The North-West University’s (NWU’s) Enactus chapter on its campus in Mahikeng recently claimed top honours at the Enactus South Africa National Competition held at the Sandton Convention Centre in Johannesburg.

The NWU team competed against 20 other Enactus university teams from across South Africa, showcasing their social entrepreneurship projects that are changing lives and providing innovative solutions for sustainable impact in their communities. The NWU team received an accolade for making it into the top 20 teams in the country, and the team’s co-faculty advisor, Ms Mmaserame Masike, walked away with the Administrator of the Year award.

The NWU team presented their flagship initiative, Project ISAGO, which is a community project run in the rural part of Mahikeng in a village called Magogoe. The project aims to create employment through converting food waste into compost fertilizer, which the community can then either sell for profit or use to grow and cultivate their own produce to sell to local fresh food outlets.

The team partnered with the university’s Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, and according to their project impact analysis, the project has created employment opportunities for 11 people, while empowering another 33 people indirectly.

“The NWU Enactus Chapter has committed itself to community development through entrepreneurial action,” said Ms Masike, their co-faculty advisor. “We believe that the youth of this country, through entrepreneurial initiatives, hold the answer to the country’s unemployment crisis.”

Enactus is an international non-profit organisation that brings together students, academics and business leaders with a passion for entrepreneurship. In South Africa, the organisation operates at 27 universities, with more than 2 800 participating students in the country.

The NWU’s executive director for student life, Prof Lumkile Lalendle, with members of the NWU Enactus chapter.