John Denham MP about SIFE Southampton projects

" I have to say I was very impressed with the range of works taking place. Having, before becoming a Cabinet Member of Parliament, spent my working career up in the University Voluntary Sector much of that working in development organizations, I was particularly pleased to see the way that you applied the products of your entrepreneurship to models of development that I think have been proven,particularly in micro-finance, to work successfully around the world and will have a lasting impact." - John Denham.

SIFE Recruitment Evening

TONIGHT!

SIFE Recruitment Evening - 6pm, room 1067 in the Murray Building.

WANT TO:

-Try something new?
-Learn new skills?
-Be Entrepreneurial?
-Make a real difference?

SIFE SOUTHAMPTON IS THE PLACE FOR YOU!!!

SIFE is a student-run organization with establishments in over 1400 universities in more than 40 different countries around the world. The main aims of this organization are to create economic opportunities for others, and for university students to learn how to implement their education by applying their entrepreneurial ideas to real life situations.

SIFE Southampton is a brand new organization, as of now just under 12 months old. Despite our recent establishment, we have already been acknowledged for our accomplishments. We have created a Business Advisory Board, consisting of advisors from 7 local businesses in Hampshire, as well as 2 faculty advisors. Having initiated 5 successful projects in the UK and internationally (in countries such as Sierra Leone and Madagascar), we have been awarded the title of Best New Team in the South and Runner-Up in the Semi-finals at the SIFE UK Competition, and will also be up to competing in Berlin, Germany later this year at the SIFE World Cup Competition.

Our mission statement is to promote entrepreneurship through sustainable, ethical change, which is fundamental and applicable in any society.

With 5 ongoing project, and several new ones in the pipeline, SIFE Southampton has a range of projects anyone can feel passionate about - or why not start one yourself?

SEE YOU THERE!

Kick Start the Economy

Next Wednesday (6th May) from 6.15pm -9pm there is a really great event in London called "Kick Start the Economy" featuring the following speakers:

Tim Smit, founder of the Eden Project
Paul Myers, President of the World Fair Trade Organization
Safia Minney, founder and director of Fair Trade fashion brand People Tree
Albert Tucker, Independent Consultant and formerly of TWIN TRADING, a founding partner in Café Direct and Divine Chocolate

This is a great source of inspiration for environmentally and socially sustainable business ideas. Individual students as well as the university enterprising society members would benefit a lot from participating.

THE UNI WILL PAY FOR YOUR TICKET! Check out our facebook group and contact Marta for details:

SIFE Southampton are UK Rookie Champions!

SIFE Southampton are UK Rookie Champions!
This is fantastic news, and to explain exactly what this means then take a look at this note from the SIFE Southampton president, James Stewardson:

"In just 6 months SIFE Southampton have become National Rookie Champions and runners up in the Semi Finals.

If you dont know what this means, then listen up.

Our team has beaten 24 other Universities let alone the ones that don't even bother. We have four amazing local and international projects and we have four brand new exciting projects in the pipeline.

WE ARE GOING TO GERMANY, to represent the UK as rookie champions competing against German teams the day before the SIFE World Cup.




If you haven't already got involved then now is the time!!!

Next year we will be in the Finals.

Well done to everyone who has contributed to our Success and a massive thanks to Natalie Norton who started our team. We couldn't of done it without you."

SIFE Southampton into the semi-finals!

Well done to all at SIFE Southampton for getting straight into the semi-finals, bypassing the group stages!

Here is the SIFE Southampton team right before the big presentation... They do look pretty nervous =).

SIFE Committee 09/10

Here are the new committee elected on Monday 16th March. The official handover is Monday 27th April 2009!

President: James Stewardson
Secretary: Suzanne Butcher
Finance Director: Bogdan Opris
Marketing Director: Fatma Makki/Sharan Bains
Sierra Leonne Project Leader: Emily Savage
Madagascar Project Leader: Marius Klimavicius
Consultancy Project Leader: Katie Green
Green and Clever Project Leader: Jack Stanbury
Education Project Leader: Jas Grewal
Oman Project Leader: Fatma Makki

Leadership Team Speeches

On Monday's SIFE meeting, the leadership team gave speaches about the roles and explained their roles to the members!

Here's Tom, SIFE Southampton's president




Priscilla Guercini: Madagascar project team leader


James Pipe: Green and Clever project team leader



James Stewardson: Sierra Leone Project team leader





Poojah Patel: WebSIFE Consultancy Project team leader

The Sierra Leone Project

This project is a partnership with a local charity called the Saint Georges Foundation. James Stewardson and his team have set up a clothing embroidery business, which supports a long-term project in Sierra Leone. The team aim to provide training in IT skills to children in the Saint Georges Foundation shelter for homeless children as well as a rice growing operation with small villages.

Our Microfinance Project in Madagascar

Our project leader - Priscilla Guercina and her team have set up a micro-lending scheme that aims to enable poor families in Madagascar to start up small businesses, such as a chicken farm. SIFE Southampton are organising the scheme, providing the initial investment and then providing support to these families. The long-term goal is to make the project self-sustaining so that we can move on to a new geographical area.

SIFE Southampton : The Committee!