Marrakech - Spurred on by their leadership, and education and citizenship maxims of "Tell me and I forget, show me and I may remember, involve me and I will remember" and "Give a man a fish, he eats for a day; teach him to fish, he eats every day,” respectively, Moroccan Enactus engineering students headed to China and became the pride of their country.
Morocco took part along with 35 other countries in the Enactus World Cup of social entrepreneurship on October 22-24, 2014, in Beijing, China. Morocco was represented by Enactus Mohammedia School of Engineering which had earlier ranked among 12 semifinalist countries the previous year. This year, Morocco ranked second in the Enactus World Cup 2014, coming only after China, the host, which won the trophy.
The World Cup "Enactus" is a competition in which young researchers in various countries offer the simplest and most effective ways to invest in entrepreneurial projects to change people's lives for the better.
Enactus is a community of students, leaders of the academic and economic world, that is committed to using entrepreneurial action to promote progress in the world. It was created in 1975, and launched in Morocco in 2003. With respect to access to water, the participating Enactus students launched their “Vernet” project this year, and headed to China to showcase their presentation with passion and enthusiasm for saving lives in Africa by promoting accessibility to clean water.
Inspired by the words of Thomas Edison, “How could I transform the need for light into a huge business,” and being close to the basic needs of people in terms of water, Enactus’scMoroccan students thought of how to transform those needs into a huge beneficial business for the society.
“Life is all about water, as it can affect everything, education, health and living standards,” according to the introductory speaker.
“The time they [people in Africa] spend in gathering water is a time they can spend to read, write, and earn income, or just take care of their children.”
While all of the incredible procedures to get water are valuable, they do not necessarily assure clean and healthy water. “The little water people have collected is not clean; it causes diarrhea, dehydration, and even death,” said one of the presenters.
The Mohammadia School of Engineers created projects to enter into the contest in the World Cup this year to address these problems. Among them is the aforementioned "Vernet project” for the manufacture and marketing of products for purifying water. The project is to provide job opportunities for the benefit of people who suffer from destitution, and to improve water quality for the benefit of the African continent.
The student engineers created two technical solutions to purify water using basic materials that handle the target areas where the project is implemented.
The first one involves filtering water from sediment and visible clay particles, while the second focuses on the elimination of invisible particles, such as microbes. The two technologies are dependent on environmentally friendly and low-cost techniques.
The third project tackles the collection and recycling of used plastic bags, and turns them into pieces and decorative products, or into sturdy and eco-friendly bags.
Video of the competition