Abstract

While innovations in infrastructure, trade, and technology continue to progress and boost economies, more than 600 million people continue to live in poverty, making up more than 9% of the global population (World Vision, Peer, 2021). This proposal examines how the nonprofit, Enactus, empowers college students globally to attack the issue of global poverty through the innovative use of social entrepreneurship. This exploration will focus specifically on the organization’s alignment with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 1: No Poverty, comparing three of the most common poverty alleviation models utilized in the current global economy: the charity approach, the micro-financing approach, and the entrepreneurial approach to analyze Enactus’ approach to poverty alleviation and present a proposal to further its efforts. Projects developed by Enactus chapters at BYU Hawaii, UK Southampton, and St. Paul’s University Kenya are presented and the analysis will show that social enterprise projects are proven to be the most successful in terms of impact numbers. Great social entrepreneurship opportunities can be leveraged through both females and youth. To expand its efforts, Enactus should develop a program for students at the secondary education level. To scale its global impact and cultural awareness, Enactus should allocate increased funding and resources to expand its collegiate-level chapters to additional countries, providing more students with the opportunity to participate in experiential learning projects. Harnessing their foreign connections and the power of the next generation, Enactus will further expand its reach to more students and countries to ensure the completion of the UN 2030 Agenda, with a “head for business, and a heart for the world”.