University and College Students Tackle Global Water and Waste Crises at 2017 Enactus World Cup and Global Goals Session

LONDON, Sept. 27, 2017 /CNW/ - Today eight best-in-class student teams from around the world presented how they are using entrepreneurial action and business innovation to tackle the global water and waste crises in the World Water Race and the 1 Race 2 End Waste.

In the Water Race, Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business from India won for their Project Raahat, which aims to eradicate open defecation in urban Delhi. The project focuses on access to safe and sanitary public toilets and changing the social stigma of using them. They competed against Universidad del Valle de Guatemala, Campus Sur, University of Regensburg from Germany and Memorial University of Newfoundland from Canada.

The top four teams that competed in the 1 Race 2 End Waste include Brigham Young University ? Hawaii from the United States, Memorial University of Newfoundland, University of Ottawa and Saint Mary's University from Canada. Enactus Memorial University of Newfoundland was awarded top spot for their Project Sucseed, a hydroponic-based social enterprise that addresses food security issues in northern Canada.

Both competitions took place at the 2017 Enactus World Cup, held at the London ExCel Convention Centre. Held annually, the event is the world's largest entrepreneurial competition for social impact. University and college students from 36 countries compete for the Enactus World Cup, in the 1 Race 2 End Waste and the World Water Race by presenting their community empowerment initiatives on stage in front of an executive panel of judges and audience of 3,500 student, academic and business leaders.

"Every year around the world, we waste one third of the food we produce, yet nearly 800 million people do not have enough food. When it comes to our precious world water supply, over 40 per cent of the global population is affected by water scarcity," says Terry Torok, Chief Innovation Officer, Enactus. "Brilliant young minds are a beacon of hope in transforming our world into opportunities of abundance, not only impacting world communities, but also their own lives and generations to follow."

Students have gathered at the 2017 Enactus World Cup against all odds from Puerto Rico to Zimbabwe, Mexico to India.

Enactus team leader, Luz Teresa Martinez from Puerto Rico stated, "Even though our beautiful country has been devastated, we will prevail. At Enactus we are building long-term shelters from many kinds of storms. We thank our Enactus family and all countries for their support."

The event included an opening keynote from Sir Martin Sorrell, Group Chief Executive Officer of WPP: "The Enactus World Cup is an extraordinary example of how good ideas can change the world for the better. It is our job as business leaders to create the conditions for these ideas to flourish, which requires a significant investment in innovation, the willingness to take risks and a long-term view of success."

The final day will provide the top 16 national teams 17 minutes to showcase the impact of their outreach projects that are empowering lives around the world. Learn more about the teams at enactus.org/worldcup/meet-the-teams. The final round of competition will also be streamed live Thursday from 3:30-6pm (GMT+1) at enactus.org/worldcup.

In 2016, Enactus students dedicated approximately 7,200,000 hours, creating and implementing over 4,100 projects that directly impacted more than 1,177,000 lives. These experiences not only transform the lives of the people the projects target, but help students develop the talent and perspective essential to leadership in an ever-more complicated and challenging world.

Enactus is an international organization dedicated to inspiring students to improve the world through entrepreneurial action. The Enactus experience transforms both the lives of the people the projects serve, and in turn, the lives of Enactus students as they develop into more effective, values-driven leaders. Founded in 1975, today Enactus has more than 72,000 student participants on over 1,700 campuses in 36 countries. For more information visit www.enactus.org.

SOURCE Enactus Global