Recently, we had a chance to catch up with Shobhita Soor, Chief Impact Officer & Co-Founder of Aspire Food Group to find out what they have been up to for the past year. As with many budding and successful social entrepreneurs, the issue of disciplined focus loomed large.
As part of the Enough For All, a cohort of stakeholders came together to understand how they each support social entrepreneurship in Calgary. Working collectively, the cohort met in depth with nine social ventures and interviewed three others. The intent was to understand the wider social entrepreneurship support system in Calgary while seeking to strengthen the supports available to local social entrepreneurs.
Imagination is a powerful tool. Partner it with design and engineering and you’ve got a combination that can transform – and solve — the most complex of social issues. This year during Beakerhead, meet six founders, engineers and designers tackling social issues through ingenious entrepreneurial endeavors.
Differentiating between the customers and beneficiaries of your social enterprise has been something we have seen groups struggle with time and time again. So we thought that a quick blog would help us outline our thinking.
Social entrepreneur and community organizer Mauricio Buschinelli is the co-founder of Cycle AlimenTerre (CAT), a Montreal-based start-up that uses urban agriculture and micro-greens to address issues of local food security. The idea of micro-greens is to grow as much produce as possible within a small space, generally in urban areas.
Rhea Higginson’s story is another example of how the post-secondary education system is able to inspire, nurture, and support an incredibly diverse range of personal social enterprise journeys.
Jennifer Fischer is an example of a student who won’t let barriers stop her from pursuing a project that will improve Toronto’s green space. She is the sole proprietor of Soul Roots, an endeavour that began as part of the SocialVentures Zone community at Ryerson University.
There are a growing number of events connected to social entrepreneurship. Many of them happen in our home city, demonstrating what an incredible hub of activity Calgary is. The Trico Foundation team is pleased to attend many of them and wish we could attend more.
As with many entrepreneurs, Paul Shumlich, founder and innovator of Deepwater Farms, radiates a certain something that makes success seem effortless. Behind his instinctive nature, however, comes a driven work ethic and a tremendous passion for making the world a better place.
Self-identified as a community activator, Sydney Tyber is striving to support students and the population in general who think outside of the box. Two years ago, Sydney was pitched a rough idea by her co-founder Michael Stulberg and along with the added leadership of Eman El-Fayomi and Jennifer McDougall, they began creating their social venture, Laneway Futures T.O.