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SiG@Waterloo Innovators in Action Speaker Series 2010

The SiG@Waterloo "Innovators in Action" Speaker Series, will apply the ideas of social innovation to a number of specific sectors and issues - education, youth mentorship, inclusion, collaboration and cultural change. Each of the keynote speakers will share their experiences of operating at the national level to identify and address the root causes of intractable social challenges. Each keynote lecture will be followed by a local panel discussion who will share their reflections on the presentation and offer insight into their own experiences.

May 5 - Ric Young at The Museum, Kitchener, ON

May 19 - Cindy Blackstock at The Museum, Kitchener, ON

June 2 - Penny Milton at the Canadian Clay & Glass Gallery, Waterloo, ON

June 16 - Ilse Treurnicht at the Canadian Clay & Glass Gallery, Waterloo, ON

June 23 - Bruce MacDonald at the Canadian Clay & Glass Gallery, Waterloo, ON

All lectures are FREE to attend. RSVP required.
Spaces are limited. Register to attend below!

SiG@Waterloo presents Ric Young

SiG@Waterloo presents Ric Young

Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Time: 7pm-9pm
Venue: The Museum, 10 King Street West, Kitchener, Ontario, Canada

Ric Young - Architect of numerous campaigns for change and one of Canada's leading authorities in the field of social innovation.

Eric (Ric) Young was a pioneer in the field of social marketing. He cut his teeth on the early stages of the PARTICIPaction campaign, and was co-founder of Canada’s first dedicated social marketing agency. He left that company in the mid-90s to start E.Y.E. | The Social Projects Studio™ – a company dedicated to the creation and development of breakthrough social change initiatives. Working with leading government, corporate and not-for-profit clients, he became increasingly frustrated by the inadequacy of the tools, models and methods society has at hand for tackling our most complex problems. This led him, in the year 2000, to propose to DuPont Canada that they embark on an initiative “to foster new mindsets, new skill sets, and a new culture for social innovation in Canada”. He worked with DuPont over several years to develop the Social Innovation Initiative, eventually forging a partnership with McGill University to create one of the world’s first social innovation think tanks. This think tank gave rise to the best-selling book, Getting To Maybe. He is on the faculty of the Boston College Centre for Corporate Citizenship. His current voluntary roles include: membership on the board of Ecotrust Canada, the Canadian advisory board of Right To Play and the editorial board of the Social Marketing Quarterly. He is a fellow of The Royal Society of the Arts, a member of Massey College’s Quadrangle Society, and a fellow of SiG (Social Innovation Generation) at the University of Waterloo.

SiG@Waterloo presents Cindy Blackstock

SiG@Waterloo presents Cindy Blackstock

Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Time: 7pm-9pm
Venue: The Museum, 10 King Street West, Kitchener, Ontario, Canada

Cindy Blackstock - Executive Director of First Nations Child and Family Caring Society of Canada.

A member of the Gitksan Nation, she has worked in the field of child and family services for over 20 years. Key interests include exploring the over representation of Aboriginal children in child welfare care, structural drivers of child maltreatment in First Nations communities, human rights and the role of the voluntary sector in expanding the range of culturally and community based responses to child maltreatment.

Current professional interests include serving as an Atkinson Economic Justice Fellow, J.W. McConnell Family Foundation Social Innovation Generation Fellow, co-director of the Centre of Excellence for Child Welfare and a board member of the National Aboriginal Youth Organization.

SiG@Waterloo presents Penny Milton

SiG@Waterloo presents Penny Milton

Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Time: 7pm-9pm
Venue: Canadian Clay & Glass Gallery, 25 Caroline Street North, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

Penny Milton - CEO of Canadian Education Association.

