Mount Royal Students Start the School Year as Social Entrepreneurs
After five weeks of an intensive summer program, 20 MRU students are returning to school after a transformational work-integrated learning experience and with a newfound appreciation for what it takes to be a social entrepreneur.
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Fresh Routes: A What’s Next YYC Update
Fresh Routes is a not-for-profit social enterprise that is focused on creating new, innovative ways of providing healthy and affordable food to as many Canadians as possible-especially those who need it most. Their mobile grocery store (bus) brings healthy, fresh, and affordable food into neighborhoods facing barriers – allowing choice, maintaining dignity, and building community.
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CareFind: A What’s Next YYC Update
CareFind is a centralized interactive online platform with images, unique programs and more, which connect parents to real-time openings for child care. These are posted by accredited and or licensed daycares, preschools, out of school care programs, and approved day homes in Calgary and area for full, part-time, and drop-in care. This reduces the time that parents normally spend searching by having all child care providers housed under the same network, which highlight their availabilities.
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Mount Royal students spend their summer creating social enterprises that tackle local problems
The Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Mount Royal University partners with the Trico Charitable Foundation to tackle social and environmental problems submitted by Calgary’s network of social innovation leaders.
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Beaverlodge: A What’s Next YYC Update
The first biennial What’s Next YYC was held in November 2019 and from the outstanding pool of 10 finalists, Beaverlodge was one out of three Judge’s Choice recipients, receiving $25,000 in prize money. Beaverlodge makes it easier for people to get bulk discounts as they make their homes more efficient. The user follows a series of steps on their phone and they end up with a road map to reduce their emissions by 50%.
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Colouring It Forward: A What’s Next YYC Update
Among the 10 impressive What’s Next YYC finalists who are using the power of business models to solve social problems is the Indigenous-run social enterprise Colouring It Forward. Colouring It Forward produces and sells colouring books and other products developed with Indigenous artists and elders to help to share (and preserve) the beautiful artwork and ancestral wisdom of our Indigenous peoples and promote reconciliation through the arts.
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MRU Launches Social Entrepreneurship Sprint: Applications Now Open
It is no secret that ideation is HARD, especially when you are tackling complex issues. That is why Mount Royal University’s (MRU) Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship and the Trico Charitable Foundation are excited to launch the Social Entrepreneurship Sprint this August!
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Doing More by Thinking Differently: YYC Social Enterprise WINS Blazes New Trail
WINS has continued to “think differently” when trying to operate in a difficult economy and navigate the COVID-19 pandemic. WINS had to reimagine how they combined the social and entrepreneurial so they could enhance their revenue and social impact at the same time – the ‘secret sauce’ of social entrepreneurship. Of course, the enhanced revenue, in turn, goes to fund even more social impact.
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