Students in Free Enterprise at Surrey
Thursday 26 May 2011
A head for business. A heart for the world.
Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) brings together a diverse network of university students, academic professionals and industry leaders around the shared mission of creating a better, more sustainable world through the positive power of business. By contributing students' talents to projects that improve the lives of people worldwide, SIFE are demonstrating that individuals with a knowledge and passion for business can be a powerful force for change. There are currently in excess of 48,000 students actively participating in SIFE programs at more than 1,500 college and university campuses spanning over 39 countries.
This year SIFE at Surrey’s mission was to encourage students to contribute towards bringing about the change they wish to see in the world through educational outreach projects that would meet a range of needs. Having being re-established by four students as a society within the University only two years ago, SIFE at the University of Surrey has seen phenomenal growth. Through the hard work and dedication of the current thirty-two members, three educational outreach programs were launched this year, impacting the lives of 608 people directly, nationally and internationally.
Our international project assisted people in the region of Mukono, Uganda to target three main needs for change. These centred around agricultural business inefficiencies, wood fuelled stoves which were not environmentally friendly and perceptions towards enterprise that were not in line with contemporary practices.
SIFE Surrey students, in collaboration with local charity The Guildford Mukono-Link, introduced the concept of an ‘evaporative fridge model’ to 24 farmers with the aim of increasing the shelf life of produce from 2 to 14 days. The money being saved by the 24 farmers through the introduction of the fridges is to be invested into establishing a bio-gas facility - in which natural waste is transformed into energy for domestic use. Using SIFE Surrey’s student knowledge we were able to provide a clean and efficient alternative to wood fuel used for cooking for one farmer and his family this year. The team also delivered 14 workshops to 506 kids which involved an interactive business challenge to change the current perception towards enterprise.
Student representatives of SIFE Surrey presenting their trophies to Professor David Allen, Dean of the Faculty of Management and Law (Click on the image to enlarge).
It is through projects such as the Ugandan effort that SIFE Surrey is able to harness the talents of students, local businesses and large multinational companies existing within and around the university to change the lives of people who need it the most. SIFE students have a simple aim which is ‘to develop others whilst developing themselves’.
This year, SIFE Surrey’s 32 students have put in 2360 community service hours and raised £4,560 to support the growth of projects. SIFE involvement is a great 'real life experience’ for any student’s CV, particularly in the current economic climate.
At the end of the academic year, each of the 40 SIFE countries hold a National Competition during which the SIFE teams present the results of their projects to judging panels comprising of business executives and CEOs of major corporate companies. The competition gives the students and universities recognition for their hard work whilst also enabling students to network with business leaders and other like-minded people from across the country. This year in the SIFE United Kingdom national competition, out of 44 participating Universities, the University of Surrey SIFE team successfully made it through to the semi-final, thereby placing us within the top eight teams in the UK.
SIFE at Surrey is rapidly expanding and we are always looking to encourage a diverse range of students, academics and businesses to get involved and be part of the change they’d like to see in the world.
Find out more: www.sife.org | ussu.sife@surrey.ac.uk