Content warning: This story contains mentions of sexual assault.
“What starts here changes the world” may appear an ambitious statement to some, but for Texas Enactus, it accurately describes their impact.
As a chapter of Enactus, an international innovation and business organization, Texas Enactus allows students to work on an entrepreneurial product that contributes to a social cause. Each year they focus on three projects that create change through environmental, economical and sustainable initiatives.
“There’s an application where you can submit an idea and then it goes through to the officer board and (they) look over it and see if it’s doable,” said Shriya Chilukuri, economics sophomore and Texas Enactus internal director. “It gives everyone the opportunity to be creative and incorporate whatever they’re passionate about into the org.”
This school year, Texas Enactus’ three projects consist of Rainewable, a rainwater filtration system for rural communities in Nicaragua, Cherryish Yourself, a streetwear brand that advocates for sexual assault awareness and TeachBack, a developing mobile app that seeks to revolutionize health literacy.
Members of each project specialize in finances, marketing, outreach or coding while learning the logistics of how to run a business.
“(Texas Enactus) is helpful if you ever want to be any sort of entrepreneur … whether you want to own your own medical practice, or have your own CS company,” said Ria Mehrotra, business freshman and Texas Enactus external director.
As of July 2020, Texas Enactus raised $61,000 in funds, impacted 1,200 individuals and created 30 jobs, according to their website. Rainewable, for instance, provided Nicaraguan school children with portable water.
“It increased the use of health literacy because before the children wouldn’t wash their hands after going to the restroom, or they wouldn’t wash their plates,” said Maria Cavazos, finance sophomore and Texas Enactus external vice president. “Now because they have access to clean water, they are able to do that.”
Dilan Luo, finance junior and Texas Enactus president, said the organization had a successful recruiting season this year and looks forward to what it will become in the coming years.
“It was awesome, just getting to see how many people were passionate (about) the projects or working for the social cause,” Luo said.
Last year, Texas Enactus flew to the Netherlands to represent the U.S. in the Enactus World Cup, an international competition where winners of national Enactus expositions around the world present their projects for a chance to receive prize money. During their presentations, they answer questions that an alumni-based panel evaluates.
“There’s a pretty long list of criteria,” Luo said. “It’s basically ‘How sustainable is this?’, ‘What mission is this going towards and how well does it do that?’, ‘How long did this go for?’”
This year, UT will serve as the host school for the U.S. National Exposition occurring from May 13 to May 15.
“We get to (meet) universities from all over the country who have done projects that have been so impactful,” Cavazos said. “It’s so incredible.”
Despite being an entrepreneurship organization, Texas Enactus does not limit membership to business majors.
“We’re (an) inclusive community,” Mehrotra said. “We have majors from all different (colleges) … It’s a lot of people that are focused on the social impact field.”
Cavazos said by joining Texas Enactus and participating in national and international competitions, she developed a global perspective of different problems.
“(Texas Enactus) broadens your perspective,” Cavazos said. “Doing it alongside a team of people who genuinely care is the best part.”
