Since 2013, Montreal native Benjamin Prunty started working on the development of a student-run, healthy, and accessible café at Concordia University called the Hive Cafe Solidarity Cooperative.
Justin Philmore Brown and Richard West are great examples of how Canadian students are creating social impact through community engagement, innovation, and a deep-seated ambition to make a difference.
A report by the British Council found that across 12 countries, 75% of the higher education institutions surveyed were involved in social enterprise. The strong placing of the UK (third at 89%) and Canada (5th at 85%), to say nothing of their rich historical links, suggested the two countries were ripe for collaboration and cross-pollination in this emerging field. The British Council seized that opportunity with its Students for Social Impact (SSIM) program.
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.
NOTE: This article was originally published on the RECODE website and has been cross-posted with permission.
Written by: Susan Grossman
Director | Centre for Community Engaged Learning, The University of British Columbia
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.
When it comes to spotlighting how students are working to solve social problems, it is hard to find someone more dedicated than Megan MacLeod. Megan is a non-profit leader who has been working on clothing drives to serve her community since 2010.
Emily Bland and Neala Kielley are key members and alumni, respectively, of Enactus Memorial, a student-run organization based out of Memorial University of Newfoundland. Enactus Memorial starts projects that provide entrepreneurial solutions to global problems.
Three years ago, social innovator Caleb Grove was inspired to start his first entrepreneurship project before he left for Bambalang, a small rural community in the North-West region of Cameroon. Caleb recently completed a Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering (BSc Mechanical) at the University of New Brunswick (UNB).
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.