The Enactus project, Illuminate Marketing, has been making a difference for small businesses both locally and internationally, according to project manager Roman Johnson.
Enactus is an international student organization focused on the United Nations’ 17 sustainable goals, which include no poverty, zero hunger, good health and well-being and quality education, according to the Enactus Southern Adventist University website. Johnson said Southern’s Enactus chapter has four projects that seek to reach those goals in the local and international community, one of which is Illuminate Marketing.
According to Johnson, the projects are often business-oriented but can be humanitarian, science-related or focused on entrepreneurship. For example, Higher Tech Minded Ladies (HTML) is an Enactus project focused on teaching young women business and computer science skills for free, according to HTML’s website. Another project, Akuna Soap Industry, empowers local Zambians by giving them the opportunity to make and sell soap for the industry, according to Akuna Soap Industry’s website.
Johnson said Illuminate Marketing was founded in 2020 after COVID-19 hit. The original team of 12 has now grown to 20 members.
“We noticed there was a need,” Johnson said. “A lot of small businesses were struggling after the initial hit of COVID. … So, the whole idea with Illuminate Marketing, at the core of it, is to help these small businesses, these nonprofits, these ministries, really get the word out about themselves.”
Illuminate Marketing currently offers three packages, according to its website. The “Complete” package is an eight-week program that costs $250 and includes social media set-up, photography, minor film, large-scale website design, event planning and extensive marketing.
According to Johnson, Illuminate Marketing members spend the first two weeks of the program researching the clients and their needs and the next six weeks implementing a marketing plan.
“For us, it’s a little bit of a cool partnership,” Johnson said. “We learn, and they learn.”
During the Fall 2021 semester, Illuminate Marketing had the chance to work with Ruth Boyd, an alumna of Southern and missionary in Lebanon. Boyd said she had started teaching three refugee women to embroider cards, which she would sell in the United States. The profits supported the women, a $5 card bringing the equivalent of a day’s wages.
“It took them about a month to realize that I was serious and that they could keep sewing forever, and I would keep paying them; it was transformational,” Boyd said. “Ninety-six cards later, those ladies moved from … what they called ‘prison’ … to an apartment that had this beautiful greenway entrance with ivy hanging all over. They have a bedroom, a full bathroom, a kitchen, a living room, a veranda, and they’re safe. They are no longer persecuted. And so that was the beginning.”
When Boyd reached out to Illuminate Marketing in the summer of 2021, she said, she had a website and a name. However, both needed to be redesigned, and she didn’t know how to further market the cards.
According to Johnson, Illuminate Marketing helped Boyd connect with local stores and ministries, build a new name, logo and website and print advertisements. The team also sold 20 to 30 of her cards at Southern’s 423 Night Market.
“They worked fast and hard,” Boyd said. “… And I think that what they did was foundational in us going forward, as far as growing the business.”
According to Boyd, her business, now named “Woven Dignity,” currently has five employees and will be hiring more soon.
The cards can be purchased at the Woven Dignity website.
Johnson encouraged students who want to learn and serve to apply for Illuminate Marketing next fall. He said an announcement would be made when applications are open with a link or QR code to the application.
“At the end of the day, we’re really just helping people and hearing their stories, seeing their smiles,” Johnson said. “It’s really just a wonderful opportunity.”
