Laurier's Enactus team named runner-up at the World Cup finals

Sept. 11, 2020

Laurier’s Waterloo Enactus team, representing Canada, was named runner-up at the Enactus World Cup competition, behind the team representing Egypt, on Sept. 11. They also won the 1 Race 4 Oceans challenge, which recognizes students who are taking action to address issues facing the world’s oceans, including pollution, overfishing and climate change.

Laurier’s team competed against 32 other countries before making it to the competition’s finals, along with teams from Egypt, India and Brazil. Laurier’s Waterloo team was named national champions at the Enactus Canada National Exposition in May. More than 72,000 post-secondary students from around the world participated in regional and national competitions ahead of the global competition.

“Being named one of the top teams in the world out of 2,258 post-secondary schools is a surreal feeling,” says Daniel Moll, co-founder of EarthSuds, Enactus Laurier team member and recent business graduate. “It’s been an incredible journey and it’s rewarding to see all our hard work pay off. I still can’t believe it — I think it’s going to take a few days to sink in.”

The presentation that helped Laurier's Waterloo Enactus team to second place at the Enactus World Cup. 

Besides competing, students at the virtual Enactus World Cup had the opportunity to network with more than 25,000 business, student and academic leaders and participate in workshops and panel discussions featuring leaders from businesses, organizations and universities around the world. Some of those speakers include author Deepak Chopra; Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, the United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UN Women; Paul Polman, the co-founder and chair of Imagine; and executives from KPMG, Unilever, LinkedIn, HP Inc. and Coca-Cola Company.

On May 28, Laurier’s team was named champion among 58 teams across Canada, 20 national semi-finalists and five finalist teams, including Lambton College (former national champions and World Cup winners), the University of Ottawa and St. Mary’s University (last year's national runner-up).

At the national competition, Laurier’s Waterloo Enactus team presented two of their ventures, EarthSuds and Last20, in the Scotiabank Climate Change Challenge and was named the national champion. EarthSuds was also named the national champion in the TD Entrepreneurship Challenge. One of the team’s newest ventures, Smile Tabs, was awarded the 3M Canada Best Project Accelerator Award. The venture, which produces single-use toothpaste capsules, was created after its student founders won Laurier’s first-year BDO New Venture competition.

This represents the first time in 15 years that Laurier’s team has won any national title and the second year in a row that the team has advanced to the overall national final round.

“I am beyond proud of the team,” says Laura Allan, assistant professor in the Lazaridis School of Business and Economics and faculty advisor for Laurier’s Waterloo Enactus team. “What they have built, and the impact they have made, is awe-inspiring. These students truly embody ‘inspiring lives of leadership and purpose.’”

The EarthSuds team that presented at the Enactus World Cup: Marissa Vettoretti, co-founder; Abbey Bibbings, vice-president of strategy; Madelaine Wilson, work program manager; Daniel Moll, co-founder. All four team members recently graduated from the bachelor of business administration program at Laurier's Lazaridis School of Business and Economics. 

EarthSuds, created in 2017, produces single-use shampoo, conditioner and body wash tablets to eliminate the need for plastic toiletry bottles. The venture just launched its e-commerce site this past fall and its plastic-free toiletry products are now carried in over 68 retail stores across North America.

Last20 seeks innovative and sustainable ways to upcycle plastic waste. The company sells shirts, each made with six upcycled plastic bottles, and is working with researchers to develop a way to replace some of the bitumen, used as a binding agent in pavement, with waste plastic bags. The resulting product is not only sustainable, but more water-resistant, stable and cost-effective than conventional pavement materials.

Another Laurier Enactus venture, as well as a student, were also finalists in the national competition. Mighty Hawks, which supports individuals with developmental disabilities to become more financially independent, was named the national runner-up in the CWB Financial Literacy Challenge and Abbey Bibbings, a former Laurier Enactus co-president, was one of six finalists for the HSBC Women’s Entrepreneurial Leadership Award.

In June, Enactus Canada named Blair Forrest, a Laurier alumnus and the owner of AMZ Prep Canada, the 2020 Student Entrepreneur National Champion. AMZ Prep helps businesses sell their products on Amazon’s marketplace and provides warehousing space and infrastructure.