Crossing Bridges at the 2016 Social Finance Forum

Crossing Bridges at the 2016 Social Finance Forum

Held at the MaRs Centre for Impact Investing Incubator, the 9th annual Social Finance Forum (SFF) event in November 2016 brought together Canadian social entrepreneurs, social finance professionals, and impact investors to discuss best practices of business and community building. Through discussions around key insights and highlights with several individuals who attended the event, it is clear the SFF stimulated two crucial themes: networking and unifying social enterprise knowledge across Canada.

Students Brew Environmental Innovation through Coffee Cups

Students Brew Environmental Innovation through Coffee Cups

Green Cup is a new project started by post-secondary student Austin (Ozzy) Lang and co-founded by his colleague Emily Bartlett. This for-profit endeavour aims to make a positive impact on the environment by creating compostable coffee cups. Calgary does not currently have a compost system, so these cups are thrown out in bins labelled with the Green Cup logo and instructions for disposal.

Announcing the 5 YYC Social Ventures Competing for $10,000: Sept 16 Pitch Contest Seeks Public’s Vote

Announcing the 5 YYC Social Ventures Competing for $10,000: Sept 16 Pitch Contest Seeks Public’s Vote

We are pleased to announce the five local social ventures that will be competing for $10,000 on September 16 as part of Social Entrepreneurship Day in Calgary (listed alphabetically):

Age-in-Place Laneway House
aGRO Systems
Bundles of Hope
Deepwater Farms
Green Cup

Student Social Entrepreneur Continues to Push Envelope after Graduation

Student Social Entrepreneur Continues to Push Envelope after Graduation

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.

Different Roads Lead Students to Social Ventures

Different Roads Lead Students to Social Ventures

A duo of extremely ambitious and determined entrepreneurs are looking to make a buzz in entomophagy (human consumption of insects as food). Jorge Hoyos and Chris Blachut have been working on their social venture Heilu for almost a year. The venture seeks challenging conventional food industry, which can be wasteful and unsustainable by providing daring, environmentally friendly, and healthy food products.

#FF: Follow Friday Cycle Salvation (via @CausewayWork) from Ottawa, Ontario

Did you know that June 5 – 11, 2011 is Environment Week in Canada? No matter where you live, this would be a good week to put away your car keys and use an environmentally-friendly way to get to wherever it is you need to be. If you’re in the Ottawa area, why not make your way down to Cycle Salvation and pick up a new-to-you bike to satisfy all your commuting needs! Cycle Salvation, the newest social enterprise operated by Causeway Work Centre, aims to achieve a triple bottom line of profit, people, and planet. They offer bicycle mechanic training and employment opportunities to economically disadvantaged individuals, and the donated bikes they refurbish and sell helps reduce the amount of waste unnecessarily sent to scrap yards and landfills. If you’re looking to celebrate Environment Week all year round, Cycle Salvation should be the first place you visit. To find out more about Cycle Salvation, check out their website at http://www.cyclesalvation.org/ and follow their parent organization’s updates on Twitter via @CausewayWork. Ps. If you have a favourite Canadian social enterprise that you want to share with us, we would love to hear from you in the comments...