Dear Colleagues

Welcome to our April Newsletter,  

Now that our universities are back in full swing with many of them having face to face connection, we are optimistic and excited for our Enactus Program for this year with things slowly getting back to normal both here in Australia and around the world.

We are very proud of our students and teams who have been able to continue to grow and improve their projects despite all the difficulties they faced due to the restrictions that have been in place over the past 12 months.

On a national level, we have commenced conducting our Regional Showcases which kicked off in Western Australia on the 24th of March. This was then followed by the Victorian/ Tasmanian showcase of the 7th of April which I was able to attend and provide some feedback to our teams ready for the National Competition in July. I was again impressed by the students and their level of enthusiasm and leadership in managing their projects despite Covid-19. I am eager to see the final presentations at our National Showcase which will be held on the 5th - 8th of July,

We held the Queensland Regional Showcase at QUT's new facilities at Kelvin Grove on the 14th of April and our NSW Regional Showcase will be held at Macquarie City Campus on the 19th of May.  We would like to thank all the Faculty Advisors, students and Business Advisors who participated in these events.  We would also like to say a big thank you to our partner Randstad who hosted a Careers Workshop at each of these events around the country, and to Marvin Fox for the Design Thinking Workshops he conducted for our students.

Regional Showcases are a wonderful opportunity for students and partners to connect at a “grass roots” level and greatly assist our students in preparing for our National Showcase in July - so a big thank you to all those who were involved.

Events and Happenings

The major happening, of course, since our last Newsletter has been the live Regional Showcases which have been held now in three out of four regions.

As Tim highlighted, our partner Randstad held a very well received Careers Workshop for each of these showcases giving students some particularly  relevant  and valuable topics including conducting an effective job search; tips for your resume in a digital age; and boosting your credibility as an applicant.

The Design Thinking Workshops that Marvin Fox from QUT facilitated also had very positive feedback from students and will help guide them in planning, developing, managing and measuring the outcomes and impact of their projects in preparation for the National Showcase in July.

We have seen a good participation level from all the showcases held so far even though there have been number restrictions due to Covid-19. It was nice to get back to face to face and see some of our teams and their projects they will be presenting at the National Showcase.  We are looking forward to connecting with our NSW universities in May.  

National Showcase

Our National Showcase will be conducted on line once again from the 5-8th of July 2021. We have been working closely with Enactus International to ensure the activity will be consistent across all countries in terms of competition requirements.  As with last year we will be using Launch Pad 6 platform to host the competition.  We will also use a combination of media for ceremonies, competition, judging and student participation which will include video, Launch Pad 6 and Zoom.

The upside of holding our events on line is that we can involve more judges and have more people from both here and other Enactus countries observe and/or participate in the event.

We would also like to invite any of our alumni to participate in our National Competition as judges.  Please contact Kylie to express your interest.

Kylie's email- ksmith@enactus.org

Regional Showcases 

To ensure that all our teams had a consistent learning and development agenda, we offered very interactive workshops on Career Planning and Design Thinking. Of course, regions were most welcome to add other topics which were relevant to their program.

All regions also invited Business Advisors to give "real world " feedback to students on their projects through their experience, knowledge and expertise.

The Western Region group of universities met to review progress for the year and shared their project and future ideas among the teams. We were also particularly pleased to have Murdoch University attend this year, and our thanks to Curtin University for providing the venue.

The teams from the Southern Region also got together to review their progress straight after the Easter break . We were excited to welcome Monash University back into the Enactus program for 2021 and look forward to their participation in our National Event. We would also like to thank our partners Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand for hosting our event in their facility in Melbourne. 

Queensland had their showcase a week after VIC/TAS and we were pleased to see such great collaboration by the students in both workshops  

The Design Thinking Workshop was run by Marvin Fox who outlined the most important elements of design thinking including a thorough needs analysis; determination of the ongoing viability and sustainability of a project; and completing demonstrable measures, impact and outcomes. This was of great benefit to the students and the teams prior to our National Event in July.

We would like to thank all participating people from Randstad, and Marvin, for facilitating these two learning workshops at all of our events.

You can access the Randstad Career Planning  assets on our webpage under National Showcase /Regional showcases.

You can access some of the design thinking resources from the following link.

https://www.notion.so/quteshipfuel/FUEL-START-HERE-a7d4154d03534c9ba50dad7a988e5249

Our NSW Showcase will be on Wednesday the 19th of May. You can register via our website or at the following link to attend.

https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/enactus-nsw-regional-showcase-tickets-150678159431

EY Mentoring Program 

During November and December 2020, twenty three of our students took part along with Enactus Germany in a pilot mentoring program with EY.

The program gave the opportunity for our students to discuss topics such as leadership, entrepreneurship, global citizenship and career development with experienced managers from EY around Australia.

Feedback was overwhelmingly positive and we are happy to report that it has been opened up to all Enactus students around the world.

We are looking forward to having many more of our students involved, and are very grateful to EY for this opportunity.

The University of Sydney Enactus Pitch Night 

Enactus USyd held their inaugural pitch night for 2021 on the 29th of March held at the Business School of the University of Sydney. It offered each of the individual  teams the chance to present their projects and ideas in a formal setting to the rest of the society and their Business Advisory Board. Each presentation afforded members time to receive feedback and challenges from the BAB which proved immensely useful, allowing the teams to refine their ideas, practise pitching and develop valuable communication skills in a familiar and welcoming environment.

Foundations for Tomorrow 

Enactus Australia has partnered with Foundations for Tomorrow in giving young people under 30 across Australia the opportunity to shape and influence COVID-19 recovery plans in businesses and government. 

Through the 'Your Voice' campaign Enactus Australia is collecting survey submissions from our team members sharing insights on their priorities, perspectives, and questions which prominent Australian leaders will respond to. The submissions will then be used to create a report helping direct funding and talent towards solving some of the COVID-19 challenges facing young people. 

Randstad Internship  

As part of our partnership with Randstad we were lucky enough to have Randstad offer a Internship  in their Marketing team to help with our Enactus Australian branding and messaging.  Sarah Mendoza from Macquarie University is working with Randstad to review and reshape our marketing materials and communications. We would like to thank both Randstad and Sarah for their involvement.

Enactus International  

Enactus Welcomes New Global Program Leader

Janani Akhilandeswari has joined Enactus as the Senior Director of Global Programs. In this role, Janini will shape and implement Enactus’ mission measurement strategy, programming and digital product development – all to strengthen Enactus programming and support our growth agenda.  Janani brings experience in research, program and digital product development in education and international development.

National Competitions

The National Event Season is well underway with both USA and UK having completed theirs. Belgium, Canada, China, France, Ireland, Kyrgyzstan, Puerto Rico and Russia are planned for the coming weeks.

Australia's is from 5 – 8 July this year, so if you would like to participate please let us know. Keep a lookout for opportunities that will be posted on our LinkedIn page www.linkedin.com/company/enactusaustralia-org-au

Enactus World Cup

The Enactus World Cup will be held on line and is scheduled for 14 – 21 October. We’ll keep you posted with further information on registration and events.