As part of our regular student newsletters, we sit down with notable students, societies, alumni and staff to allow them to share their experiences of Southampton.
Following their win at the Enactus UK Championships earlier this year, we spoke with Enactus Southampton President, Jake Davies, ahead of their trip to the World Cup in South Africa in October.
1) What’s Enactus Southampton all about?
Enactus Southampton is all about creating real world, positive and sustainable change to the lives of those around the world that need it most. With over 200 members that are immensely passionate and dedicated to making a difference, Enactus Southampton has improved the lives of almost 50,000 people in the last few years. The beautiful thing about Enactus Southampton is that we are so diverse. I think we have members from nearly every department who all think, work and act differently. But as a team we come together to become more than just students.
2) Why did you first get involved?
I really don’t how you couldn’t after hearing about it. I remember coming to the welcome evenings and knowing that this is what I wanted to do at uni. I was completely taken in by the idea that the work we do here in Southampton can transform people’s lives as far as Kenya.
3) What do you all do on a weekly basis?
Anything and everything! Recently, I was in Kenya visiting all of our projects and the people we work with. We were making soap, fixing solar lamps, prototyping making shoes from old tyres as well as digging a 100 tonne hole for our clean water project. There’s no limit to what you can be involved in. Alongside the project work and idea development, we have the day to day running of the society so we have teams for finance, HR, CRE, IT, marketing and events etc. This is the perfect opportunity to try something new that you haven’t done before and never thought you would do. I’d never have said before I started uni to study chemistry that I’d spend time studying Kenyan law.
4) Why should new students get involved?
I can honestly say there is something for everyone. If you had to pick a reason for joining Enactus; whether it’s to make a difference to someone else’s life, develop yourself as a person or just to have fun, your choice would be irrelevant. You’d end up doing all three anyway. I’ve met some of the best people I know through Enactus and I’m looking forward to meeting the new recruits who will join us this year.
5) What’s your best memory of the society?
Without a doubt, winning the national competition. Preparing for nationals is a lot of work and it was such a nice feeling to know all the effort was worth it. Despite being 4 months since we won I still cant believe I can say that I am a national champion and was part of a team that beat over 50 others to win the title. I’m really looking forward to heading to Johannesburg to see if we can go one step further.
6) What’s Enactus’ next big project?
It’s a difficult question to answer. There’s 4 new ones coming through that are going to be huge and make a big difference to hundreds of thousands of people and our existing projects will continue to grow momentum and be bigger than ever before.
7) And finally, describe Enactus in 3 words
Completely life changing!
You can learn more about Enactus on their website. If you have a suggestion for a student group, individual student, staff member, or alumni that you would like to be interviewed in a future student newsletter, please email [email protected]