ST. LOUIS, April 17, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- $10,000 in prize money goes to the student team from Brigham Young University-Hawaii (Laie, HI) that was named the 2015 Enactus United States National Champion Thursday night at the Enactus United States National Expo at America's Center in St. Louis, MO. www.enactus.org

Top executives from America's most well-known companies including The Hershey Company, The Coca Cola Company, The Schwan Food Company and Unilever, local notables Anheuser-Busch, Edward Jones, Enterprise Holdings, KPMG and Walmart, and nearly 100 more gathered to judge entrepreneurial outreach projects created and implemented by Enactus teams from 178 colleges and universities, as well as network and engage with the more than 2,400 students attending from around the country.

The Brigham Young University-Hawaii Enactus team created projects empowering residents of the Ivory Coast, the home country of one of its members. The team inspired women to become entrepreneurs through micro-financing and taught cacao farmers to pollinate crops through beekeeping to increase their production and income.

"Our commitment to Enactus teams worldwide underscores our belief that these talented and dedicated students are making a significant impact on the livelihoods of people in communities around the world," says Mike Moore, EVP and President, Small Formats Walmart U.S., Walmart Stores, Inc. and Chairman of Enactus United States National Advisory Board. "Not only are they doing the right thing for their communities, they are gaining highly sought-after skills and attitudes that shape our next generation of great leaders."

Since Tuesday, teams have delivered live multi-media presentations describing their projects to panels of business leaders in an effort to convince them that they have created a sustainable impact economically, socially or environmentally. Enactus students also interviewed for jobs and internships at a two-day Career Fair where recruiters competed aggressively from this extraordinary pool of talent and in many cases offered jobs on the spot.

"The accomplishments of the Brigham Young University-Hawaii team, the 177 other teams that competed this week, and hundreds of other active Enactus teams around the country underscore the fact that participation in Enactus provides university students with the opportunity to make a meaningful difference in their communities, while gaining the experience, skills and contacts necessary to build a successful career," says Alex Perwich, President, Enactus United States.

The other teams placing in the top four were:
2nd:  La Sierra University (Riverside, CA)
3rd:   John Brown University (Siloam Springs, AR)
4th:   Belmont University (Nashville, TN)

The Brigham Young University-Hawaii team will represent the United States alongside 35 other countries at the 2015 Enactus World Cup October 14-16 in Johannesburg, South Africa. www.enactus.org/worldcup/

About Enactus

Enactus United States is part of an international non-profit organization that brings together student, academic and business leaders who are committed to improving the world through entrepreneurial action. Guided by business experts and academic advisors at 1,700 universities in 36 countries, the 70,500 student leaders of Enactus create and implement entrepreneurial projects each year impacting more than 1,950,000 people. The experience not only transforms lives, it helps students develop the kind of talent and perspective essential to leadership in an ever-more complicated and challenging world. For more information, contact Daniel Ortega, Marketing Manager, Enactus United States at 417-575-3567 or visit www.enactus.org.

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SOURCE Enactus

Related Links

http://www.enactus.org