Social Change Institute is a five-day experiential convening designed for high impact and emerging leaders from nonprofits, government and mission-based enterprises who are seeking practical skills and networking opportunities to take their work to the next level.

Junxion Strategy spoke with Cara Pike, director of Climate Access, Hollyhock Board member, and one of the producers of this year’s Social Change Institute (SCI).

Junxion:  What is the value for the social (change) sector in coming together in events like SCI?

Cara Pike:  A lot of social change leaders are busy, bombarded by daily tasks, and it’s hard to find time to take a step back and think about the change you’re trying to accomplish. Hollyhock’s setting and the style of workshops at SCI allow for a lot of reflection on an organizational as well as a personal level.  That’s really key, because you’re most effective as a change leader when you’re feeling your focused intention as an individual leader.

The other big piece SCI addresses is the need for connectivity.  We can accomplish a lot more by working together across organizations and sectors.  That’s what SCI really allows for – it’s bringing together nonprofit, government, and business leaders who have a social purpose.

Junxion:  Looking at the line up of speakers, case studies and topics at this year’s SCI, what are some of the themes you see emerging?

CP:  Because we have a great mix of people coming this year from the U.S. and Canada, we’ll be able to talk about what’s happening in the context of both countries, and see where there are opportunities to learn from one another and collaborate.  I expect there’ll be lots of political discussion happening, particularly with a focus on energy issues that are important in both countries, such as Keystone XL and tar sands expansions.

There’ll also be a lot of discussion about digital and network-based efforts for social change – not just how you talk to your members, but about how your organization is evolving and structured overall, to the larger strategic impact and opportunities.

Subject matter-wise, SCI balances external hard skills [marketing, organizing, fundraising, branding, etc.] with personal development.  Gibrán Rivera will be doing a lot of work around the art of leadership and personal development, and that’ll be a nice thread throughout.  There are also some workshops focused on diversity that I’m excited about. I think there’ll be a lot of opportunities for a lot of different voices to be part of the conversation and the content throughout.

Junxion:  What excites you about this year’s gathering?

CP: Personally, I’m interested in the chance to learn from some of the political leaders who’ll be joining us.  It’s not often you get a chance to hear directly from someone like Nathan Cullen [Member of the Canadian Parliament and Official Opposition House Leader] or David Eby [recently elected to the BC Legislative Assembly by defeating the current Premier in her riding] – so that’ll be particularly exciting.

I’m also excited about leading a session with James Glave from Tides Canada on how to shift the public discourse from tar sands to what is available to us as an [alternative to] development. We’ll delve into some of the big challenges people are facing, and we’ll also talk about hope – where do people find their personal motivation – and how we can support leaders around that.

Junxion:  How do you see the investments that SCI is making transforming the social change movement?

CP:  After several years of doing this, we’re starting to see the cumulative effect of people collaborating together in pretty deep ways, often thanks to having had the chance to meet and work together at SCI.  In particular, it’s exciting to see the development and impact of organizations like Leadnow and Next Up – these were some of the first case studies when we re-launched SCI four years ago – now very much coming into their own and thriving.

In many ways, the investment will start to be further leveraged particularly in British Columbia, because we’re at a crossroads with the emerging innovation economy competing with the old boom and bust style.  SCI and other leadership events have a chance to grow the innovation sectors, and as much as that can be a model for the larger change in Canada (and where relevant in the U.S. as well), that is a goal – there’s an opportunity because of the foundation of leaders that Hollyhock has helped to cultivate.

Junxion: How can the wider community of change agents help support conferences like this if they are not able to be there in person this year?

CP:  For starters, Hollyhock [the organization that produces SCI and other social innovation conferences] relies on donations to bring in speakers and help support the scholarship fund, so people can help with leadership development work by donating.

Also, people can help get the word out by sharing content from the conference picked up from the Hollyhock Life blog (http://www.hollyhocklife.org/) and pushing it out through social media channels.

Finally, they can let Hollyhock know the types of programs and events that would bring them back next year and make Hollyhock a regular part of their annual schedule.

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Social Change Institute is a five-day experiential convening designed for high impact and emerging leaders from nonprofits, government and mission-based enterprises who are seeking practical skills and networking opportunities to take their work to the next level.

Junxion Strategy spoke with Steve Williams, Principal at Constructive Public Engagement, about his return to this year’s SCI.

Junxion: What’s your role going to be at this year’s SCI?

Steve Williams:  I’m a participant, and I’m also leading a workshop called “How Do You Know If You’re Making a Difference?”  One of the big challenges we have in this type of [social change] work is that we’re putting all this effort into it, working long hours and not seeing our families much, but we don’t always know if we are actually making a difference, if real change happening. So the workshop looks into two parts of that.

The first part is on an individual or organizational level – how do you know if you’re spending your time most effectively?  How do you set goals for your organization, track progress, and most importantly, share that with others?  We’re going to use the Demonstrating Value framework to look at these questions.  It’s proved to be a very effective tool to help social enterprises measure, manage and communicate their performance.

