renjie's posterous

too long for a tweet, too short for a blog post...

Watching: Brilliant #TED talk by Liz Coleman on the need to reinvent liberal arts education

From TED:
Bennington president Liz Coleman delivers a call-to-arms for radical reform in higher education. Bucking the trend to push students toward increasingly narrow areas of study, she proposes a truly cross-disciplinary education -- one that dynamically combines all areas of study to address the great problems of our day.
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Call for Volunteers, Artists & Sponsors - Silent Art Auction in Toronto for Pakistani Flood Victims

I was on a conference call with several friends from Waterloo and Toronto last night, where we discussed the issue of doing our part to raise awareness and money for the victims of the floods in Pakistan.

I'm sure by now, many of you have heard the statistics where the United Nations estimates 20 million people have been affected, including 4 million people who have been made homeless due to the floods. You've probably also seen pictures of the devastation and desperation of the people in the country given the situation on the ground (see Boston.com The Big Picture - Continuing Pakistani Floods). 

If you were wondering to yourself whether there was a way for you to do something about the dire situation in Pakistan, and are located in or around the Kitchener-Waterloo/Toronto area, perhaps there is a way you can help directly

If you're not located in either KW or Toronto but do feel the strong need to do something about the situation in Pakistan, please feel free to take the idea proposed below and replicate it in your own community. 

Silent Art Auction in Toronto for Pakistani Flood Victims

Hearts for Haiti Vancouver - March 6, 2010

Inspired by a similar and very successful event called Hearts for Haiti in Vancouver, where the money raised went to the victims of the earthquake that devastated Haiti earlier this year, a small group of us are looking to put together a silent art auction in Toronto scheduled for the week of October 4th (depending on the venue), with a target of 150-250 people in attendance, and 50-75 art pieces to be auctioned off.

Keep in mind that we are still at the very early stages of planning for this event, and there is certainly a lot of room on the team if you are willing to help.

How YOU Can Help - Call for Volunteers, Artists & Sponsors

With that said, in order to make the maximum impact ($ raised), we're looking for a lot of in-kind donations and could use your help for suggestions and connections to make it happen:
  • Volunteers: If you or a friend would be interested in volunteering your time to help us make this event happen in Toronto, we would love to hear from you! 
    • You can take a lead on the organizing team (a great group of super fun people, I promise!) where there are certainly major areas where we need someone to take a lead on; or you can volunteer 3-5 hours of your time at your own time based on your schedule and availability. 
  • Artists: Do you have any artists in your networks that may be interested in donating pieces (paintings, mini sculptures, framed photographs, fashion pieces, small artsy furniture, etc) that people would want to bid on for a silent auction? Anything that does not get the minimum bid at the event would be returned to the artist.
  • Venue: We're looking for a venue in Toronto that can accommodate 150+ people and is subway/streetcar accessible. Please check out the pictures from the Hearts for Haiti event in order to get a sense of the space that we're looking for.
  • Sponsors: Any connections for financial and/or in-kind sponsorship would be greatly appreciated.
If you are interested in helping out with any of the above, please feel free to get in contact with me, Renjie Butalid, or Saba Rehmani for more information. 
 THANK YOU so much for your help and we look forward to hearing from you!
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Flooding in #Pakistan - Boston.com The Big Picture #floods #donate #relief

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More photos can be found at Boston.com

I received this email a couple of days ago from a friend of mine who is in Pakistan at the moment, before he made his way to Bahawalpur in order to help out with the relief efforts.

As I wait for my flight to Bahawalpur (the closest dry city to the flood stricken areas), I just wanted to share the extent of the devastation that has happened in Pakistan. Close to 14 million people have been affected according to the latest reports, compared to the 11 million odd people if you put together the Tsunami, Haiti and Pakistan Earthquake all combined:

Will update after I am back in Karachi inshallah (God willing).

Regards,

It seems that new flood warnings have been issued to several cities in the Punjab and Sindh provinces, adding further to the desperation that people are facing in the country. My thoughts and prayers to all the flood victims in Pakistan.

Donations for the relief efforts can be made through the following organizations:

 

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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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Job Posting: Senior Project Leader with BRANDAID Project #jobs #socent

Summary of Project Director Mission.

The Senior Project Director will have a leadership role in activating and launching a multi faceted business plan and vision. They will be working directly with the Founders and principles and supported by a diverse and highly skilled volunteer team and network. The ideal candidate will have the ability to make things happen in four key areas; Marketing, Deal making with key partners, Investor fund raising and on line Marketing.

Specifically, the deliverables for 2010 are:

  • Launch 3 new Brands.
  • Help execute the first phases of Brandaid Haiti
  • Launch a Marketing and PR campaign.
  • Drive sales through retail, ecommerce and events.
  • Raise investor and foundation capital.
  • Establish key retail partnerships.
  • Win 3 to 5 corporate sponsorship agreements.
For more information, please contact: Tony Pigott CEO JWT Canada, Co Founder Brandaid Project. Tony.pigott@jwt.com.

Learn more about BRANDAID Project http://www.brandaidproject.com/

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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.

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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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Young Artists for Haiti

I'm really feeling this song. The Canadian multi-artist collaboration is great, and it doesn't come off as cheesy at all.

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Did you know that 2.6 billion people lack access to adequate sanitation and clean water? @Charitywater

Attended a talk on the global water crisis presented by one of our SiG McConnell Fellows, Michele-Lee Moore.

Did you know that 2.6 billion people lack access to clean water and adequate sanitation?

Photos taken from the Global WASH Campaign presented by the Water Supply & Sanitation Collaborative Council are very compelling.

Check out charity: water if you would like to help provide clean and safe drinking water to people in developing nations, where 100% of public donations go directly to fund water projects.

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Young Social Entrepreneurs of Canada #revision2010 - Toronto March 27-28 2010

 
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YSEC just got funding. Guess who we're giving it to?

We're offering generous subsidies to attend re:Vision 2010, and extending registration.
    Apply by this Monday, March the 8th to be eligible for subsidies. Regular registration ends March 13th.

Who's Attending re:Vision 2010?

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re:Vision is a weekend conference for leaders, organizers, activists and entrepreneurs in Ontario, aged 17-34, who are spearheading social initiatives in their communities. If you're making positive change in your community, you might be who we're looking for.

Why should you attend re:Vision 2010?

You'll be among the province’s most innovative young leaders as you gain the foundation you need to make your projects more sustainable and have a more lasting impact. You will leave with practical know-how, new lenses for project design, a wealth of earned knowledge that can be applied to your initiative, and a strong network to help you along the way.

  What is Social Enterprise?

Social enterprises are organizations that apply market-based strategies to address social issues. These issues can be local or international, spanning health, education or the environment. Using a variety of financial models including both for- and not-for-profit, they are mission-driven enterprises that measure success with a triple bottom line: people, planet and profit.

  

Who are We?

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 Young Social Entrepreneurs of Canada (YSEC) is a youth-led non-profit organization that aims to ignite a nation-wide movement of young social entrepreneurs who align people, planet and profit.

Running a variety of networking and skill-building programs and services for young Canadian social entrepreneurs, YSEC serves as both a community-hub and a grower of youth-led social enterprises.

 

 

Exactly what will I be doing at re:Vision 2010?

 Check out our newly updated full program here 
Re:Vision 2010 will be held on March 27th - 28th, 2010 at Toronto’s Metro Hall

   

How do I apply?

Apply Online Here. Registration is limited to 100 participants. 

 


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This event is so notable that even NotableTV.com will be covering it.  Click here now to sign up to the exclusive NotableTV list and be kept in the know on this event and all the other events that young professionals need to know about

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