Last month, the UEA Enactus Society attended the 2024 Enactus National Expo, for which they had been nominated within the top 5 of over 70 competing universities. It was the first time the society has achieved this since its origin 22 years ago. This May, I was lucky enough to sit down with President Katherine O’Conner and Project Leader Natalie Chabot to discuss not only their society’s success nationally, but its continued efforts to fight hygiene poverty in Norwich.

Although the word ‘Enactus’ might be unfamiliar to some, Katherine informed me of what the society is and how it operates. ‘Enactus UK is an organisation that sets up teams in universities. Every year we compete in a national expo in London to see which university can come up with the most innovative and sustainable social enterprise. At the moment we have one project at UEA, which is called ‘Soapful Hands’. This involves running soap-making workshops on campus and then taking portions of the soap and putting them in the hygiene kits we create’.

It is through this process that the UEA Enactus Society has been able to create hundreds of pieces of soap that they not only sell, but donate in their hygiene kits to YMCA, St Martins and public shower facilities in Norwich. The project itself is non-profit and therefore all money made goes back into expanding ‘Soapful Hands’. Natalie explained to me that ‘the concept for the project came about an idea session. We started off trying to pick our target beneficiaries and we settled on homelessness.’ Katherine added that ‘Enactus UK wants you to look at what people really need. There were already food poverty services in Norwich, but it was hygiene products that were lacking.’

Since then, the Enactus Society has extended the demographic of ‘Soapful Hands’ to all those who are effected by hygiene poverty. Katherine mentioned that ‘YMCA Norfolk was a big part of that, mainly because they work with young mums and young people in general. We realised that it’s not simply that people can’t afford hygiene products,but they might not be able to prioritise getting them.’

The soap itself is made in £5 workshops each Friday in the Warren, with anyone welcome to join and create their own custom soap. Natalie explained that ‘In the workshops, we use a melt and pour soap base and have a variety of scents, colours and moulds that people can choose from.’ The soap is then left to set for a few days before students can collect it, with a portion being donated or sold to fund the project.

After hearing about ‘Soapful Hands’, I was interested to learn about the Enactus competition and how UEA competed with fellow universities. Katherine informed me that ‘I loved the competition, I had so much adrenaline all day! It started with us all meeting up in the morning and then we went over the briefings. Afterwards, we had a flag parade followed by the tech checks for our presentation.’ Natalie continued ‘I was on the presenting team. There were definitely some nerves as there were about 130 judges and 1000 people in total! It was the first time a lot of us had done public speaking, so that was a great experience.’ Katherine also mentioned how pleased she was with the feedback they received, stating that ‘The judges commented on how much they liked how localised it was. It gets too hypothetical when you make it too big at this stage, so it was very much making the impact now and that’s just what we did.’

Their success is even more notable when you factor in their competitors, many of which are ‘legacy teams’ who have been running their projects for 10+ years, compared to ‘Soapful Hand’s’ stretch of six months. It was with this goal for longevity that Natalie affirmed that ‘The whole point of this project is growth. This year started off with 3 people and now we have 28! If people join, there’s always that opportunity for input!’ With their position in the top 5 securing them an additional grant of £1000 (on top of their £200 winnings in a ‘Regional Impact Accelerator’ last November) they both assured me that UEA Enactus is ready to expand.

It was Katherine and Natalie’s open -minded and passion attitude that truly shone throughout our conversation and I was curious as to why Enactus had stood out to them when deciding to join the society. Natalie replied ‘I’ve always wanted to make a difference in my life, but it’s hard to pinpoint where. It’s nice to know that I’m doing some good in my free time.’ Katherine mentioned that she had taken an alternative route to joining. ‘It started with my helping with marketing, but then I just got more invested in it. At first, it was something I was a bit intimidated by as I study psychology, not business! Still, when everyone comes together it becomes a lot easier.’ Natalie added, ‘If you want to try business, it’s a great way to give things a go. You’re not using your own money and the support of the Enactus Team is something really special.’

The Enactus Society will run their last soap-making workshops this academic year on the 17th and 24th of May at 12:30-13:30 in the Warren. Tickets are bookable on the SU website!

Image: Instagram/enactusuea