The second part is going to be looking at the bigger picture.  Most of us [in the social change sector] don’t start these organizations to make a lot of money, but instead because we have a goal of changing the world in some way, whether it’s fundamentally disrupting Canada’s transportation system, for example, or redefining Canadians’ relationship to food.  How do we know if we’re achieving those big goals? 

To answer this, we’ll use part of Tanya Beer’s work at the Center for Evaluation Innovation.  She’s proposed what she calls an “advocacy evaluation” framework that’s really effective in helping us look at who we’re really targeting (whether that’s the general public or policy makers), and what we want them to do (whether that’s raising awareness or taking action).  What we see is that a lot of organizations, especially in the environmental movement, are very focused on raising public awareness, with the theory that if people just knew about their issue, then the world would magically become a better place.  Unfortunately, that’s not how it really works.

Junxion: How does your work through Constructive Public Engagement create larger and systemic change?

SW:  I’m really interested in making complex relationships visible and understandable.  The challenges that we face are so big that no one person or organization can solve them.  At the same time, none of the problems are independent – you can’t look at homelessness without looking at addiction, which you can’t look at without looking at mental health, which you can’t look at without looking at early childhood education, which you can’t look at without looking at nutrition, and so on.  With all of these complex problems, a lot of people naturally either give up, or focus on one slice of the problem.

I use data and information design to visually show people what those relationships are, and then let them play with that through simulations, seeing what the effect would be if we invested more into one of these areas than another, or shifted funding from this sector into that sector, or [considered if two] organizations were collaborating, and so on.  It’s really helping people figure out the best way to invest their time and resources on complex social issues. 

Junxion: What do you see as the top desired outcomes of SCI this year?

SW:  The best outcome would be what I’ve seen at past SCI’s, in the connections and projects that come out of the conversations that take place there.  The people who come are passionate about their own work, but don’t always see before they arrive how complementary that work can be.  It really is a case of two plus two equaling five, and being able to accelerate that impact.

For me personally, I’m looking forward to some time to slow down and really take a close look at where my own priorities and focus should be… just observing what’s happening and seeing how that fits in with my own direction over the next year.

Junxion: This is your third time attending Social Change Institute… what brings you back again this year? 

SW:  Two things – one is reconnecting with this group of people who feel like my “tribe,” who are doing great work, and who are really inspiring.  The other is that I’m really interested in sharing some of the knowledge and ideas I’ve been involved with lately, particularly through the Graduate Diploma in Social Innovation program at the University of Waterloo, and I see SCI is a great place to do that.  People are hungry for the tools to make real change happen, which is pretty cool.  It’s exciting to be a part of SCI.

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Junxion client 1% for the Planet held its first monthly Member Networking event in Vancouver, BC on May 28, 2013 at East of Main Café (a social enterprise that also happens to be a Junxion client). The event is part of a series that will take place throughout the year in an effort to build collaborative relationships between 1% member companies and the nonprofits they support.

1% for the Planet is a network of over 1,000 companies worldwide that donate one percent of their annual revenues to environmental nonprofits of their choice.  There are approximately 120 Canadian members of 1% for the Planet, and about 150 nonprofits that receive donations from 1%’s global network of companies.

Twenty-five people attended the first Canadian Member meetup, including a solid mix of 1% for the Planet member companies and the nonprofit partners who benefit from their donations.  Member companies present included Alexander Whitehead, Boldt Communications, EcoTaxFile, Greenster, Michael Green Architecture, Mountain Equipment Co-op, Salt Spring Coffee and Saul Good Gift Co.

While the two-hour event was mostly focused on networking, the group was treated to a brief talk by one of 1%’s newest members, architect Michael Green (below), who paid homage to Patagonia founder — and 1% for the Planet co-founder — Yvon Chouinard.  Using pitons as props, Green used the evolution of Chouinard’s business as a metaphor for designing buildings using practices that don’t permanently scar the landscape.

Upcoming 2013 dates for 1% for the Planet networking events are:

• July 9
• August 20
• September 17
• October 22
• November 19

The upcoming Social Change Institute will bring together approximately 100 passionate change agents from across sectors, geography, issues, generations, strategies and points of view for a five-day leadership and skill-building summit.

This experiential convening is designed for high impact and emerging leaders from nonprofits, government and mission-based enterprises who are seeking practical skills and networking opportunities to take their work to the next level.

Among this year’s returning faculty is Gibrán Rivera, Senior Associate at the Interaction Institute for Social Change (IISC).  Junxion Strategy spoke with Gibran about his connection to this year’s SCI.

Junxion:  How did you get involved with SCI? 

Gibrán Rivera:  I’m involved because I was invited.  I think that’s important, because it’s aligned with my perspective on how social change happens, which is through connections – people connecting and resonating with each other, and inviting each other into spaces that are held with intention and purpose.  These are essential elements in the cocktail of social change.  Last year, I was invited by a friend [SCI producer Cara Pike]. I enjoyed myself and thought that the work mattered.  The people who showed up did so fully.  There was a certain kind of openness to exploring ideas and connecting on a human level that showed me that this was a space worth being a part of.  So when I was invited back again, I remembered all of those things, and I thought, wow, I’m lucky, I have another chance to move things forward!

