Current Events
Trico Foundation & Social Entrepreneurship: 2022 in Review
Happy New Year! The start of 2023 gives us the opportunity to reflect and learn from 2022. Although 2022 came with its challenges, the past twelve months were busy, historic, and made great progress in advancing both social entrepreneurship and Calgary’s role as a hub for social entrepreneurship.
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Six Student Led Social Enterprises to Watch
This year’s NU national awards competition featured six finalists for the awards. The NU Community Board offered two primary prizes: The Board Award ($25,000) and the Audience Vote Award ($25,000). In a surprise turn of events, we also decided to award each finalist who did not receive a primary prize an award of $5,000.
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IRP: Inspiring People About the Possibilities of Social Entrepreneurship
We had the chance to collaborate with Community Foundations of Canada on November 7th, 2022 on our The Rethinking Social Entrepreneurship Lite webinar to help inspire people about the possibilities of social entrepreneurship.
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Ask Me Anything About Social Enterprise (AMAASE) Webinar 2022 & 2023 Series
Are you curious about social enterprise? Trying to figure out how to solve a social problem using a business model? What burning questions do you have?
At these Ask Me Anything about Social Entrepreneurship sessions, a team of experienced professionals will be available to answer your questions (or help you find the resource you are looking for).
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$50,000 to Outstanding Student Social Entrepreneurs
The NU Community Board has hit the ground running for our second year running the NU National Awards for Outstanding Student Social Entrepreneurship. We are pleased to share that we are now accepting applications for these two awards. Each award is for $25,000. One award is selected by the NU Community Board jury, and the other award is selected by the audience at the awards presentation.
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POP-in with Aisle: Life Since the Social Enterprise Won $100,000
Social entrepreneur Madeleine Shaw (Co-Founder of Aisle and Author) discusses launching new products, education support, supply chains, and the momentum of the menstrual equity movement.
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POP-in with Alinker: Life Since the Social Enterprise Won $25,000
Social entrepreneur BE Alink, inventor of the Alinker, talks entering phase 2.0, using the award $ on a partnership, supply chains, and going deeper into their practices.
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POP-in with Colouring It Forward: Life Since the Social Enterprise Won $25,000
Founder of Colouring It Forward Diana Frost talks new books, collaborations, hiring challenges, learning, and how they spent the award $.
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POP-in with ENABLE: Life Since the Social Enterprise Won $25,000
Co-Founder and Executive Director of ENABLE Sue Crawford talks COVID, record demand, learning, and how they spent the award $.
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Alberta Awards Announced For Outstanding Student Social Entrepreneurs
We are thrilled to celebrate the recipients of the NU Community Board Alberta Awards for Outstanding Student Social Entrepreneurship. The awards were announced on April 28, 2022 at an online gathering that attracted 83 attendees from across Alberta.
read moreSocial Enterprise World Forum 2013
Rural Revitalization: How Social Enterprise Keeps Rural Communities Viable
Rural communities have unique ways of addressing key challenges such as distance, size of market, lack of infrastructure and services, out-migration of youth, and the devastation brought about by branch closings, whether it be a grocery store or a manufacturing plant. Attendees learned how various intermediaries and rural social enterprises from around the world have risen to these challenges, and helped preserve the viability of their communities. This session was moderated by Ethel Côté, Social Enterprise Practitioner and Developer, Canadian Centre for Community Renewal and featured: Elena Casolari, CEO, ACRA-CCS, Michael Craig, Global Fellow; Strategic Advisor, Acumen and BASIX Social Enterprise Group, James Dunbar, Founding Chief Executive, New Start Highland A special thanks to session sponsor Enterprising Non-Profits (enp) Canada. Transcript of session (Includes Q&A): Elena Casolari: I’m very pleased to be here with you today and very much overwhelmed because I love social enterprise and I love social entrepreneurs. It was not the case some time ago. I have a financial background and I used to work for a mainstream investment bank for many years. I belonged to what I regard as the greedy crowd. One day I had really enough of making money, because it was money without values. I was looking for something else. I used to work in emerging markets, especially in India. I realized that my work was not very helpful to the many people who didn’t have any access to finance. I took some time and decided to join the social space and I’m very happy. I regard myself as an intermediary in this beautiful universe of social enterprise. I joined an NGO... read more
Lessons from Quebec: Issues, Policy, and Politics
In many ways Quebec is a leader in developing social enterprises and its social impact sector. Attendees were able to hear lessons learned from a jurisdictional leader in the field. This session was moderated by Peter Elson, Senior Research Associate, Institute for Nonprofit Studies, Mount Royal University, and featured: Johanne Lavoie, Commissioner, Social Economy Bureau, City of Montreal Nancy Neamtan, Présidente directrice-générale, Chantier de l’économie sociale A special thanks to session sponsor Enterprising Non-Profits (enp) Canada. Transcript of session (Includes Q&A): Peter Elson: I’m going to provide a contextual overview. A lot of my research has been comparative research, related to social enterprises but also relationship between provincial governments to the nonprofit sector across Canada. There are six points that I’d like to address in relatively short order, but the point is Québec is different. I would say that one of the first social enterprises was Samuel de Champlain, who to New France in the early 1600s. What did Samuel de Champlain do? He not only asked the people to grow their own vegetables in the small little community settlement they had but they also had communal plots, food could be grown communally. Not only that, they had an intimate and ongoing relationship with the local aboriginal communities. Samuel de Champlain actually did, like many people who came to New France, want to establish a new kind of society. He grew up in an area in Europe which was rife with political conflict. In fact, in several of his initial voyages to Canada, he brought representatives from various religions, denominations with him on the boat. The only reason he had... read more
