I had the pleasure of interviewing my friend and fellow 90U floor mate Kathleen Kemp. I got to catch up with her, and boy has she been busy!
All about Kathleen
Kathleen is a third year management student, and is already leaving her mark on this world. Kathleen is a recipient of the 2012 Female Enterprise Entrepreneur and Leadership Award at the 22nd Annual Entrepreneurs’ Club Toast to Success Business Dinner. Currently, Kathleen is co-president of the Enactus team at uOttawa, but that doesn’t even begin to cover how unbelievably busy she is. She is a research assistant for a professor while also working on her start-up. Her start-up is incredibly cool – she is looking into recycling cigarette butts and turning them into useable products like clothing, plastic or energy. Looking around campus and other areas of the city, it would be nice to see cigarette butts put to use, rather than decorating the sidewalks.
While she loves to be busy, Kathleen isn’t all about work – she also adores spending time with friends, and just relaxing. I asked her about how she feels about our university; Kathleen enjoys how she can take the skills learned and really apply them to the community. She also really likes all the available options for extracurricular activities. However, if she could have changed anything, she would have put better thought into what she chose to take in school, and she would have probably done accounting. With exams looming over us, I asked Kathleen how she was planning to handle the exam time stress. Kathleen’s approach to exams is really simple: she stressed how important it is to really manage your time appropriately and reduce all your distractions, and most importantly, stay organized. Looking ahead, Kathleen wants to continue working on her start up, and is looking into graduate studies in law, or getting her MBA. With such a great work ethic and amazing passion, I am sure she will be able to achieve everything she wants to!
Let’s dive into Enactus:
One of Kathleen’s passions is giving back to the community, and Enactus is just that! Watching her talk about it, you can really feel her hopes and dreams for the club.
What is Enactus?
The name says it all (EN-ACT-US). First is en, and it stands for entrepreneurship. It is “having the perspective to see an opportunity and the talent to create value from that opportunity.” Enactus takes what is learned in business class and applies that knowledge in their projects. The second part is act, standing for action, which refers to “the willingness to do something and the commitment to see it through even when the outcome is not guaranteed.” The last part refers to us: “a group of people who see themselves connected in some important way; individuals that are part of a greater whole.”
Enactus strives to bring social change with their projects, and engage their members in the community. It is a completely non-profit student run operation and can be found in 37 different countries with over 60, 000 students participating worldwide. It not only focuses on business experience, but also on social issues. The organization believes in a triple bottom line, in which all projects have a social, economic, and environmental impact, all while being sustainable. Kathleen used the line, “increasing and improving life through entrepreneurship,” a great way to sum up what Enactus really is.  The uOttawa team had a humble beginning, starting three years ago with only five members. It has since grown to 95 students. It is a tight knit community of students where everyone knows each other and works together on projects. Collaboration is a huge part of what makes Enactus work, and they are always looking for different groups in the community to collaborate with.
Enactus uOttawa has several projects going on in the community, and Kathleen gave me the run down on one of the projects. It is called EcoEquitable, and it involves taking textile waste and turning it into fashionable items for women. I was surprised to find out that textile waste is responsible for 4% of all landfill waste, and most of it is actually good material that can be repurposed. While the project is aimed at reducing environmental waste, it also has a social aspect to it. All of the people working on the project are immigrant women, who don’t have skills to find other jobs. The project teaches the women how to sew, while giving them a fair wage. Enactus is responsible for the business side of things like marketing and checking inventory. The project is fully self-sustaining and is returning a profit. If you would like to check out some of the cool items the ladies have made, there is a store on McArthur in Vanier, and also be sure to watch on Facebook since there will be a launch party for the store in February. As long as a business fits the triple bottom line, Enactus is willing to help local entrepreneurs by giving them resources, advice, and opportunities that allow them to get their ideas off the ground.
Enactus also has many events happening in the New Year. Legacy is an all-day conference on January 18th. Legacy is Ottawa’s premier student entrepreneurship conference, where students are encouraged to share experiences and encourage others to become entrepreneurs. The theme is the triple bottom line, so it will feature entrepreneurs and keynotes who can speak to both social and environmental impact.  Another event announced last week is Strat24, which will be held on January 24th. Strat24 is comprised of an intense case study between four students, two business students, and two engineers. They are locked in a room in the Elgin hotel for 24 hours, where hopefully they will emerge with a successful conclusion to the case study. The winning team will be rewarded with $4,000. Enactus wants to promote inter program collaborations and networking, and show that people who you don’t think would come together can work together to solve issues in the community.
In the future, Enactus wants to continue to grow their membership and they welcome people from all faculties. They want to start more community projects as their membership grows and continue to give more and more back to Ottawa. You can check them out on twitter (@Enactus_uottawa), their facebook, and their website. Keep an eye out for more events held by Enactus!Â
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