Junxion: What’s your role at SCI? 

GR: I like to think of it as nurturing the community and helping to weave it together, helping us connect to that which is most true about ourselves.  There’s something that makes us want to come to a place like this, something in our trajectory that allows the invitation to resonate with us, something we’re looking for, seeking, or working on.  When we connect to that, we are better at getting to it and seeing what is common among us.

Junxion: Tell us about the workshop you’ll be leading, “Networks, Complexity and the Emergent Paradigm.” 

GR:  The workshop is about what I consider the biggest paradigm shift since the industrial revolution.  We are experiencing a massive reorganization of how we look at the world.  There’s increasing complexity, so our linear models fall apart, but we are pretty darned attached to them and don’t know much about how to do without them!

Still, there are objective conditions that need to be attended to.  This workshop is about the need to adapt into a different paradigm, what futurist Stowe Boyd refers to as the “postnormal” era, defined by the acronym “VUCA” – volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity.  We will be better social change agents when we understand that there’s actually a competitive advantage in adapting more quickly into that reality. 

Junxion:  How does the work of IISC create larger and systemic change?

GR: At the Institute, we have some initiatives I can point to as “hopeful experiments.” One is the Barr Fellows Network [launched in 2005 by the Barr Foundation with IISC as a partner], a very intentional effort to weave a relational and trust-based network of leaders in the city of Boston.  Every year, the Barr Foundation takes 12 nonprofit executive directors from Boston and gives them a three-month sabbatical as a gift.  The participants agree to go on a two-week learning journey to the global south, and then go on two retreats per year, every year for three years, as a cohort.  The learning journey, which is so challenging for them, followed by a three-month break from work, creates a major disruption for them.  Over the three-year process, the trust among them builds, and so do the opportunities for exploring collaboration across boundaries. Then they start working across cohorts from other years – so you end up with a powerful web of leaders across Boston.  That’s just one example that shows we can create conditions for new paradigms to emerge.

Junxion:  What are your top desired outcomes from SCI this year?

GR: First, if people have a realization about themselves and their role in bringing forth what I think of as the next phase of movement, that would be a major success.  Second, that success only has power if it also comes with a new or strengthened relationship with someone else who was also there, because that weaves the web together.

Third, I want people to leave with practical skills and tools – something they can actually apply. Because things are so complex now, it’s extremely important that we are passionately committed to trying things out in the real world.  I want people to leave knowing what their next experiment is.  What are they going to try out… when, where, with whom?

My mother was a 1960’s stay-at-home mom who, like many of her peers it seems, wasn’t terribly happy about her lot in life, even though she had the lawyer husband, the two kids, the 3-bedroom 2-bath suburban house, the Maytag washing machine… in other words, everything she was ever supposed to want.   So why on earth was she unhappy?

I’m fairly certain that anyone who has heard of Betty Friedan can guess at the answer to that question.

A Half Century of Progress – Or Not?

For the first three days of May 2013, exactly 50 years after Friedan’s book, The Feminine Mystique, was published, arguably setting off the “second wave” of feminism in the U.S., a hundred women gathered in Vancouver, BC, for Social Venture Institute Women, a conference designed for female business leaders committed to aligning their personal and organizational values.

We’ve come a long way, baby… or have we?  What does the fact that we’re convening women-only business conferences in 2013 say about our society?  From the outside, some might assume that these gatherings do nothing more than stoke the flames of the same struggles that our mothers and grandmothers, not to mention some of us, were fighting 40 and 50 years ago.  In fairness, one does have to wonder, when North American women are still earning significantly lower wages overall than their male counterparts for the same jobs, how much progress women in business have made.

SVI Women’s organizers didn’t gloss over the work-related challenges women tend to experience more than men.  There was time built in before, during and after the formal programs for participants to consider and discuss how their own socialization (vis-à-vis gender, culture, ethnicity, etc.) has influenced their business practices.

Highlights and Takeaways

Primarily, however, SVI Women focused on providing the fundamental tools – and, just as importantly, the network — to continuously empower women, specifically those with mission-based businesses, to succeed in a traditionally male-dominated world.  Though there were many, following are just a few of the highlights and key takeaways from this year’s SVI Women – Vancouver.

Janie Hoffman’s “True Confessions.” Hoffman (left), the founder and CEO of Mamma Chia, embodies successful conscious capitalism as well as, if not better than, any other speaker I’ve seen in my ten-plus years in this field.  A former meditation teacher turned superstar businesswoman, Hoffman has hit the jackpot with her flavoured, organic chia-based drinks and snacks (coming to Canada later this year).

Key takeaway: Sticking to your values pays off. Before her product had even hit the shelves, Hoffman committed to aligning her business with her values, Three years later, she’s giving the big boys a run for their money, competing with the likes of Coke and Pepsi in the natural beverage category.

