Roswell Native Helps Win International Entrepreneurship Competition

Roswell native Kelsey Bright is now a world champion.

Bright was one of six students from Belmont University who were just named the 2012 World Cup champions in an international entrepreneurship competition in Washington, D.C., beating out the national champions of 38 other countries with a flawless presentation and annual report on their 14 community outreach projects.

The Belmont team was formerly known as Belmont SIFE (Students in Free Enterprise) until SIFE Worldwide recently announced its new name, Enactus. Enactus is a community of student, academic and business leaders committed to using the power of entrepreneurial action to transform lives and shape a better, more sustainable world.

Bright, a senior marketing major, has been involved with SIFE since her sophomore year. She first served as the project manager for the Let's Can Hunger project. She then took on the role of Vice President of Marketing and Communications, and she now leads the organization as its President.

"A National Championship is a big deal - even when it’s the second one in three years - but a World Championship is huge," said Belmont President Bob Fisher. "I couldn’t be more proud of our faculty leadership and especially these absolutely amazing students!!!"

Alvin Rohrs, president and CEO of Enactus Worldwide, added, "I feel great pride for what the Belmont team did. The only thing better than their presentation and their projects this year is how they've shown the character they have in how they relate to everyone else. I think that speaks a lot about the University and the caliber of these leaders."

Once a year, the national champion Enactus teams from around world meet at the Enactus World Cup where they present the results of their community outreach projects to a prestigious group of international business leaders. Through a written annual report and live audio visual presentation, teams are evaluated based on how successful they were at using business concepts to improve the quality of life and standard of living for people in need. The 2012 Enactus World Cup was held Sun., Sept. 30-Tues., Oct. 2 at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C., and the event was co-hosted by the U.S. Department of State.

Belmont won its opening round Monday and was one of 16 semi-finalists to compete on Tuesday afternoon; the Belmont team was named the World Cup champion at approximately 5:50 p.m. (EST). Other top four competitors included India (HR College of Commerce and Economics), Zimbabwe (Midlands State University) and second place finishers Egypt (French University).

This is the second time in three years that Belmont’s team has won the national championship, placing the group as the No. 1 team out of nearly 600 teams in the U.S. The 2012 World Cup provided a showcase of the impact that Enactus teams are achieving around the world and brought together an international network of more than 3,000 student, academic and business leaders from more than 39 countries.

During the 2011-12 academic year, Belmont SIFE, now Belmont Enactus, focused on 14 projects to benefit the local and global communities. They addressed issues including job skills training, small business development and environmental sustainability. The students spent 2,442 volunteer hours developing and completing their projects. In addition, the 42 team members are involved in many other organizations and represent a variety of majors across campus.