Enactus DCU who are competing in this year's Enactus World Cup

Enactus DCU students through to semi-final of social entrepreneurship World Cup

09/09/2020

Enactus DCU are representing Ireland at this year's virtual finals. It is the sixth time in nine years that a team from DCU has represented Ireland at this competition

For the sixth time in nine years, Enactus DCU is representing Ireland in the Enactus World Cup social entrepreneurship competition taking place virtually this week with 32 teams from across the world competing for the prestigious title.

Enactus DCU, who were crowned national champions in May have progressed to the semi-finals after accounting for South Africa, the Netherlands and Eswatini in the opening round. They are now in the top 1% of teams worldwide and will take on Egypt, Tunisia and the USA in the semi-finals with the overall winners due to be announced on Friday, September 11.

The Enactus DCU 2020 Team Ireland members include Kevin Cogan (winner of the 2019 President's Award for Innovation), School of Computing; Jack Parkes (SALIS); and Suzanne Jackson, Eoin Noonan Treacy, Emily Fulton, and Chair of the Society, Thomas Bird (all DCUBS) representing the whole team of students from across all faculties.

Their mentors are Dr Emer Ní Bhrádaigh, Fiontar agus Scoil na Gaeilge, Dr Ciarán Dunne, SALIS, Dr Róisín Lyons and John Byrne, DCUBS.

The team have brought projects, including Dyslex.ie, a software that helps the dyslexic community to increase their online reading speed, and reduces the number of errors while reading websites and online content; and Vocalise, a programme which aims to build the confidence of students and improve their public speaking and overall communication skills through a number of different events such as workshops, topical discussions and games.

The students had a significant amount of preparatory work in the run-up to the World Cup including a video presentation (edited by Noel Hatton, DCUBS) submitted this week for judging.

About Enactus Ireland
Enactus Ireland is one of 37 country organisations around the world that operates an Enactus programme, bringing together students, academics and business leaders who are committed to using the power of entrepreneurial action to solve challenges in local communities. This year is the 9th year of Enactus Ireland running the programme.