‘Social entrepreneurship’ centre opens

A student-led group to be called the Laurel Centre for Social Entrepreneurship, founded after last fall’s Waterloo Conference on Social Entrepreneurship, will offer its first public program next week with the launch of a public lecture series.

Laurel will present a January 31 talk by Paul Born (above left), founder and director of Tamarack, an institute for community engagement. He’ll speak at 4:30 that day in Arts Lecture Hall room 116.

Suzanne Gardner, who graduated with an arts degree last year, is communications coordinator for the new centre. She says the lectures, which are all open to the public and free of charge, “will bring innovators in entrepreneurship and social change to the enjoyment and education of the local community”.

Born’s lecture next Thursday, titled “Fewer Poor, Not Better Poor,” will focus on the cases of social entrepreneurs working to end poverty. Born’s work, says Gardner, was influenced by his own life, as he and his family came to Canada as refugees when he was a child. Since that time, he served as a leader in the creation of Poverty 2000, a Canadian anti-poverty program recognized as one of the 40 best practices by the United Nations, which was later turned into the national campaign of Vibrant Communities Canada.

More background: “The Vibrant Communities program, one of Tamarack’s current major projects, works toward vibrant and engaged communities across Canada by inspiring citizens to work together in order to solve major community challenges. The program tests ideas about community building, poverty reduction, collaboration and engagement, and generates knowledge based on what works best in the 15 cities across Canada currently participating in the program, including Edmonton, Montréal, St. John’s, and Waterloo. Born, a founder of the Vibrant Communities program, will be speaking on the program’s successes and challenges.”

The Laurel Centre for Social Entrepreneurship was founded “in late 2007”, Gardner says, after the success of the Waterloo Conference on Social Entrepreneurship. That event in November saw more than 200 people come together from around the world “to collaborate on the bridging of the passion for social change together with a business-minded discipline”. (Pictured: Paul Born speaking during that conference.)

Laurel’s leadership team — including chair Andrew Dilts, a graduate student in management sciences — is organizing several other initiatives for later this year, including a mentorship program, a social entrepreneurship “bootcamp”, a research conference, and a second annual conference.

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Above: WCSE leadership team and volunteers

Next week, ’social entrepreneurship’

“An inspirational new initiative will soon bring passion for social change together with business-minded discipline,” says Suzanne Gardner, a UW arts graduate who’s helping to organize the Waterloo Conference on Social Entrepreneurship to be hosted by UW and Wilfrid Laurier University next week.

“The conference,” she writes, “brings together students, alumni, community members, academics, and current leaders in the world of social entrepreneurship.” It’s scheduled for November 16-18, and participation is free for students.

Says Gardner: “This event is truly one for all members of the UW community to take note of. Not only is its content matter a unique and crucial topic in today’s entrepreneurial world, but the creation of the conference itself is also unique as the leadership team consists of recent UW and WLU grads as well as current undergrad students at both schools.”

She calls the event “an example of the young entrepreneurial spirit that this city has fostered”, and adds, “This conference is truly one that all members of the UW community would learn a lot from, regardless of their age or field of study.” Conference chair is another recent UW graduate, Andrew Dilts.

The inaugural Waterloo Conference on Social Entrepreneurship will bring together community members, academics and both current and future leaders for three days. A news release notes that conference content “will focus on the advancement of social entrepreneurship both internationally and here at home, featuring the three key themes of community leadership, international development, and sustainable environmental change.

“The conference aims to match individuals and organizations passionate about social change with the business-focused resources and knowledge that they need to grow and succeed. Towards this end, the initiative will bring together industry representatives, educational partners, and more than 100 delegates to learn, network, and be exposed to opportunities in their field.”

It says keynote speakers have been confirmed from Ashoka, an organization renowned for its global leader in social entrepreneurship, as well as from the University of Alberta-based Canadian Centre for Social Entrepreneurship. “The conference is partnering with a number of different organizations, including Engineers Without Borders Canada, and both the University of Waterloo and Wilfrid Laurier University.

“The weekend conference will expose delegates to many different aspects of social entrepreneurship through keynotes, lectures, panel discussions, and workshops. One conference highlight is the exhibition component, where delegates will have a chance to network and interact with representatives from a wide variety of organizations already active in social change.” While students attend free, “community delegates are invited to attend for a small fee” of $95.

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