Ratana and Jyoti Stephens keynote address. Having this mother-daughter team (right) share the ups and downs of starting and running family business was a real treat, especially when that company is a longstanding successful social venture like Nature’s Path.  The mutual admiration these two women share is palpable, and their story inspiring, both personally and professionally.

Key Takeaway: Profits are the red blood cells of business. No matter how important your social or environmental mission is, Ratana Stephens reminded her audience, you must understand the finances of your company, and your underlying priority must be profits. Other weighty sound bites from the elder Stephens included:

• Create a business that you believe in and are passionate about.
• Surround yourself with people you respect.
• Don’t wallow in your mistakes.
• Welcome advice from those you trust.
• Do not compromise your beliefs – in the end, doing right by your team and your customers will lead you to success, even if it’s not a direct path.

The Rough Roads Panel: Learning From Failure.  Terri Newell (Horizon Distributors), Nicole Bridger (Nicole Bridger), and Jane Cox (Cause & Affect) joined moderator Denise Taschereau (Fairware) (left) in a frank discussion of the upsides of dreams not always coming true, and how they’ve learned to move through challenging experiences and come out the better for it on the other side.

Key takeaway: It’s not personal… it’s business. Entrepreneurs by their nature are risk takers and are bound to lose their footing at times, but women stereotypically personalize their failures more than men. This panel reminded us that everyone makes mistakes, and the successful among us learn what they need to from those experiences and move on.

Morning session openers.  The fact that I’ve been to four SVIs at Hollyhock might have something to do with my being a bit more comfortable shaking my groove thing at 9:00 on a weekday morning than, say, the gal who flew in from New York to go to this business conference.  No matter… thanks to a full-on dance party led by Theresa “Tree” Walsh (myTREEHOUSEvision) the first morning (right), and standing sun salutations with Alex Mazerolle (Girlvana Yoga) the next, everyone got their circulation flowing and physically “came into the space.”

Key Takeaway: It’s not just business… it’s personal. At the end of the day, it’s humans who make up your team and your stakeholders, and there’s nothing quite as equalizing as movement. No one knew or cared about anyone’s title when we all took a breath in and exhaled together. It felt great to literally start the day on that grounded footing, as individuals and as a group.

Peer-to-Peer Circles.  Toward the end of last day, participants were invited to join in one of a dozen or so small groups to seek advice and support on their own specific challenges within a particular subject area (operations, marketing, finance, etc.).  A subject expert facilitated each group, but it was the diversity of experience and outlooks from everyone present that made the circles most valuable.

Key Takeaway: Use mentors strategically. This piece of advice came up several times in the conference (not just during the panel focused on mentorship), and the peer circles provided a way to put that into practice. If you’re seeking advice, rather than simply asking someone you admire to be your mentor, find people who you know have information you’re looking for, make sure you don’t take too much of their time, and be specific about how you’d like them to help you.

Bonus Takeaway:  Read “Lean In.”  The book on everyone’s lips at SVI Women wasn’t Betty Friedan’s, but Lean In, the controversial best seller written by Facebook’s COO Sheryl Sandberg. Sandberg was quoted by participants and presenters so many times over the course of the two-and-a-half day conference, she should have taken a speakers fee.

From what I could see at SVI Women, women’s business networks are alive and well – and still relevant.  There’s still a need for women to have these conversations amongst each other.  Traditionally, men had their social clubs and their golf courses…these days, forums like these are our “club,” where we exchange information, offer support, and create collegiality.  And from where I’m standing, that can only be a good thing.

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Junxion Strategy is proud to be a sponsor of Hollyhock’s social change series, including SVI Women-Vancouver, Social Change Institute (June 5-9, 2013) and Social Venture Institute (September 18-22, 2013).

We are The Product of Our Environment

Take a peek into your closet. Amongst your favourite outfits and outcasts, you are bound to find at least one item made in Bangladesh. Given that the garment industry is a $20 billion business there, odds are high. Odds are also high that someone made that garment in poor conditions for a paltry wage.

What’s more, global supply lines are stretched and the rule of law in many developing countries where that $19 pair of shorts were made is weak.

But that doesn’t make turning a blind eye or making half-hearted attempts at monitoring an appropriate response.

This exploitation came into sharp focus with the tragic and fatal collapse of a textile manufacturing building in Bangladesh at the end of April. More than 750 people (and counting) died in the worst industrial accident in South Asia since the Bhopal disaster in 1984, and the worst ever in the garment industry.

But we can’t just blame the 30 global brands that had garments manufactured there.

The Theatre of the Absurd

Look around you. We are all actors in the theatre of consumerism. Our insatiable appetite for consumer goods coupled with companies’ almost total focus on cost and profit is fueling a nasty race to the bottom.

According to George Hodge, an associate professor at the College of Textiles at North Carolina State University, “For each season, [retailers] are looking at who can make it now, and who offers the best value.” In other words, “We want it now and at the cheapest price possible.” This doesn’t leave much time for scrutiny nor funds for monitoring factory buildings and the people who work there.

