Enactus Worldwide

London, England | 26-28 September

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Meet the Teams

  • Utrecht University

    Netherlands | In action since 2005

  • 56Students involved

  • 5Past WC appearances

Project Highlight:

Rebottled

In 2016, Jermain van der Graaf, captain of our Enactus Netherlands champion team, began to consider alternative uses for discarded wine bottles after discovering that empty beer bottles may be returned and reused up to 40 times. Few vineyards are located in the Netherlands, so few options existed to use those bottles again. Jermain and other team members developed a second-life plan for wine bottles by converting them into attractive drinking glasses. Members of our team collaborated with well-known restaurants to obtain bottles, a do-it-yourself shop for supplies and design assistance and the Salvation Army to extend work opportunities to clients of its work centers.

Impact(s): 15 people affected by gaining work experience; 3 jobs created at the Salvation Army — job coach, supervisor and coordinator at work centers.

What’s next: Within five years, Rebottled will be active in Germany, Belgium and other countries; it also will have created 1 million glasses from glass waste.

 

This project advances these key Global Goals:

               

 

Team Profile:

Faculty advisor(s):
Dr. Niels Bosma, Assistant Professor

Volunteer hours invested in project:
5220

Our proudest moment of the past year:
The achievement of two exits, meaning that two of our social enterprises [Rebottled and KlikStart] became independent and were taken over by our students.

Biggest challenge from the past year:
To increase innovation in Enactus as an organization.

Team described in one word:
Energetic.

Get to Know Us:

Saskia joined our Enactus Netherlands champion team one year ago after learning about the program as a trainee in a social-entrepreneurship program in her hometown. “I see Enactus as a social playground in which students are challenged to tackle major social and sustainable issues by being responsible for their own projects and enterprises,” she says. As do many Enactus team members, she’s learned to juggle Enactus and academic obligations that compete for her time: “I dealt with it by prioritizing my activities and planning very well in advance,” says Saskia. Majoring in cultural anthropology/sustainable citizenship, she plans to graduate in 2018.

More about Saskia:

  • What I’m reading: “The Subtle Art …,” by Mark Manson
  • Theme song: “New Shoes,” by Paolo Nutini
  • Who inspires me: [Danish football player] Nadia Nadim
  • Enactus in one word: Energy.
  • Best Enactus moment: “The moment when [my teammates and I concluded] our presentation in the first round of the National Competition in the Netherland … goose bumps, excitement and happiness…”
  • In five years, I will be … “living in Sweden, Denmark or Canada, and I will be working for a young and inspiring consultancy agency that tackles societal issues in cooperation with major worldwide enterprises.”

Connect with Saskia!
LinkedIn

At the recommendation of a friend, Michael joined our Enactus Netherlands champion team one year ago. He serves as human-relations manager for KlikStart, a different project that recently exited from Enactus to become independent: “Definitely challenging at times,” he says. He also has been responsible for communications between his fellow team members, project participants and employee, and he’s looking ahead to Enactus World Cup as an opportunity to gain more experience in making presentations. Michael is majoring in business economics and plans to graduate in 2018.

More about Michael:

  • What I’m reading: “When Breath Becomes Air,” by Paul Kalanithi and “Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind,” by Yuval Noah Harari.
  • Theme song: “Good Vibrations,” by the Beach Boys.
  • Who inspires me: [Dutch television personality, model and sports-school owner] Arie Boomsma
  • Enactus in one word: Powerful.
  • Best Enactus moment: “The introduction of all Enactus teams at the beginning of the National Competition because it showed how proud everyone was.”
  • In five years, I will be … “a father.”

Connect with Michael!
LinkedIn

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