a non-profit. For the UW-Whitewater Enactus marketing plan, the objectives are to create awareness for this national champion organization and Aadya in the Wisconsin and Chicago region. Other specific goals are - obtain $50,000 in corporate sponsorships, raise $25,000 in donations, and triple the organization's participation. Mark Leslie, one of the Industry Advisors and former CMO of Kohl’s, will be visiting the class later this month to discuss the need for social impact in larger corporations.
The Social Impact Division of UW-Whitewater’s AMA (award-winning) chapter is also teaming up with UW-Whitewater Enactus to support their marketing efforts. In the weeks leading up to the World Cup, the AMA Social Impact Division will help with the social media promotion and raising awareness for this unique global initiative.
Additional support comes from off-campus at the Whitewater University Innovation Center. The Innovation Center is the cornerstone of the ecosystem in the region, promoting innovation and fostering entrepreneurial thinking. Three of our mentors are also the advisors for Enactus and provide invaluable business model, marketing, and pitch development coaching. Mark Johnson, the Executive Director of the Whitewater University Technology Park and Innovation Center, Choton Basu PhD., UW-Whitewater Professor, and John DeGraff, UW-Whitewater Lecturer all serve as Enactus Advisors & Team Leads.
Compared to some of the competing teams, UW-Whitewater Enactus has access to limited funding. The Deb Malewicki foundation and some SUFAC funds have been the only sources for the group. This year all that changed because Combat Blindness International (CBI) decided to fund the Aadya initiative. The CBI team was impressed with the business model proposed by UWW-Enactus and wanted to “test” to see if this could be a viable and sustainable business model in their fight against preventable blindness. Reena Chandra Rajpal, CBI’s executive director, believed in the vision. She stated “Shakti (Aadya) could be a game changer in advancing CBI’s mission by dramatically increasing vision screenings among the most vulnerable, underserved people” (Read more Shakti: Combating Blindness, Empowering Women).
The UW-Whitewater Enactus team and CBI have partnered with Dr. Shroff Charity Eyecare Hospital (SCEH) for on-the-ground operations which included recruitment, training, and the screening program. Other companies and contributors included SAP, Peek Vision, Essilor and Survey Sparrow. Given the reality of the pandemic, this was truly the year of collaboration and partnerships to get projects completed. Aadya was no exception.
Enactus World Cup 2021
The Enactus World Cup will take place October 14-21, 2021. The World Cup will kick off on October 14th, which coincidentally is also World Sight Day. Enactus looks forward to celebrating World Sight Day, teaming up with CBI, and encouraging supporters to give $25 to give sight to someone. The 25-20-24 campaign dedicates $25 dollar donations to a 20-minute surgery to give back sight to an individual within 24 hours.
What can you do to support the project? The UWW-Enactus team encourages you to sign up for the World Sight Day celebration with CBI: https://www.combatblindness.org/world-sight-day/ and follow the Enactus World Cup at https://enactus.org/worldcup/
Good luck University of Wisconsin-Whitewater Enactus at the World Cup!