However, with today’s world of instant communications, globalised business can’t help but look in the mirror. Whether its 24/7 IT support from a call centre in Bangalore, the beans in your morning cup of coffee or the comfy chasir you like to drink it in, successful enterprises are taking the concepts of responsibility, stewardship and transparency seriously.

They know that business must nurture the natural environment and honour and respect the communities on which they depend for their employees, suppliers and customers. In fact, the smart ones are cultivating value, working hard to generate goodwill, and respecting their social license to operate. At Junxion, we call them TrustBrands^TM.

So when it comes to products and services, how are enterprising TrustBrands^TM earning their stripes? By understanding and addressing the environmental and social impacts of their products in such areas as:

• Energy efficiency
• Pollution prevention
• Waste minimisation
• Product stewardship
• Community investment
• Employee development, and
• Support for local NGOs

And they are doing it by considering:

• The nature of the product or service they deliver
• Their sourcing practices
• The end-of-life and disposal realities of your purchase

It Starts at the Beginning

Can a casino be socially responsible? Not really – it’s an addictive activity with major social costs. Cigarettes? No, they kill people. Plastic? Not if it comes from fossil fuels instead of plant-based materials like the innovators at Solegear.

Good companies know that the very nature of their product or service matters. Indeed, progressive manufacturing companies are going beyond “putting lipstick on a pig” by examining the whole lifecycle of their products.

One framework designed to support companies in creating products that are “more good” rather than simply “less bad” is Cradle to Cradle^®, a concept developed by William McDonough and Dr. Michael Braungart.

Cradle to Cradle requires a shift in thinking about how a product is designed, what’s in it, and where it goes after use. It leads to the creation of products that redefine quality, beauty, and innovation.

As their Cradle to Cradle (or C2C) website indicates, “Cradle to Cradle requires a shift in thinking about how a product is designed, what’s in it, and where it goes after use. It leads to the creation of products that redefine quality, beauty, and innovation.” In short, it ensures companies are making safe and healthy products for our world.

C2C’s guiding principles encourage commitment to new paradigms, good growth instead of economic growth, continuous innovation and perfection, understanding for learning, and intergenerational responsibility. In practice, this means improving products in five areas: renewable energy, clean water, material health, social responsibility and material reutilisation.

The five C2C guiding principles encourage commitment to new paradigms, good growth instead of economic growth, continuous innovation and perfection, understanding for learning, and intergenerational responsibility.

But in its broadest sense, C2C is not limited to industrial design and manufacturing; it can be applied to many aspects of human civilisation such as urban environments, buildings, economics and social systems.

And if it sounds lofty or unachievable, then take a look at the Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute registry of dozens of approved C2C products. This resource covers six categories from building materials to personal care products. They look good, perform well and meet C2C’s principles.

One social enterprise trying to embody these principles is The Ethical Computer Company, based near Stoke, UK. TECC refurbishes and recycles computer equipment that has stopped being used or is damaged.

For the last 12 years it has sold computers at low-cost while delivering a zero material-resource-waste and a zero human-resource-waste business model. It employs local people who face difficulties in getting employment because of a culture of unemployment, physical disabilities or a criminal record. And they never ship electronic waste to developing countries where it poisons people and local ecosytems.

A Supply Chain is Only as Strong as the Weakest Link

Another way of recognising that reputations—and bottom lines—are influenced by external factors is to implement an ethical sourcing policy. That’s why many Fortune 500 companies as well as small and medium-sized enterprises have put these policies in place.

In practice, this means:

• Looking critically at business processes of supply, outsourcing and purchase management
• Developing supply chain strategies and apply codes of conduct in the areas with the most impact
• Measuring, monitoring and verifying performance indicators
• Endorsing and adopting processes and performance standards, and sharing them publicly
• Building awareness and support with employees, suppliers and customers and,
• Exiting supplier relationships that don’t show improvements

William Bissell, Managing Director at Fabindia, a retailer of natural, craft-based, contemporary, and affordable products, stresses the importance of a robust and responsive supply chain. “The approach that a company takes to its supply chain is pivotal – we chose to look upon our supply chain as partners and to invite them to participate in the opportunities that retail presents.”

That’s why Fabindia links over 80,000 craft-based rural producers to modern urban markets, thereby creating a base for skilled, sustainable rural employment, and preserving India’s traditional handicrafts in the process. The company also promotes inclusive capitalism, through its unique COC (community owned companies) model. That model consists of companies, which act as value adding intermediaries, between rural producers and Fabindia. In fact, craftpersons own a minimum 26% shareholding of the COCs.

And why not? Who said attractive products, good prices and social impact are mutually-exclusive?

From Here to Eternity

While C2C and sourcing are a critical part of being a successful enterprise today, product stewardship that includes manufacturers, retailers, consumers and recyclers is equally important. Product stewardship further extends this responsibility to everyone involved in the life-cycle of the product. This includes not only the manufacturers, but also the retailers, consumers and recyclers as well.

