2026 PRME Students Sustainability Award

Enactus Guelph is a network of leaders committed to using business as a catalyst for positive social and environmental impact. We educate, inspire, and support young people to use innovation and entrepreneurship to solve the world’s biggest problems.

Enactus Guelph has advanced the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Seven Principles for Responsible Management Education by transforming student learning into real-world, impact-driven action. Through our flagship initiatives: Brewed Beauty, ReduX, and seQUESTer we have embedded sustainability, ethics, and responsible leadership into ventures that address pressing environmental and social challenges.

Our work directly advances SDG 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production) and SDG 13 (Climate Action) through Brewed Beauty and ReduX, which divert coffee and food waste from landfill, reducing methane emissions while creating circular, economically viable solutions. Through seQUESTer, we contribute to SDG 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation) by developing an innovative, scalable solution to remove lead contamination from water from yeast, improving environmental and public health outcomes.

At the core of our organization is a commitment to fostering the next generation of youth entrepreneurs by creating an environment where students do not just learn business principles, but they apply them in action. Through hands-on involvement in venture creation, operations, financial management, and stakeholder engagement, students gain practical experience that bridges the gap between theory and practice. This experiential model empowers students to take ownership of real projects, make decisions with real consequences, and develop the confidence and mindset needed to lead in an increasingly complex and sustainability-focused world.

Beyond SDG alignment, our organization actively embodies the PRME Principles. Through Purpose and Value, we cultivate students as responsible leaders committed to using business as a force for good. Method is reflected in our experiential learning model, where students lead ventures from ideation to implementation. Through the values of Research and Partnership, we collaborate with local businesses, community organizations, and interdisciplinary teams to co-create solutions grounded in both innovation and practical need. Finally, Dialogue is demonstrated through our engagement with the community - educating consumers, working alongside stakeholders and local business/leaders, and fostering conversations around sustainability and responsible consumption.

What distinguishes Enactus Guelph’s approach is the integration of these principles into action. Our projects do not simply align with the SDGs in theory; they operationalize them through measurable impact, community collaboration, and student-led innovation.

In doing so, we are not only advancing sustainable development, but we are shaping a generation of students who are equipped to lead it.

Enactus Guelph has built upon creative approaches by reimagining how students engage with real-world problems and transforming traditional learning into hands-on, impact-driven innovation. Rather than approaching sustainability challenges through theory alone, our organization empowers students to design and implement solutions that are both entrepreneurial and unconventional, blending business, science, and community involvement. We encourage students to take these risks and support them in building something innovative.

Our approaches are anything but conventional. Brewed Beauty transforms an overlooked waste stream, spent coffee grounds, into premium beauty products. We create a consumer product that integrates sustainability into everyday beauty routines, making climate action tangible and accessible. ReduX challenges traditional waste systems by converting restaurant food scraps into livestock feed, creating a closed-loop solution that benefits both businesses and local agriculture. Finally, seQUESTer pushes the boundaries of student innovation by applying biotechnology to environmental challenges, developing a yeast-based system to remove lead contamination from water.

What sets our approach apart is the student-led creativity behind these solutions. Students are given the autonomy to identify problems, test ideas, pivot when needed, and build ventures from the ground up. This fosters a culture of experimentation, where creativity is not confined to ideation but carried through execution, scaling, and impact measurement. Our team embraces failure as part of the process, encouraging continuous iteration and improvement.

Additionally, our initiatives are designed to be engaging and community-centered, creating meaningful connections between students, local businesses, and the public. Whether through interactive market experiences, partnerships with cafés and restaurants, or features on the local media, news, and radio, we ensure our solutions are not only innovative but shared with our community.

By combining creativity with action, Enactus Guelph has created a model where students are not just problem-solvers, but innovators capable of redefining how sustainability challenges are approached and solved.

Enactus Guelph has created meaningful impact across the university ecosystem and the broader Guelph community by achieving a historic milestone, delivering the best performance in the University of Guelph’s Enactus history. In 2026, Enactus Guelph secured the top placement in Canada, winning 3 of 4 national impact challenges: the Canadian Tire Environmental Sustainability Challenge, Desjardins Community Empowerment Challenge, and the Innovation and Impact Challenge. We continue to excel in delivering student-led solutions that address real, environmental and social challenges while delivering measurable outcomes.

Through Brewed Beauty, students have demonstrated how everyday consumer products can drive climate action. The project has diverted 166.90 kg of coffee grounds from landfill, collected directly from local cafés on and around campus, transforming them into 1,096 units of sustainable skincare products that not only improve skin health but also reduce environmental harm. When organic waste like coffee grounds decomposes in landfills, it produces methane, a potent greenhouse gas. By intercepting this waste, Brewed Beauty has prevented approximately 603 kg of CO₂-equivalent emissions, which is comparable to driving over 2,400 kilometers or charging more than 48,000 smartphones. These partnerships with local cafés not only reduce waste and costs but also strengthen the connection between the university and the surrounding community.

