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Nov 17, 2021

Podcast: 67. Good Work and Recycling with Jessica Floresco

Jessica Floresco is the General Manager at Mother Earth Recycling (MER). Mother Earth Recycling does a variety of electronic and mattress recycling which reduces waste in the Winnipeg area. In addition, they are a work integration social enterprise, providing good jobs to people who have otherwise been excluded from the workforce, and MER gives their employees the skills and experience for them to build confidence and self direction. Beyond these social enterprise elements, M

Oct 20, 2021

Podcast: 66. Networks, Support, and Cooperation with Hazel Corcoran

Hazel Corcoran is the Executive Director of the Canadian Worker Co-op Federation. The Federation acts as a bridge and advocate for the various worker cooperatives across Canada that form it’s membership. They also manage some investment options for cooperatives so they can receive investment through RRSPs and TFSAs. Hazel also describes her transition from a student attending a conference, to providing legal support, to becoming the executive director, along with some of the

Aug 11, 2021

Podcast: 65. The State of the Movement with Nancy Neamtan

Nancy Neamtan has been working on developing community economic development and the social economy ecosystem in Quebec for decades. Throughout that body of experience, she has been able to work on the challenges that come with building up a sector. In addition, she was one of the founders and builders of the Chantier de l’économie sociale, a major network of networks for the social economy in Quebec. In this conversation with Nancy we discuss some of the challenges of buildin

Jul 28, 2021

Podcast: 64. Sandra Allen on Shift’s Intentional Cooperative Culture

Sandra Allen is a Member, Co-Owner, Board Member and People Team Lead for Shift Delivery Co-op. Shift Delivery is a last mile carrier based in Vancouver, Canada that uses e-assist trikes instead of motor vehicles for their deliveries. Sandra describes the value that Shift has in it’s people, how they onboard new staff and help them prepare and transition into becoming members, and how Shift has been able to maintain their company culture. One intentional decision that contrib

Jul 21, 2021

Podcast: 63. Chris Nichols on Cooperation and Building a Circular Business

Chris Nichols is a Worker, Co-Founder, Director and Operations Coordinator for Wood Shop Workers’ Cooperative. Wood Shop is focused on creating wood furniture out of reclaimed wood for customers in the Vancouver area. They are working towards creating a more circular economy through their work. They started by using reclaimed pallet wood to create their furniture, but now they take materials from places such as residential deconstruction sites. The point of a circular economy

Jul 14, 2021

Podcast: 62. Worker Co-op Principles with David Thuss

David Thuss is the current Director at the London Brewing Cooperative, and one of the founding worker owners of the Co-op. He has experience in many of the areas of the brewing business, but now works in a supporting role for the other workers in the Co-op. London Brewing follows a triple bottom line approach to running a social enterprise, and also emphasises partnerships with other values aligned organizations including an organic food delivery company, and a Café. Through

Jul 7, 2021

Podcast: 61. Joey Pittoello on Worker Ownership

Joey Pittoello is the General Manager at Just Us! Coffee Roasters Co-op, and has worked in many different roles within the company. Just Us! is a worker Co-op, where each worker has the option to join as a member with a stake in the organization, and the opportunity to influence it’s overall direction. One of the significant challenges that has been present throughout the history of Just Us! Coffee Roasters Co-op is ensuring that every worker member understands the added resp

May 26, 2021

Podcast: 60. Susan Holt on the story of Plato Software Testing

Susan Holt is the Chief Growth Officer for Plato Testing, a software testing service that hires and trains people with indigenous backgrounds. She also acts in the same role for their sister company PQA. She has been part of Plato Testing’s growth from a single office to five offices across Canada over the past five years. Throughout the growth of the company, there have been decisions that have contributed to Plato’s ability to provide quality software testing, and build up

Feb 10, 2021

Podcast: 59. Olowo-n’djo Tchala on Scaling Alaffia’s Mission

Olowo-n’djo Tchala is the founder and CEO of Alaffia, an international fair trade hair and body product company based in the USA. He was able to take this company from the garage, to supplying large national grocery store chains with their products. Throughout the growth of the company, he has put the mission first, and ensured that the workers in West Africa continue to get fair wages for their work, and that the products that Alaffia produces have natural ingredients made w

Feb 3, 2021

Podcast: 58. Brendan Reimer on ACU’s Journey to B Corp

The purpose of B Corp is to certify and demonstrate businesses that are doing social good through their operations. Built into the system is an incentive to improve the impact that is being done by the business. ACU received their B Corp certification in February of 2020, and received the highest score in Canada and the 6th highest score in the world. I had the opportunity to sit down with Brendan Reimer to discuss what being a B Corp means for ACU, why it joined the movement

Jan 25, 2021

Podcast: 57. Meg Ronson on L3 and Social Acquisitions

Meg Ronson is the Project Manager for Legacy Leadership Lab, a team based out of the University of Waterloo. They are working on using social innovation labs to build up a network and tools to facilitate social acquisitions. Social acquisitions are a form of succession planning so that business owners can exit, and the businesses can be converted to co-ops or community owned businesses with social goals. — You can continue the conversation by joining SocialEconomyConnect.com.