As part of its Plan A sustainability strategy, Marks and Spencer (M&S), the UK-based retailer has taken the end-of-life concept to heart with its “shwopping” program. They encourage customers to bring their old clothes back to any M&S. They then give them to Oxfam to sell online, in their stores or in international markets where there’s demand. Depending on the quality, what doesn’t sell is recycled into new fabric, loft insulation or car seat filling,

In the past four years, M&S has collected a jaw-dropping 11 million garments and is on track to meet a goal of more than 20 million items by 2015. If that wasn’t impressive enough, the program has generated $13 million for charity organisations. Win-win at its finest.

There’s no question that our global community is facing enormous challenges of sustainability – both social and environmental. As the Bangladesh tragedy reminds us, there is still much work to be done. Fortunately, social enterprises progressive TrustBrands^TM are forging a path to a new way of doing business.
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Peter ter Weeme A respected communications and engagement strategist, sustainability consultant and strategic planner, Peter’s work bridges the worlds of business, government and social causes.

Ask Marcie Weinstein-Smith what inspired her to start her company, and she’ll give you the typical “mompreneur” spiel: her baby needed “something,” she couldn’t find that “something” on the market, and so she made it.  Turns out, that “something” was Canada’s first natural diaper ointment in a stick.

Like other early-stage mission-based* entrepreneurs who’ll be attending this week’s SVI Women – Vancouver (SVIW), Weinstein-Smith (left) decided to take a risk and move forward with manufacturing and wholesaling a product line targeted to a quickly growing segment of moms interested in natural baby products.  In other words, she created a social venture.

Weinstein-Smith’s start-up, Lovey’s Body Products, based in Delta, BC, is one of two case studies on the agenda for SVIW, the first Social Venture Institute held in Vancouver that’s designed exclusively for women entrepreneurs who are creating social and environmental change through their businesses.

The SVI Case Study

SVI Women’s case study format mirrors that of its sister conference, SVI Hollyhock.  Weinstein-Smith will have a short period of time to present a business challenge her company is facing to the full conference group.  A panel of experts, who will have been briefed on the company ahead of time, will ask a series of clarifying questions, and then the full group will have an opportunity to do the same.

After Weinstein-Smith has answered the questions to the best of her ability, the panelists will put forth their best advice regarding the challenges she’s laid out, followed by more recommendations from the full group.  Finally, Weinstein-Smith will have a chance to reflect back her thoughts on what she’s heard.  This rapid exchange of information happens in a supportive and confidential setting, offering the entrepreneur who’s “in the hot seat”– and the group as a whole — a unique and often transformative dose of business learning.

Lovey’s Challenge:  Steering the Rapids of Growth

Even though developing a product like the Tushi Stick requires a fair bit of science, Weinstein-Smith admits she doesn’t have a chemistry background (although, she hastens to add, “I always loved making potions when I was a kid.”).  More likely, it’s her 18 years in corporate sales, marketing, advertising and relationship management in the technology sector, plus experience as an independent business development consultant, that gave her legs to stand on when it came to launching Lovey’s.

Weinstein-Smith oversees Lovey’s manufacturing, finance, administration and logistics. In addition, just three and half years into her business, Weinstein-Smith now has the added challenge of handling the sales and marketing for not just one, but two product lines.

Weinstein-Smith says that ChafeGuard™, her new chaffing relief product, came about as another case of filling a need, one she started hearing about from New York City Marathon runners who were using her baby stick and asked for a natural product made for them.  Weinstein-Smith, the business consultant, delved right into competitive research and saw the opportunity for natural anti-chaffing products not just for runners and cyclists, but also for elders suffering from heat rash, people with prosthetics, and more.

But of course, growth brings its own set of challenges.  So what’s the biggest hurdle for this solo-eco-mom-preneur? Weinstein-Smith says there’s not just one.  To start with, she says, “When you’re one person, you get pulled in so many different directions.”  Given the collective experience of the SVIW crowd, Weinstein-Smith is likely to leave this week’s conference with a clearer sense of which direction is next for her.

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Junxion Strategy is proud to be a sponsor of SVI Women – Vancouver, taking place May 1-3 at the Goldcorp Centre for the Arts at SFU Woodward’s in Vancouver, BC.  For more information, go to http://hollyhocklife.org/sviw/

A Company Born From a Mission

Hoffman, right, founded the first organic chia-based food and beverage company without any business or industry-specific experience.  “I was teaching meditation and consciousness, and leading workshops on mindfulness and effective leadership,” Hoffman recalls, “when I fell in love with chia seeds. It wasn’t that I had a burning desire to start something – it was a pure passion for chia seeds and wanting to spread the love of chia.”

When Hoffman realized that the best way to “spread the love” was to start a company, she knew it would have to align with her social and environmental values.  So before her product was even on the shelf, Mamma Chia had joined 1% for the Planet, donating 1% of annual gross sales to support farmers, community groups and organizations that are building healthy, local food systems.

