IEM student projects won at the regional stage of Enactus competition

The team of Tomsk State University won the first place at the regional stage of Enactus program competition. The regional stage of the competition, held in Tomsk, brought together representatives of the Altai Institute of Art and Culture, Altai State University, Altai State Pedagogical University, Tomsk State University, Tomsk State Architectural and Civil Engineering University, and Tomsk Economic and Industrial College, in total about 60 people.

- At the regional stage, the teams present projects, the results of which they achieved during the school year. The jury determines who has most effectively used entrepreneurial activities to teach people to improve life economically, socially, and environmentally, -says Victoria Makoveeva, regional coordinator of the Enactus program, deputy director of the Institute of Economics and Management.The projects presented at Enactus should have real and measurable results, be aimed at improving the quality and standard of people living, and not just associated with the business, - explains Victoria Makoveeva. - Participation in the program is a very good opportunity to prove oneself, to form the necessary soft skills, to develop, and implement a project aimed at the sustainable development of the region.

Sergey Dedov, the captain of the TSU team at the competition in 2019, is a first-year Master’s student at IEM, who studies under the Business Management program. In common about 40 people worked on six projects, two of which related to the cultivation of berries, were selected for the regional competitions in 2019.

- The first project is to sell mini-greenhouses for pensioners, where they can grow strawberries all year round, even in the Siberian winter. These greenhouses are developed and created by our team and are already being implemented. The price of the greenhouse is 200,000 rubles. However, the project has worked out various terms of delay, the possibility of payment after the sale of the resulting crop. So, we plan to establish interaction between pensioners and points of sale, we will help pensioners to earn on the crop, - said Sergey Dedov.

The second project involves the cultivation of wild berries: cranberries, lingonberries, sandthorn, honeysuckle, and Arctic raspberry. It will be implemented in the marshy lands of the Tomsk Region. The first plantings are scheduled for autumn 2019, and it will be possible to reach the production scale for all varieties of berries in about five to seven years.

- In Russia there are no examples of industrial cultivation of wild plants, it is not even included in the world's top 15 exporters of berries, while its potential is enormous,- says the captain of the TSU team. Under this project, we will, first of all, save a forest on these lands from pests. It is necessary to protect the berry plantations from wind and snow and will subsequently be transferred to the category of protective forests. Also, the project will create up to five thousand jobs for residents of nearby villages, who are now on the verge of extinction, because people living there do not have work. And students will have an additional opportunity for practical training and further employment.