The Unknown Project’s foundation in Enactus QUT

Oliver asks a critical, existential question: in a world of such remarkable beauty, who are we to be of any significance? But of course, as she says, you must be, but never without perspective. Oliver’s outlook demonstrates a kind of empowering empathy, in a world that can often feel overpoweringly apathetic.

One such organisation inspiring this kind of empowerment is Enactus QUT. In 2015, I joined Enactus, an organisation that focuses on entrepreneurial action as a meaningful, and importantly, sustainable solution to social and environmental issues facing contemporary Australia. Social enterprise is a business that can be described as one with the ‘mind of a business, and heart of a charity.’ It is not merely one that donates a portion of its profits to a charity, or satisfies its’ corporate social responsibility requirements. if this was the definition, then Coca Cola would be the largest social enterprise in the world. A social enterprise’s fundamental reason for existing is its’ social objective, and trade is its’ means.

There are several social enterprise models being adopted today: the funding, employment and service models. The funding model is adopted by Thank You. They sell water, soaps and even muesli, to fund sanitation projects in developing countries. The employment model is demonstrated by a restaurant in Japan called The Restaurant of Order Mistakes. There, they employ people with dementia as wait staff, providing income and raising awareness for dementia. The service model can be illustrated by a Brisbane-based social enterprise called Tippy Toe Co. Tippy Toe Co is a ballet school for adults and children with special needs. Enactus projects adopt a model depending on the requirements of the project.

Through Enactus, I had access to a network of thousands of students, professionals and entrepreneurs, with the same desire to have an impact. Enactus’ appealing factor for me, was this focus— its emphasis on making an impact, rather than making a difference. In this way, Enactus rejects traditional methods of aid or welfare by ‘selling a man a fishing rod’. It is through this empowerment that Enactus and social entrepreneurship has shifted the traditional paradigms of aid and welfare that seeks to empower its recipients.

Through Enactus, I worked on a project called ‘Many Ways Forward.’ This project adopted an experiential learning model that facilitated skills development, work training and ultimately placement for people at risk of becoming homeless, who had been out of the workforce for an extended period of time or were experiencing homelessness. It was delivered in several stages—through workshops focusing on CV development, interview skills and tips and Excel and Microsoft Word skills, work experience and finally, placement.