Kent Union supports over a hundred and fifty student-run societies and sports clubs. Getting involved in any society or club can be great for your employability, but one of the most relevant is Enactus Kent, part of the worldwide Enactus volunteering organisation. Jameela Ahmed from Enactus Kent would like to introduce you to the work they are doing in Canterbury to help change people’s lives, and to tell you how you can get involved. See the end of the article for the events they are holding during Welcome Week and the first week of term.
Enactus is a worldwide organisation which uses entrepreneurial knowledge to help empower people to change their livelihoods in a sustainable way. It’s an international non-profit organisation, with over 70,000 students in 36 countries, working on nearly 5000 projects. It is aimed at university students by business leaders, in order to make a difference in the community while helping them develop skills to become socially responsible business leaders.
Enactus Kent is a student led organisation, where students are encouraged to create and run their own volunteer projects.
At Enactus Kent, we aim to create projects that empower communities and improve livelihoods of people in need, such as Dave. Like over a thousand residents of Canterbury today, Dave was also homeless. Dave’s living situation had seriously damaged his job prospects. Although this was a problem, we found that it could also be part of a solution.
We partnered with an NGO called Porchlight which provided Dave with a place to stay. Then, looking at tourism, one of Canterbury’s most successful industries, we trained Dave and others like him to be tour guides and launched a tour company called MyStreets.
We thought, Dave’s story and his experience of the streets of Canterbury can set him apart from every other tour company in the city. And it did. Dave led tours and was then able to get work experience at the Canterbury Council.
Like MyStreets, our volunteering projects run like businesses. Enactus is built on the principle of sustainable change, reducing dependence on donations of money and time. That’s why why we offer a large number of opportunities to our volunteers.
We’re not asking you to donate you time to Enactus, but instead, to invest your time in it.
As an Enactus volunteer, you can gain a host of skills that add value to your CV, build your professional network by meeting entrepreneurs and business owners and get access to exclusive training and networking events as well as career fairs with Enactus sponsors such as KPMG, EY, Unilever and many more.
Get involved today! Join us by visiting www.enactuskent.org
Find us on:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/enactuskent
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/enactus_kent/
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/enactuskent
Enactus Kent are holding a series of events in Welcome Week and Week 1; head along or get in touch through their website and social media above if you would like to get involve.d
| Event | Date | Time | Venue |
| Enactus Kent at Fresher’s Fair | 21st Sep | 11am – 5pm | Plaza |
| Enactus Kent Welcome Meeting | 26th Sep | 3pm-4pm | DLT3 |
| Meetup at Kbar (with Hub for Innovation and Enterprise) | 26th Sep | 5pm-8pm | KBar |
| Trip to Enactus World Cup (held in London by Enactus UK) | 27th Sep | Entire Day | The Excel Centre London |
