Discovering student enterprise

Loughborough was always my dream; it was very aspirational of me to want to come here. I worked really hard on my A-levels and was lucky enough to be offered a place. During the first couple of weeks at Loughborough your eyes are opened to lots of different opportunities. As a first year Business student you will study a module called Skills for Study, Placement and Employment, this is where I was introduced to the idea of enterprise at Loughborough.

This module really changed my perspective; I came to university with the view that working for a large corporate firm was my idea of success. My lecturer, Amanda knowing that I was interested in student enterprise challenged me on this, suggesting that I might be happier working in start-ups and building companies. This got me thinking about different career paths and inspired me to explore the different options available. I now understand a lot better that there are many different paths through life and ways to be successful.

Joanna was involved in an Enactus social enterprise project called Enriching Future Generations. This scheme takes on the challenge of widening participation and building a gateway to teach young people skills such as collaboration, time management and social impact. Joanna and the Enactus team worked with local secondary school students to help them achieve their goals, whether they be academic or extra-curricular.

Joanna was driven and determined and before long ended up leading the project:

The reason I got involved with enterprise was because I wanted do something in business beyond sell a product or service. I wanted to try and solve some of the problems in the world. I quickly realised that I wanted to to use my skills and passion, to help people and grow as a person - enterprise is the perfect place to do this.

I was able to get involved with a whole range of activities. I eventually found that by helping people I felt like I was helped back as it enabled me to develop many skills that will be relevant to my future career.

Enterprise has given me the confidence to talk to professionals and people in industry, working with them to deliver projects, simply being exposed to that environment while I am at university will give me an advantage in the workplace.

Part of her role was to plan how to recruit new students during the University’s fresher’s fair. However, as this did not go ahead, Joanna and the committee worked to devise new and innovative ways to engage students.

Joanna was involved with organising a series of events over the summer to engage new students before they had even stepped foot on campus. Consequently, the Loughborough Enactus Team have been recognised by Enactus UK as an example of best practice.

It is a graduate talent accelerator which hosts online challenges, where enterprising students are matched with start-ups and social enterprises to come up with innovative solutions to their problems. Joanna has been hosting House Hack events supporting real businesses with their very real problems with student insights.

Joanna Dlugoszewska won this year’s Deans Award for Enterprise recognising her contribution to the school and community within this area.