You know that thing where you go for a job or an internship to get legit experience and then they’re all like, “You need more experience”, and then you go, “This would be my first placement/job, so I don’t really have experience?” And then you both sit there looking at the floor, wondering where it all went wrong generationally… (hint: if you laugh at different memes, there’s gonna be friction).

Project Everest Ventures (PEV) knows the frustration. PEV is an organisation made up of social entrepreneurs who believe in leaving the classroom and changing the world—y’know, putting everything you’ve learned at uni into practice irl.

But don’t take our word for it

Jess Riley leads a team of 26 people and three projects as a PEV Group Leader in Cambodia (a former PEV internship destination). Jess is 22. Jess is still a student.

When she’s not working on ending hunger, Jess is busy completing her Bachelor of International Studies (Major in International Relations and Major in Global Sustainable Development) at the University of Wollongong.

We’ll let her take it from here.

“I started out as a trekker in Cambodia with Project Everest, and now, on my third venture, I’ve worked my way up to Senior Team Leader. The projects I’m leading right now are all FarmEd, which basically involves looking to solve world hunger through accessible agricultural expertise.”

Ventures currently take place most months of the year in Fiji, Malawi, India, and Timor Leste, with projects covering the environment, health, agriculture, sustainability, and ending hunger.

PEV partners with unis all over Australia, which means it’s fully eligible to be placed on your HECS/HELP payment scheme (some unis even have grants available that cover a student’s entire time overseas!).

This is your shot to explore and work on issues you’re passionate about with like-minded people. Plus, on a personal development level, the ventures not only count towards your degree but will also sharpen your social and leadership skills.

Wth is social enterprise?

PEV aren’t a not-for-profit (NFP)—they specialise in social enterprise. PEV defines this as a: business that sells socially beneficial goods or services (read more). As part of their ethos, they believe that:

“Being a NFP though doesn’t solve, what we feel, is one of the greatest misperceptions of our time—that creating social impact and creating wealth, in an ecological way, are mutually exclusive.”

Long story short? They’re keen to create a new gen of social entrepreneurs: a generation that doesn’t stop doing social work once they’ve graduated and begun chasing their ambitions.

So… wanna make the future better for one billion people while seeing the globe and giving your degree a boost?

Get in touch with PEV.