Penny Milton has been Chief Executive Officer of Canadian Education Association since 1996. She was past Chair of the Toronto Board of Education, Executive Director of the Ontario Public School Board Association, and served as Deputy Minister of the Ontario Premier’s Council of Health, Well-being and Social Justice. She has held several public appointments including current membership on The Minister’s Curriculum Council and Governance Review Committee for Ontario. She was a founding Director of the Toronto Community Housing Corporation and now serves as a Director of ArtsSmarts and Goodwill Industries. She is the author of several book chapters, numerous articles and presentations on policy issues in education.

SiG@Waterloo presents Ilse Treurnicht

SiG@Waterloo presents Ilse Treurnicht

Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Time: 7pm-9pm
Venue: Canadian Clay & Glass Gallery, 25 Caroline Street North, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

Ilse Treurnicht - CEO of MaRS Discovery District.

Ilse Treurnicht is the CEO of MaRS Discovery District, a leading innovation centre located in Toronto. She oversees both the development and operations of the MaRS Centre and its broad suite of entrepreneurship and innovation programs.

MaRS offers advisory services, market intelligence and entrepreneurship education to emerging companies in health care/life sciences, digital media/ICT, cleantech and social purpose businesses across Ontario. Ilse has worked closely with the leadership of Toronto's academic institutions and teaching hospitals to create MaRS Innovation, an integrated commercialization platform for 14 Toronto Institutions and served as the interim Managing Director for a year following its formal launch in early 2008.

Ilse joined MaRS in early 2005 from her role as President & CEO of Primaxis Technology Ventures, a start-up stage venture capital fund focused on the advanced technologies sector. Prior to Primaxis, Ilse was an entrepreneur with senior management roles in a number of emerging technology companies.

She is an active member of Canada's innovation community, and has served on the boards of private companies, industry associations and research organizations, and has been a member of several government advisory panels.

Ilse holds a DPhil in chemistry from Oxford University, which she attended as a Rhodes scholar.

SiG@Waterloo presents Bruce MacDonald

SiG@Waterloo presents Bruce MacDonald

Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Time: 7pm-9pm
Venue: Canadian Clay & Glass Gallery, 25 Caroline Street North, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

Bruce MacDonald - President and CEO, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Canada.

In 1995, Bruce joined the staff of Big Brothers and Sisters of Canada as Director of Marketing and Special Events. Three job titles and two organization names later, Bruce eventually moved into the senior staff position, becoming President and CEO of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Canada in March 2004. Prior to BBBSC, Bruce was involved with the Hamilton-Burlington YMCA, Stoney Creek YMCA, Ontario Senior Games and the Kinsmen and Kinette Clubs of Canada. Bruce holds a Bachelor of Commerce in Sports Administration from Laurentian University and a Masters in Management in the Voluntary Sector from McGill University.

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Developing story: University of #Waterloo plaza on fire this morning #uwaterloo Photos taken by @LeviMcC

OMG... the plaza close to the University of Waterloo caught fire this morning. Heard on the radio that 8 business have been affected, from Mel's Diner all the way to Tabu

Not too sure of the cause of the fire, will update once I get more information.

Photos below of the fire, taken and posted by Levi McCulloch on facebook this morning, as he was making his way to campus at 6am (presumably to study for final exams).

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Edit: 9:50 AM April 22 2010

Thankfully, there are no reported injuries as a result of the fire earlier this morning.

From CTV Toronto

Police say the fire caused extensive damage in the area but that there are no reported injuries.

There are two universities in the area, Wilfrid Laurier University and the University of Waterloo.  Dozens of students who live in the area have been evacuated from their residences.

The fire started at around 5:30 a.m. on a commercial block at Phillip Street and University Avenue. Several businesses were reportedly in flames.

Waterloo authorities say the fire is now under control though emergency crews will remain on the scene to put out any hot spots.

Edit: 10:45 AM April 22 2010

Amateur video shot by classic240 on YouTube

Edit 10:30PM April 22 2010

UW Plaza aftermath photos shared by Christine Lu on facebook, taken by Juliana Tsang (approximately 9am-12pm). Extensive damage to the premises, its a sad day for Waterloo.

