Transforming the Community Impact of Campus Space: Bow Valley College and WINS Open a Social Enterprise Thrift Store

Bow Valley College and Women In Need Society (WINS) have partnered to launch a new on-campus thrift store that combines affordability, sustainability, and hands-on learning. The initiative gives students access to low-cost essentials while creating real-world learning opportunities in social enterprise and community impact.

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What is social entrepreneurship?

We define social entrepreneurship as using business models (selling a good or service) to enhance social impact. This reflects most Canadian definitions.

Beyond balance

Many see the social and the entrepreneurial as being in opposition, like two sides of a scale that needs to be balanced. Instead, we see the social and the entrepreneurial as partners in progress.  

Aspirational

We support a social entrepreneurship movement that dares to ask, “How far could we go in solving the world’s problems, and even fulfilling our potential as human beings, if we fully harnessed the power of business models to enhance social impact?”

Not only is Map the System another reason to be proud to be from Canada,  it’s a vital step forward in training changemakers to fully understand issues before trying to solve them.

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.

On May 24th, 2018 the Trico Changemakers Studio hosted a reception where partners and community members alike were able to see the brand new and gorgeously-designed Studio.  One of the most prominent features was the debut of the Fish Wheel.

NOTE: This article was originally published on the RECODE website and has been cross-posted with permission. On May 4th, 2018, RECODE and the Trico Charitable Foundation co-hosted the second Canadian edition of Map the System in partnership with the Skoll Centre from the University of Oxford. Map the System is an ‘alternative’ challenge where post-secondary students are tasked with taking a systems approach to social change by demonstrating their understanding of a social or environmental issue.

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