Beyond environmental impact, Brewed Beauty has played a key role in promoting entrepreneurship within the university ecosystem. By building and scaling a real venture from the ground up, students showcase what is possible when sustainability and business intersect. Through markets, campus events, and peer engagement, the project has inspired other students to explore entrepreneurship as a pathway to create impact, fostering excitement around both innovation and sustainability.

Similarly, ReduX has reimagined food waste systems within the local restaurant ecosystem. By diverting over 6,200 pounds of food waste from landfill, the project has prevented approximately 5,000 pounds of CO₂ emissions while also creating economic value. Through its circular model, ReduX has saved restaurants over $2,000 in waste disposal costs, demonstrating that sustainable practices can also be financially beneficial. At the same time, the initiative supports local farmers by providing a low-cost feed alternative, strengthening regional agricultural systems.

Beyond waste reduction, Project seQUESTer expands Enactus Guelph’s impact into environmental health and long-term systems change. By developing an innovative yeast-based filtration system to remove lead from water, the project is working toward a future where municipalities and underserved communities have access to safer, cleaner water.

Collectively, these initiatives have strengthened the university ecosystem by connecting students with local businesses, community organizations, and industry partners in meaningful, collaborative ways. More importantly, they demonstrate that sustainability is not just something students learn about, it is something they actively build. Through measurable climate impact, economic value creation, and a culture that encourages entrepreneurship, Enactus Guelph is empowering students to become leaders who are excited to create change and equipped to do so.

Enactus Guelph has actively promoted global cooperation by building meaningful, student-led partnerships that extend beyond local impact and connect diverse communities through shared innovation and purpose. A key example of this is our collaboration through the Kenya Tech Bridge project and Eco Track, where students work alongside international partners from the Kenyatta University to co-develop solutions that address environmental and economic challenges in a global context.

Through these initiatives, students engage in cross-cultural collaboration, exchanging knowledge, perspectives, and technical insights with partners in Kenya. Rather than applying a one-size-fits-all solution, our approach emphasizes mutual learning and co creation, ensuring that solutions are locally relevant while benefiting from global expertise. This fosters a deeper understanding of how sustainability challenges differ across regions, while reinforcing the importance of adaptability and cultural awareness in responsible leadership.

Additionally, these global partnerships strengthen students’ ability to operate in an interconnected world. By working across time zones, navigating different economic and social contexts, and aligning on shared goals, participants develop critical skills in communication, collaboration, and problem-solving. At the same time, projects like Eco Track create opportunities to share sustainable practices and circular economy models internationally, allowing ideas developed in one region to inform and inspire action in another.

Ultimately, Enactus Guelph’s work promotes global cooperation by creating platforms for students to collaborate across borders, transforming local initiatives into globally informed solutions. In doing so, we are not only addressing sustainability challenges but also preparing students to lead in a world where meaningful impact depends on collaboration beyond geographic boundaries.

Each of our projects is intentionally designed with replicability in mind. Coffee waste, food waste, and water contamination are not isolated to Guelph; they are global challenges faced by communities worldwide. ReduX’s system of converting food waste into livestock feed presents a scalable solution for reducing methane emissions while supporting agricultural systems globally. seQUESTer’s biotechnology innovation offers potential for municipalities and underserved communities around the world to improve access to clean, safe water.

Beyond our projects, Enactus Guelph actively participates in the broader Enactus Canada and Global network, which connects student teams across countries to share ideas, best practices, and impact-driven solutions. Through regional and national competitions, students engage with peers, mentors, and industry leaders, contributing to a global exchange of knowledge and innovation. These experiences allow our team to both learn from and contribute to a diverse, international community.

Importantly, our work fosters a mindset of global responsibility among students. By understanding that the challenges they are addressing locally are part of larger global systems, students are encouraged to think beyond borders and consider how their solutions can contribute to a more sustainable and equitable world. Through this combination of scalable solutions, knowledge sharing, and globally minded leadership development, Enactus Guelph promotes cooperation that extends far beyond our local community.

1. Brewed Beauty

A circular-economy social enterprise that upcycles used coffee grounds from local cafés into sustainable personal care products, reducing landfill waste and methane emissions while promoting responsible consumption.

2. ReduX

A student-led circular food system that diverts restaurant food scraps from landfill and converts them into safe, affordable livestock feed for local farms, supporting sustainable agriculture and reducing emissions.

3. Project seQUESTer

A collaborative environmental and public health project that uses engineered yeast-based filtration to remove lead contamination from water, offering a scalable solution to improve water quality.

4. Financial Literacy Initiative

A program that delivers accessible workshops and resources to improve financial literacy, empowering individuals with practical money-management skills and long-term economic confidence.

5. Revive Soap

An initiative that collects used cooking oil and transforms it into soap, reducing environmental pollution while creating accessible, sustainable hygiene solutions for communities.

6. Seed on the Wall

An urban sustainability initiative that integrates vertical growing systems into shared spaces to increase access to fresh produce while promoting environmental education and food awareness.

7. Project Thread

An initiative addressing textile waste and clothing insecurity by collecting gently used clothing from students and redistributing it through community partners to meet real, local needs.

Luca Ghizzardi, lghizzar@uoguelph.ca