We hoped ‘impact’ would be a crucial component of the conversations throughout all of SEWF 2013, but we wanted to put that primacy of purpose front and centre. As a result, we took a page out of Stephen Covey’s iconic book and began SEWF 2013 with a deliberate focus on the end point of everything we do, ‘impact’. The opening plenary looked at impact from three angles – creating it, measuring it, and collaborating to take it to the next level.
The session was moderated by Gerry Higgins, CEO, Community Enterprise in Scotland (CEiS); and featured Al Etmanski, Co-founder, Planned Lifetime Advocacy Network; Craig Kielburger, Co-Founder, Free The Children and Me to We; and Anne Jamieson, Manager, Toronto Enterprise Fund.
A special thanks to session sponsor Vancity.
Below you will find videos of the introduction from Gerry, each speaker except Craig’s (policies of Free The Children prevent the publication of his video), and greetings from Vancity and the Vancity Community Foundation.
More About SEWF
The Trico Charitable Foundation was honoured to host SEWF 2013. It made history in a number of ways – it was a first for Canada and attracted a record number of speakers and attendees (1,000 individuals from more than 30 countries and over 100 speakers from 20 countries) – but we are most proud of the quality of the discussions on Skills Building, Social Finance, Indigenous Social Enterprise, Collaboration, Policy and Research, and Social Innovation.
A special thanks to Photos With Finesse by Suzan McEvoy for the pictures, BizBOXTV for producing the videos, and Employment and Social Development Canada in helping to make this post-event coverage possible.
We would also like to thank the following partners for making SEWF 2013 possible:
Organizing Partners:
- Social Enterprise Council of Canada
- MaRS Centre for Impact Investing
- Social Innovation Generation (SiG)
- The Canadian Community Economic Development Network
Lead Sponsors:
- Suncor
- Vancity
- Government of Canada
- Canadian Youth Business Foundation (now Futurepreneur)
- Social Change Rewards
Presenting Partners:
Supporting Partners:
Friends of SEWF:
Media Partners:
Each year SEWF gives a different host country an incredible opportunity to celebrate and nurture its own social enterprise movement. The inaugural SEWF met in Edinburgh, Scotland. Since then it has been to Melbourne, Australia; San Francisco, U.S.A; Johannesburg, Africa; and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Learn more about SEWF’s history here.
SEWF 2014 will be held in Seoul, Korea from October 12-16. Hosted by the Work Together Foundation, this significant international gathering has an ambitious agenda: “Social Change through Social Enterprise”. Learn more here.