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Edit 1:45PM April 24, 2010

Monika and I made our way to the plaza for dinner last night. We stopped by and took pictures of what's left standing of Mel's Diner - brings back some good memories of 3am "breakfasts" after the bar.

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Life Lessons from Paul Saltzman and The Beatles

Paul Saltzman is a rather remarkable person, who gave a talk at TEDxWaterloo last February sharing his insight on life and describing his personal journey and magical encounter with The Beatles in India back in the late 1960's.

This TEDxWaterloo Talk in particular, has emerged as one of my favourites from the one-day event that we organized and held at the Gig Music Hall in Kitchener last February 25.

Paul's remarkable story of traveling to India on a whim and his chance encounter with the Beatles, was told in a very compelling manner that I find myself watching this particular talk over and over again even after the fact. I remember sitting in the audience at TEDxWaterloo and hanging on to his every word as he shared his insight on humility and the notion of not making yourself small, but understanding your size in the universe. 

This life lesson was passed on to him by George Harrison of the Beatles, who was 24 years old and the same age as Paul at the time, who put things into perspective by saying 

"We're the Beatles after all aren't we? We have all the money you could ever dream of, we have all the fame you could ever wish for, but it isn't love, it isn't health, it isn't peace inside."

At the end of the day, Paul concluded that John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr were ordinary people just like him, who were leading very extraordinary lives.

Paul mentioned the word 'magic' several times throughout his presentation, defining magic as 'that which is real, but as yet we do not understand'. This term was set within the context of 'magical' coincidences and opportunities that he has had in his life, simply by virtue of paying attention to the broader universe and what it was telling and compelling him to do, even if he did not quite fully understand it at the time.

Perhaps this is one of the major reasons why Paul's talk at TEDxWaterloo speaks very loudly to me at this point in my life. There are times where I do feel that I don't know where I am going, but I get the sense and the occasional reassurance that I am on my way there.

Exciting times ahead.

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Earth Hour March 27 830pm - Waterloo Public Square

Saw this as I was walking through Waterloo Town Square last night with Nick Petten.

More info http://earthhourcanada.org/earthhour/

If you're in the Toronto area this Saturday, check out Earth Hour presented by the Young Social Entrepreneurs of Canada, featuring David Bornstein, Nathaniel Whittmore & Tonya Surman

http://revisionearthhourtoronto.eventbrite.com

Photo

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Social Entrepreneurship - A Movement Towards Building Better Business

Oliberte_2

I attended a talk given by Tal Dehtiar of Oliberté last week on Thursday, hosted by Capacity Waterloo Region as part of their Change Agent Series. Oliberté is the first company in the world to market premium urban-casual footwear that is exclusively made in Africa, from the natural rubber found in Liberia and leather from Ethiopia, to local workers manufacturing shoes in factories built to ISO 14000 (environmental management) standards, where workers are paid a fair wage and no child labor is used.

Tal is certainly an accomplished individual, having founded MBA's WIthout Borders (MWB) several years ago prior to Oliberté, which he then eventually sold (the rights) to CDC Development Solutions

From my perspective, it seems that a lot of his motivation comes from seeing business as the biggest change agent in the world. Perhaps this point of view was shaped by his family history and struggles as new immigrants to Canada a couple of decades ago, a story which he shared with the audience. Similar to many familiar new-immigrant stories that you hear today, Tal's parents were highly educated back in their home country, but either due to a lack of English-speaking skills or education credentials not being recognized here, they had to make do with whatever job was necessary in order to survive. And similar in outcome to many immigrant stories, Tal's parents ended up starting their own business, becoming successful in turning a profit, while in the process, employing hundreds of people to work for them. 