At the same time, Mamma Chia became a certified B Corporation and a founding member of the Slow Money Alliance, a network of food entrepreneurs who are rebuilding local food systems around the U.S. In fact, Hoffman will arrive in Vancouver directly from the Slow Money Conference in Boulder, where she’ll be presenting a $50,000 Entrepreneur of the Year Award on behalf of Mamma Chia.  “The social and environmental mission was at the heart of this company from the start,” Hoffman says emphatically.  “If it hadn’t been, Mamma Chia wouldn’t have been born.”

Leading By Example

When she first shared the idea with her friends of an organic chia-based beverage company, many thought she was crazy.  Having somewhat naively created a whole new category of beverages herself, Hoffman ponders, “I always wonder if takes someone from outside the food and beverage world to make that happen, someone who doesn’t really know the business that well.” Obviously, Hoffman didn’t let the naysayers deter her.  Almost immediately after her first product launched in Whole Foods stores across the U.S. in 2011, Hoffman’s company took off by storm, helping to spread the love of chia to thousands of new customers. With shelf space in a growing number of major retail grocery chains, Hoffman has received numerous awards, including BevNET’s 2012 Person of the Year and Best Non-Carbonated Beverage of 2011, and has received national media coverage.

“The cool thing is that, by being a leader in your field by ‘doing good,’ you inspire other folks,” says Hoffman.  She loves hearing from people who were motivated to join 1% for the Planet or become a certified B Corporation after hearing about Mamma Chia at the BevNET conference.  “In the beverage world, natural products are a drop in the bucket,” Hoffman says. “Being able to inspire others to bring that [sensibility] into their culture and mission is fabulous.”

 Supporting Women Entrepreneurs

When asked what excites her most about attending her first SVI Women as a True Confessions speaker, Hoffman immediately replies, “My heart is in supporting female entrepreneurs, so l love the idea of women coming together and sharing their stories.”  She continues, “Women who have a mission to make the world a better place through whatever venue they choose, and sharing in that process and empowering one another – that floats my boat.”

Hoffman is still surprised that, given where her life was just a few years ago, she has created a successful commercial enterprise in the packaged goods world.  “It wouldn’t have happened but for this bringing of two worlds together – the love of chia and conscious capitalism.”

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Junxion Strategy is proud to be a sponsor of SVI Women – Vancouver, taking place May 1-3 at the Goldcorp Centre for the Arts at SFU Woodward’s in Vancouver, BC.  For more information, go to http://hollyhocklife.org/sviw/

Emira Mears

Emira Mears is a busy woman. In addition to running the company she co-founded, Raised Eyebrow Web Studio, and raising a pre-schooler, she’s also the lead organizer of Social Venture Institute Women- Vancouver (SVIW), taking place May 1-3 at the Goldcorp Centre for the Arts on the SFU Woodward’s campus in Vancouver, BC.

Building on Success

Mears (right) should be used to this level activity by now.  In 2011, she co-created and produced the Women Entrepreneurs for Social Change conference, and filled the same role for the Women Entrepreneur track in last year’s inaugural SVI Vancouver.  Like its two similar predecessors, SVIW is modeled after the successful Social Venture Institute held each September at Hollyhock on Cortes Island, and is designed to lend practical skills and support to women leading small socially conscious businesses and non-profits.

Dana Bass Solomon

Helping Mears assemble the stellar agenda of keynote speakers, case studies, workshops and panels are fellow SVI Hollyhock alumnae Madeleine Shaw and Denise Taschereau, along with Hollyhock CEO Dana Bass Solomon (left).  Each of these women offers rich experience balancing the demands of running a mission-driven business and having a full family life, and each has a personal passion for seeing women grow and succeed in the business world.

Madeleine Shaw

One of the things about SVIW that most excites Shaw (right), founder of Lunapads International Ltd and Pads4Girls, is the mixture of those who’ve previously attended some form of SVI and new faces. “We’re attracting a ton of new people into this community, women with fresh perspectives and ideas that will help shape SVI as it evolves,” she says.

Learning from Failure

An example of such evolution is the addition of two new panels to this SVI, creating more opportunities for group discussion and peer learning.  One panel focuses on mentorship, while the other, conceived by Fairware’s Co-Founder and CEO Taschereau, is called Rough Roads: A Discussion on Learning from Challenging Times.  “It’s very rare in these settings to have the front of the room taken up by people talking about their failures rather than their succeses,” Taschereau says of this panel.  “Hearing just the success stories can be very alienating for those of us who know that life is full of failures and challenges.  It can seem like no one else feels like their business is going under, or their staff team is falling apart.”

Denise Taschereau

Taschereau (left) was inspired to create this panel after seeing a “Failure Panel” at another conference last year, where the panelists’ stories ranged from projects that “totally bombed” to entire companies going bankrupt.  One panelist talked about how her fear of sharing ‘the writing on the wall’ was ultimately her greatest mistake.  Taschereau recalls, “She said, ‘If I had shown some of my trusted advisors what was really going on instead of being afraid, I probably would have avoided this situation.’  I was really inspired by this.”

