ENACTUS advances to national competition

ENACTUS+advances+to+national+competition

Saint Francis’ ENACTUS team recently competed at the 2017 regional competition in Washington, D.C., and qualified for the national competition with a strong showing at this event. The team is headed to nationals in Kanas City next month.

ENACTUS stands for “entrepreneurs in action for us” and incorporates business principles into philanthropic causes.

This is the third year that SFU’s ENACTUS team has advanced to the national competition. Last year, the team placed second overall in its division.

“The trip is always full of great times and great food with great people,” said senior ENACTUS member Kitana Downs. “It’s also informative and inspiring to sit in on other teams’ presentations.”

This year’s team project is titled “Giving for Guinea.”

As part of the overall project, the SFU team raised $2,100 to send eight females to school in Guinea, a country in West Africa.

“We are all very confident as we return to nationals this year,” said ENACTUS President J.J. Hazenstab.

Hazenstab said his favorite part of participating in ENACTUS is seeing the results of all the hard work put into each project, whether it be educating students on Business Day or distributing microloans in Jamaica.

“It is very easy to get caught up in competition, but we are doing really good, helpful work,” said ENACTUS adviser Kent Tokin, an instructor in the School of Business.

Tonkin said the team previously worked with the “Patched Together” organization to help raise $40,000. He also praised their work in Jamaica, where the students met with a parish priest to evaluate potential investments and risks regarding microloans to local entrepreneurs.

ENACTUS provides small loans (some as low as $200) so that business owners in the developing world can do things such as expand a chicken farm or purchase refrigeration boxes for farm stands.

“The repayment rate is 85 percent, which is pretty good coming from one of the poorest countries in the world,” said Tonkin.

The club currently has 23 members from seven different majors.