With this in mind, Tal views his for-profit company Oliberté, as a social venture or social enterprise. And he does so because at the end of the day, he believes that he is charting a much more sustainable way of life for people living in countries like Ethiopia and Liberia, by providing them with a stable means of employment and fair income. Tal has also heard many local people say that they do not need any more direct aid or charity (in the traditional sense of the word) in Africa. What they do need are jobs in order to provide for their families themselves, with sustained economic growth and investment in order to build a middle-class in Africa, which currently does not exist. This is something that Dambisa Moyo argues in her book, Dead Aid: Why Aid Is Not Working and How There Is A Better Way For Africa

Tal_1

That being said, Tal made the point that although Oliberté is a social enterprise, it is a footwear company first, competing with the likes of Lacoste, Roots, Nike, etc., in the premium footwear market in terms of price point and quality of the product. They are not necessarily focusing on selling the 'social good' aspect of the company, although it does provide a great backstory to the company, and I completely agree with this approach. 

Social ventures and social enterprises, especially those competing for market share with traditional for-profit companies (social enterprise in the non-profit space is another discussion altogether), do need to compete at the very same level of traditional for-profit companies, both in terms of value the social enterprise brings to the table and/or the quality of the products they produce. Tal recognizes that if they were to rely solely on the 'social good' aspect of their company alone, i.e. providing jobs for people in Ethiopia and Liberia in a safe and fair manner, minimizing environmental impact and more importantly, changing the current perception of Africa as a place where you CAN invest and do business, without a strong focus on the product itself, Oliberté will only go so far in the long run.

There absolutely HAS to be a focus on producing high-quality product that is able to compete with other companies vying for market share and consumers attention. The fact that there is a 'social good' aspect to it, provides the social enterprise with a competitive advantage, but again, should not be made into the deciding factor for consumers in general when it comes to choosing between products to buy. The quality, attributes and brand of the product should be able to stand on its own merit, especially since, as it turns out, the market segment of those who are lifestyle-, sustainable- and health-conscious only represent 18% of the total market segment. Not too sure which consumer market Tal is referring to, but if he is referring to the US/Canadian market, this 18% number is not surprising at all.

Overall, the talk was really good and I am glad that I went. Tal was very candid and personal in his approach to storytelling and answering questions, calling it as he saw it and providing honest answers about the operations of Oliberté and future plans for his company (I had a great conversation with him on marketing and development strategies after his talk). And I believe that it was this approach that allowed him to connect with the audience.

As I have seen over and over again, it all comes down to people. From the support system of people who are there for you/your company through the good times as well as the bad, the people who work for you and have placed their trust in your leadership and judgment, as well as your consumers who expect to receive great value for money from your product.

Speaking of which, I may just order a pair of Oliberté shoes in the next couple of days, and yes, they do ship to Canada.

Many thanks to Jennifer King and Capacity Waterloo Region for organizing the event.

Tal_2
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The 100 - Episode 2 on Social Entrepreneurship

Jennifer King (of Capacity Waterloo Region) and I, joined local community animators Hilary Abel and Brock Hart last Sunday, March 14 to record Episode 2 of The 100 podcast.

The 100 is a podcast on local events, politics, cafes, food, technology, arts, the music scene and a whole lot more, in and around the Region of Waterloo.

Jennifer and I were invited to discuss our views on social enterprise and social venture organizations.

Would love to get feedback and comments on our segment, especially when it comes to our perspective on social entrepreneurship and social innovation. Enjoy!

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Who are you Kitchener?

I came across this poster at a meeting earlier this morning. It seems that I fall under the 'Urban Promoter' category after taking the short quiz.

Check out the website, details in the attached photos.

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Job Posting (Waterloo): Event Manager position with Sustainable Waterloo

If you are passionate about environmental issues, have skills in community-based leadership and fostering multi-sectoral collaboration, as well as a knack for event planning at a professional level, I would strongly encourage you to apply for this Event Manager position with a growing non-profit organization based in the Waterloo Region, Sustainable Waterloo.

Deadline to apply is March 31, 2010

Click here to download:
Events Manager Job Posting (Final - Feb 2010).pdf (308 KB)
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