Unlikely Alliances
Borders are not just geographic. Attendees learned from unlikely partners who have joined together to create social change and innovation. This session was moderated by Jocelyne Daw, Founder & CEO, JS Daw & Associates, and featured: Batool Hassan, Director of Business Development, Acumen Anita Nowak, Advisor & Operating Director, McGill MOOC, The J. W. McConnell Family Foundation & McGill University Sam Stephens, Executive Director/CEO, Global Soap Project Transcript of session (includes Q&A): Jocelyne Daw: You are aware, obviously, that this session is about unlikely alliances and I think one of the interesting things that has been a theme throughout the Social Enterprise World Forum so far is the absolute critical nature of building innovation, social enterprises, is by working with partners. It’s very common to think of what I would call the ‘usual suspects’, the people who are natural partners with you. What we want to do is talk to you about unlikely partners, unlikely alliances, and give you some tangible examples of how unlikely alliances have come together to really create some incredible social change and really drive social innovation. We’re very privileged today to have three panelists and I’m going to introduced them by from an alphabetical point of view. I’m happy to introduce Batool Hassan. Batool is the Director of Business Development for Acumen. Some of you might be familiar with Acumen. A couple of people did the human centered design course online this past summer, including myself and our team. Then I’m happy to introduce Anita Nowak. Anita is the Integrating Director for the Social Economy Initiative at McGill University’s Desautels Faculty of Management. She... read moreEnterprising Spirit Conference 2011
Guest Blog – Enterprising Spirit Conference
It’s been a while since I’ve felt as inspired as I did on Thursday, November 17th. On this day, I had the opportunity and privilege to attend the Trico Enterprising Spirit Conference in my role as the Executive Director of a Calgary-based charitable organization – Highbanks Society (www.highbankssociety.ca). This agency has been providing subsidized housing with wrap-around support services to parenting youth since 2003. The Society was formed in 2001, and in the two years leading up to opening its doors, founder Bette Mitchell and her Board of Directors worked as true social entrepreneurs to secure the perfect real estate to realize the vision of housing, employing and educating young mothers in Calgary. This conference broadened my knowledge of how to effectively grow a strong organization through social enterprise. It exposed me to a network of leaders in the field, with whom I otherwise may not have connected. And, it ignited a desire to learn more so that I may do my part in building a more sustainable organization and healthier community. Tasked to lead Highbanks through its current stage of growth, I feel invigorated to explore the feasibility of many potential innovations which have organically been derived from the needs of parenting youth in our city. I feel encouraged to take some measured risks, by leveraging our Community Assets (www.vancity.com/MyCommunity/Impact/Stories/Community/) and years of operational experience, for a cause much greater than that of a financial bottom-line. Lastly, I feel rather animated (http://socialinnovation.ca/about/theory-of-change) to explore potential partnerships and synergies with others committed to making the world a better place. I want to take this opportunity to commend Katherine Harmsworth and... read moreThe Enterprising Spirit Conference 2011: Creating Value and Social Good
Social enterprise experts and practitioners from across the country gathered in Calgary on November 17th to attend Enterprising Spirit: Creating Value and Social Good. Hosted by the Trico Charitable Foundation, the conference featured a day of interactive workshops and experimental problem solving related to planning, practicing, and fine tuning social enterprise. The Enterprising Spirit Conference opened with an inspirational keynote address by Tonya Surman, Executive Director of the Centre for Social Innovation (CSI). Tonya describes herself as a community animator, which she explained involves creating collisions between people to foster the connections that lead to social innovation. If there was any doubt about Tonya’s assertion that the process of engagement is the point, it was quickly dispelled by the palpable buzz her insights and passion sparked among the conference attendees. The Enterprising Spirit Conference was divided into a number of workshops that were aimed at providing practical and experiential guidance for aspiring and established social entrepreneurs. The following offers a summary of the breakout sessions: In The What and Why of Social Entrepreneurship, David LePage (enp) led a hands-on workshop exploring the ways in which non-profit organizations can blend mission and business to achieve their goals. The session was punctuated with examples drawn from David’s 30+ years of experience in the social economy and non-profit sectors. Newbies and experienced practitioners alike gained an in-depth understanding of the what, why, and how of social enterprise. The True Confessions in Social Entrepreneurship panel included Jane Bisbee (Social Enterprise Fund), Michele Cherot (Greater Trail Community Skills Centre), Linda Huffman (Arts Habitat Association of Edmonton) and Jessie Radies (Live Local). Attendees were exposed... read moreThe Enterprising Spirit Conference is Full!
The Enterprising Spirit: Creating Value and Social Good Conference is now sold out! If you missed registering for the full conference day, but would like to join us in celebrating social entrepreneurship, please register to attend the Social EnterPrize Awards. The Social EnterPrize Awards Reception will be held on the evening of Thursday, November 17th at the Delta Bow Valley Hotel from 5:30 – 7:30. Winners of the inaugural Social EnterPrize Awards will be announced at the event, and Mayor Nenshi will be providing the Reception Address. This is no charge for the Awards Reception, but you must register via Eventbrite to attend. Hurry before that sells out too! Looking forward to seeing you on November 17,... read more
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