UTRGV Enactus to compete at global competition in Kazakhstan

The UTRGV Enactus Chapter was crowned Enactus USA National Champions in May and are set to compete on a global stage in Kazakhstan against 33 other counties.

It is a first-time victory for the chapter with the team hosting an event showcasing the award-winning presentation to UTRGV leadership on Friday.

Enactus is an international non-profit organization dedicated to inspiring future leaders to take entrepreneurial action to improve, inspire, support and educate students to use innovation to impact their community.

Each year, the Enactus Expo brings together students and entrepreneurial leaders around the nation to showcase the impacts of young entrepreneurs. Students present projects that drive meaningful change through entrepreneurship.

The chapter is led by Maria Leonard, assistant professor of practice in management.

Leonard has been the faculty advisor since 2015 when the chapter got revamped.

“So we had a chapter back in the ‘80s here at the university, once their faculty advisor retired, the program kind of went away,” she said. “I used to be a student when it happened and once I started teaching full time at UTRGV, the first thing I did was create the program again.”

The team’s project’s focused on supporting the community by providing access to financial literacy education.

Their initiatives to promote financial literacy within the community have been instrumental in empowering individuals.

Some of their work included young people on the autism spectrum, focusing on professional development training and creating employment opportunities.

“We use the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals to design and select the projects,” Leonard said. “Every problem that we tackle has to be part of something that is part of the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals.”

The group’s previous projects include working with teen moms at PSJA ISD, children with autism and residents in colonias.

Leonard said the group has about 35 active members and an executive committee of nine students that run the organization.

The chapter plans to take about 10 to 15 students to Kazakhstan in October.

“I am very proud of the work that the students have done,” she said. “It takes a lot of work and a lot of commitment, and all of these kids are not only full time students, high achieving academically, but also working somewhere else. But they’re so committed to helping their community and helping advance economic development in their community.”

Having the honor to represent the United States at the competition, Leonard said the group is treating it as if it were the Olympics.

“It is also a tremendous honor to represent our university,” she said. “I’m a product of this university as well, so obviously it’s something very special to me to be able to teach here and help my community. I have a very deep love for my community and my students … and just to be able to offer them this opportunity and guide them through the process, it’s just a tremendous honor.”

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