Enactus DCU team members from left: Laura McCauley, Alethea Williams and Emaan Khan. Image: Sam Boal/Photocall Ireland
A team from DCU was close to walking away with the grand prize at the Enactus World Cup, but was eliminated in the semi-final round.
A team representing Ireland at the Enactus World Cup missed out on the chance to make it to the finals today (11 September) after bowing out to Egypt. The event sees social entrepreneurs from 32 countries present their concepts to a panel of judges and this year’s Irish team came from Dublin City University (DCU).
Enactus DCU was crowned national champion in May and progressed to this year’s semi-finals after surpassing South Africa, the Netherlands and Eswatini in the opening round. In doing so, Enactus DCU is now ranked in the top 1pc of teams globally.
The team included Kevin Cogan, Jack Parkes, Suzanne Jackson, Eoin Noonan Treacy, Emily Fulton and Thomas Bird and had put forward 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.
Next year’s projects underway
Another project showcased by the DCU team, Vocalise, is 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.
One of the team’s tech mentors, Dr Emer Ní Bhrádaigh, said: “I am so impressed by the amazing work, resilience, good humour, passion and commitment to social good, that the team displayed all year, especially since the world changed for all of us last March.
“They display such leadership, tenacity and optimism; they have been inspired by the winning teams; and they are already working on next year’s projects.”
Enactus is a global non-profit with a goal to create a better world while developing the next generation of entrepreneurial leaders and social innovators. Enactus Ireland is now in its ninth year of running the programme. This year marks the sixth time an Irish team has made an appearance at the world cup event and the first to be held virtually.
