by Ida Viani | Jun 8, 2021 | Canadian Social Enterprises, Front Page, Post-Secondary, Social Enterprise, Social EnterPrize, Trico Charitable Foundation, What's Next YYC
Founder and CEO of aGRO Systems Inc. (aGRO), Victoria Ross, found her passion through wanting to solve a problem that struck close to home. Victoria’s father has been a beef cattle rancher for almost 50 years. While completing her Bachelor of Commerce degree at the University of Calgary, Victoria found that around half of all Canadian farmers need a second job to make ends meet, similar to her family’s own experience. This spurred the creation of her social enterprise, which provides service and grain bins to breweries, distilleries, and cideries to transform their waste into affordable livestock feed that is sold to local farmers. aGRO is helping make family farmers more profitable, improving the global food system, and reducing carbon emissions from livestock.
by Ida Viani | Mar 23, 2021 | Front Page, Social Enterprise, Social EnterPrize, Trico Charitable Foundation, What's Next YYC
The Trico Charitable Foundation, in collaboration with the Trico Foundation Social Entrepreneurship Centre at the Haskayne School of Business, is pleased to announce the call for applications for What’s Next YYC 2021!
by Ida Viani | Mar 17, 2021 | Canadian Social Enterprises, Front Page, Post-Secondary, Social Enterprise, Social EnterPrize, Trico Charitable Foundation, What's Next YYC
Co-Founder and CEO, Carrie Gour and Co-Founder and COO, Beth Thompson created PwrSwitch as a result of trying to solve their own problems. Unfortunately, they both experienced a high conflict divorce and when lawyers asked for documentation, Carrie and Beth, like many others, could not keep up because of the volume of communications. PwrSwitch supports victims of cyber-stalking and cyber-harassment including those experiencing a high conflict divorce or separation by providing a means to effortlessly collect and consolidate the electronic communications evidence they need to seek legal restitution or therapeutic counsel. PwrSwitch realized the extreme need for automated documentation.
by Ida Viani | Feb 23, 2021 | Canadian Social Enterprises, Events, Front Page, Social Enterprise, Social EnterPrize, Trico Charitable Foundation
For the 2021 edition of the Social EnterPrize, one recipient will:
-Receive $100,000 prize money;
-Be featured in a video profile;
-Be featured at an award ceremony scheduled for the evening of November 18, 2021 (if the ceremony is in-person travel & accommodation will be provided);
-Be featured in an in-depth profile in a case-study undertaken by a Canadian post-secondary institution; and
-Help advance Canada’s social entrepreneurship movement.
by Ida Viani | Jan 26, 2021 | Canadian Social Enterprises, Front Page, Social Enterprise, Social EnterPrize, Trico Charitable Foundation
Canada’s first Indigenous arts hotel, Skwachàys Lodge (pronounced skwatch-eyes) is another shining example of Canada’s leadership in coming up with ingenious ways business ventures can be blended with a social mission. Located in Vancouver, Skwachàys Lodge is a unique social enterprise created by a social housing organization, Vancouver Native Housing Society (VNHS).
by Ida Viani | Jan 12, 2021 | Canadian Social Enterprises, Front Page, Social Enterprise, Social EnterPrize, Trico Charitable Foundation
As one of our favourite examples of a Canadian social enterprise, a 2013 Social EnterPrize recipient, EMBERS Staffing Solutions (ESS) continues to excel by using the power of business models to solve social problems. Since the last time we touched base with Founder and CEO, Marcia Nozick in early 2019, ESS has paid 9.2 million in wages and benefits and grossed 11.6 million in sales.
