University SIFE team President Nish Vivekananthan presents at the SIFE Australia National Conference

The University of Melbourne Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) team has been crowned the 2011 National Champions at the SIFE Australia National Conference.

The conference, held from the 13th to the 15th of July at the Sydney Hilton, saw 22 SIFE teams from around Australia come together to present their work to a panel of judges and compete for the SIFE Australia title. As the National Champions, the University of Melbourne SIFE team will now travel to Kuala Lumpur to represent Australia at the SIFE World Championships to be held in October.

The University of Melbourne SIFE team last competed at the global level in 2007, where they were semi-finalists in the competition.

The National Conference marked the culmination of 12 months of hard work and commitment for the University of Melbourne SIFE team. The judging panel, who represented some of Australia’s most well known companies including sponsors Qantas, Fonterra, Woolworths, KPMG, HSBC and Coca-ColaAmatil, were impressed by the range of projects the team have undertaken as well as the success and positive change they have achieved.

The team presented 5 projects at the competition and described how they are working in partnership with academics, business and community leaders to address social, economic and environmental issues. The projects included:

• Switched-on Enterprises – creates sustainable business models in social enterprise in order to employ disadvantaged members of the community.
• Think.Act.Green – increases environmental awareness amongst secondary school students while developing their business and professional skills.
• IMPRINT – creates positive public spaces in the community to encourage social interaction, boost economic activity and discourage crime.
• Street Stories – provides financial assistance to homeless people, while promoting community interaction and awareness of the causes of homelessness.
• Nexus Abroad – an international development project that assists community organisation in developing countries to become financial independent and accountable.

Professor Margaret Abernethy, Dean of the Faculty of Business and Economics said, “This is an outstanding achievement for the 78 strong SIFE team, led by President Nish Vivekananthan. The Faculty of Business and Economics has sponsored this program for a number of years and we are delighted to see so many of our students involved in using the knowledge gained while studying at the University to drive social change.”

Professor Abernethy also extended her thanks to SIFE team Faculty Advisors Suzanne Dixon and Brooke Young from the Faculty of Business and Economics for supporting the team, to the SIFE Business Advisory Board members and to Professor Simon Bell, Professor Nasser Spear, Dr Jennifer Grafton, Elizabeth Serpell, Professor Bob Wood from MBS and the Commerce Student Centre for assisting the team in their preparations and activities throughout the year.