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.
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.
Open Market is the impressive brainchild of Saadan Sulehri, a business and engineering student who is expected to graduate from The University of British Columbia (UBC) in December 2016. Sulehri was first inspired during his time in Pakistan to make a difference, and it was at the University of British Columbia (UBC) where he received the help he needed to figure out how to make his aspirations a reality.
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.
While attending to his full-time graduate studies in policy studies focusing on immigration, settlement, and the diaspora at Ryerson University, Peter Haastrup dedicates much of his time working with the Kenya Village Project. With this project, Peter has worked for the last three years to bring a better and more sustainable means of cooking to the villagers.
Zoya Jiwa is hoping to make a statement in the fashion and social impact worlds by creating an online platform where people with health conditions can creatively come together. At the young age of 14, Zoya was diagnosed with Lupus, an autoimmune disease that can create inflammation in an individual’s organs. She also lives with fibromyalgia, a condition characterized by intense pain in muscles and soft tissues.
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.
Stepping into the University of Calgary’s Entrepreneurship 317 class, three Haskayne Business students could not have predicted a class project would transform into a successful social venture creating change. The project tasked students Miranda Mantey, Willis Tat, and Justin Wood to address a world issue. The result was the creation of One World Blankets a social enterprise that sought to employ local weavers in India to make blankets that would be sold in North America. Proceeds would not only provide employment in India, they would be utilized for vaccinations in India.