University Students from Ain Shams University in Cairo are the 2022 Enactus World Cup champions and winners of the $50,000 Ford Better World Award for presentation of their social innovation, Crevita. The student team from the Higher Institute of Computer Science of El Manar, Tunisia, took second place and a $25,000 cash prize.
On Wednesday 2 November at the Coca-Cola Music Hall in San Juan, four National Championship teams from Egypt, Tunisia, the United Kingdom, and Canada delivered twelve-minute presentations to over two hundred in-person and virtually-participating judges. The final teams were the top contenders from a field of thirty-two that competed earlier in the week.
Ain Sham University’s winning project Crevita is an integrated social enterprise based on the harvest and use of the invasive Nile River crayfish. Crevita has created 325 job opportunities, generated revenues of 6.5 million EGP, and increased beneficiaries’ income by 260%. Through crayfish harvest, Crevita has increased fish productivity in the Nile by 40% and created four new profitable industries including the manufacture of Chitosan (a fibrous biomaterial derived from shellfish exoskeletons), poultry feed, and a bio-pesticide.
This is the fourth consecutive year that a team from Enactus Egypt has won the Enactus World Cup. Enactus Ain Shams team President Mohamed Saad says, “The moment was surreal, hearing our name for the fourth time consecutively, something that seemed impossible and farfetched. Raising our flag as if it’s the first time in Egypt’s history. But we did it, we won it again, and we’re proud of our team, now more than ever.” Enactus Egypt Country Leader Fatma Sirry adds that Egypt university teams’ winning performances “[reflect] the power of the Egyptian youth and their desire to innovate and empower the community for a better more sustainable world.”
The championship was just one of many elements of the four-day Enactus World Cup. Other events included a film festival at the Royal Caribbean Cinema, a forum on Global Goal Ten: Reduced Inequalities, a Venture Pitch Demo, and a celebratory after party at the San Juan T-Mobile District. The Enactus World Cup is estimated to have added over $4 million to the Puerto Rico economy, according to Enactus Puerto Rico Country Leader Rody Rivera Rojas. Celebrated former Puerto Rico Governor Sila María Calderón Serra, gave remarks at the Impact Awards ceremony, where she received the Enactus Entrepreneurial Spirit Award for her work using the transformative power of entrepreneurship to promote progress for people around the world.
At Enactus World Cup, students compete, collaborate, make intercultural connections, and are inspired to further develop skills that foster social entrepreneurship. The Enactus World Cup is the culmination of a year or more of innovation by students launching social enterprises as part of Enactus, the world’s largest experiential learning platform preparing the next generation of leaders to achieve the United Nations’ 17 Global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
This year at Enactus World Cup, Enactus President and CEO Robyn Fehrman unveiled Forward Momentum 2025, a new three-year strategic plan to grow the organization and expand its impact leading to its fiftieth anniversary. Fehrman says, “I am simply amazed by our students’ passion and integrity that was on display this week at Enactus World Cup. These exceptionally bright leaders possess incredible business acumen, and they apply their talents compassionately to improve people, planet, and prosperity. Every day, I am optimistic about our future because of the impact I see both on and through Enactus students.”