Taschereau points to FailCon and other events that are focused on mining business failures for innovation and creativity as a positive sign. Shaw concurs, adding, “Telling the truth is rich… because when we ignore our failures, we miss so much wisdom.”

Early and Later Stage Companies Highlighted

Another SVIW highlight promises to be the two evening “True Confessions” conversations, revealing some of the “behind the scenes” realities of running a successful social venture. This year’s speakers come from companies in the food and beverage industry, each in a very different stage of its lifespan: mother and daughter Ratana & Jyoti Stephens will share stories from their internationally-established family business, Nature’s Path, while Janie Hoffman of Mamma Chia will speak from her experience as founder of a relatively new but quickly growing business.

Like her co-presenters, Mears sees tremendous value in introducing more like-minded women to this community of purpose-driven businesspeople.  “I believe there’s still a need for women entrepreneurs to have these shared conversations,” she says, echoing Hollyhock’s mission to inspire, nourish and support people making the world better.

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Junxion Strategy is proud to be a sponsor of SVI Women – Vancouver. For more information, go to http://hollyhocklife.org/sviw/

“WHEREAS the Province of British Columbia recognizes the need to actively support and engage B.C. communities to identify new and innovative ways to tackle their most pervasive social challenges…”

– so began the official proclamation declaring March 27, 2013 to be Social Enterprise Day.

On that same day, Enterprising Non-Profits hosted its fifth Social Enterprise Heroes event, celebrating the growing number of social entrepreneurs and the positive social impact these business leaders are making.  The gathering took place in the Roundhouse Community Centre in the Yaletown neighbourhood of Vancouver.

Junxion Strategy was proud to present the Social Enterprise Heroes event, along with JDQ Systems and KPMG.

The two-hour evening event, attended by a sell-out crowd of 200 people, followed a full Day of Learning and tradeshow.   North Shore Culinary School, a social enterprise providing job training and placement to under-employed youth and adults, catered the pre-awards reception with a delicious selection of hot and cold appetizers.

Inside the main auditorium, the evening’s co-hosts, Vancity Community Foundation’s Executive Director Derek Gent, far left, and Vancouver Foundation’s President and CEO Faye Wightman, left, kept the two-hour program running smoothly.

Each of the three competitively selected social enterprises — the Edible Garden Project, Tradeworks Fab Shop, and Ktunaxa/Kinbasket Child and Family Services — had  exactly nine minutes to make their most compelling pitch highlighting their successes and asking for help with their growth.  They were competing for a total of $45,000 in combined cash grants and pro bono consulting services.

Listening intently was the panel of four judges, right, or “Super Enterprise Heroes:” Jon Morris (President, JDQ Systems), Lorne Burns (Partner, KPMG), Janet Austin (CEO, Vancouver YWCA) and Michael McCarthy (VP, BC Small and Medium Business, TELUS).

After the presentations, while the judges retreated for their deliberation, longtime community activist Melanie Conn presented the second annual Social Enterprise Top Hero Award to Susan Braverman, left, President of The Flag Shop, for her work in support of Common Thread Co-op.  Both Conn and Braverman spoke about the natural fit between the for-profit Flag Shop, which produces street banners, and the nonprofit Common Thread, which converts used street banners and other fabrics into colourful and durable products, keeping these products out of the landfill while also providing training and employment to new immigrants and people living with mental illnesses. In her acceptance speech, Braverman stressed how easy it can be for for-profits and nonprofits to work together.

Jerr Boschee, right, Founder and Executive Director of the Institute for Social Entrepreneurs, delivered the evening’s keynote address.  Inspiring the audience with his engaging stories, Boschee pondered why social entrepreneurs do what they do, recalling his personal journey starting as a Peace Corp volunteer in an Indian village the late 1960’s and reminding us that we can all make a difference.

The evening concluded with announcement of the awards.  As in past years, the judges divided the prizes among the three finalists in a way that they felt best suited their needs:

• Edible Garden Project was awarded $10,000 worth of consulting hours of from ASQ Canada and $5,000 worth of consulting hours from JDQ Systems to help them with building partnerships,operations management and innovation development;
• Tradeworks FabShop received $5,000 worth of consulting hours from KPMG to help them analyze their business model and channels to market, $5,000 worth of consulting hours from Junxion Strategy to help them with their marketing strategy, and a $5,000 cash grant from TELUS; and
• Ktuxana Kinbasket Child & Family Services was awarded $5,000 in consulting hours from JDQ Systems for support in setting up business processes, a $5,000 cash grant from TELUS, and a $5,000 grant from Vancity Community Foundation.  The judges recommended using $5,000 of the cash to explore the feasibility of delivering their services through British Columbia’s new Social Impact Bond structure.

Submissions for next year’s Social Enterprise Heroes event are due in January 2014.  Watch the website, www.socialenterpriseheroes.ca, and follow @e_n_p for more details.