Dec 1, 2020

Podcast: 56. Erinch Sahan and the World Fair Trade Organization

Erinch Sahan is the Chief Executive of the World Fair Trade Organization. The WFTO is a combination social enterprise and fair trade certifier, with offices around the world. The WFTO is a member led organization working towards improving the situation for workers around the world using the 10 Principles of Fair Trade. — You can continue the conversation by joining SocialEconomyConnect.com. Social Economy Connect is a free mutual support platform for practitioners, social ent

Jul 28, 2020

Video: Social Business Model Canvas: Value Propositions

The business model canvas is a powerful tool to get a quick sense of how a business works. It can also be used to show how businesses can create social good. Value propositions form part of the foundation of a business. By clarifying your value proposition, you can focus your business in on the things that amplify that value. We also go over how to create value using the UN Sustainable Development Goals as a foundation, and use Grameen Bank as a case study in how to model a s

May 14, 2020

Podcast: 49. A Culture of Ownership – Marty Donkervoort and Judith Harris

For this episode of Marketing Social Enterprise, I was joined by Marty Donkervoort and Judith Harris to talk about how various models of ownership change the way a business is operated. We speak about some of the benefits and weaknesses of employee ownership and community ownership in social enterprise and co-ops. You can continue the conversation by joining Social Economy Connect. Social Economy Connect is a free mutual support platform for practitioners, social entrepreneur

Mar 25, 2020

Podcast: Minimum Viable Audience

Principles of minimum viable audiences focus the efforts of business managers down to their core supporters and early adopters. They force attention on the specific people that the operation can help, and enables connection to happen with those people. It encourages conversation with those people and maintains the passion for the project. Most social enterprises don’t need any help focusing on the social mission. What would happen if we put just as much care and attention int

Feb 26, 2020

Podcast: Uyen Pham – Art and Mental Health Recovery

Uyen Pham is the Executive Director at Artbeat studios, a mental health recovery non-profit in Winnipeg. They host artists for their Artists In Residence program to help them with their journeys of mental health recovery. Once they have completed the program, their work is shown in the gallery and they are invited to contribute work to the Upbeat Artworks, a social enterprise that sells alumni artwork. When a sale is made at Upbeat Artworks, the artist retains a majority of t

Feb 12, 2020

Podcast: Design Systems – Marketing Social Enterprise

The systems that we use to design our products, services, and programs influence their final versions. In this episode of Marketing Social Enterprise, Matthew Rempel will take you through three systems of understanding how you can design products and services to better serve your customers and social beneficiaries. 1. Human-Centred Design 2. Lean Startup principles 3. Nudge theory Do you have questions about marketing social enterprise or have a coaching request? Please tweet

Jan 27, 2020

Risks in Social Enterprise – Social Enterprise Mindset

What kind of risks exist within your social enterprise? What risks are you willing to take, and what risks are you taking by avoiding decisive action? In social enterprise, we make things more difficult when compared to business as usual because of our social goals. Adding social goals makes things more complicated, and complications usually cost more money. Knowing when to add more impact and when to focus on business fundamentals is essential when developing a social enterp

Jan 9, 2020

Finding Your Value – Social Enterprise Mindset

When running any business, you need to know how the business creates value. In a social enterprise, it becomes even more important to understand where the value comes out of the operation because we’re trying to make value beyond the sale. The first part of finding your value is producing a solution that you’re confident will work. When customers first look at buying from a business or social enterprise, the first thing they will see is how the products and services are prese

Dec 12, 2019

Podcast: Charles Enns, Siloam Mission and Reducing Non-Profit Costs with Social Enterprise

Siloam Mission has turned a large expense into a social enterprise opportunity. Charles Enns is the Building Futures program manager at Siloam Mission in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Part of his duties involve managing a small commercial grade laundry social enterprise that is currently serving the internal needs of the Siloam shelter. The Siloam Laundry shifted approximately $150,000 in laundry expenses from an external provider, into an internal opportunity for their community membe