Reflections from Scotland Social Enterprise Tour
How has Scotland become a global leader in social enterprise? What can Canada learn from the vibrant landscape of 5,000+ social enterprises in that country?
In early September, a pan-Canadian group of social enterprise stakeholders visited Scotland to tour the landscape. Hosted by Community Enterprise in Scotland, the largest third sector business support provider in Scotland, we met with government representatives, intermediaries, and a diverse mix of social enterprises.
This webinar presented key findings from the tour and shared reflections for the continued evolution of the social enterprise landscape in Canada.
SPEAKERS
David LePage, Principal with Accelerating Social Impact CCC, Ltd (ASI)
ASI CCC was created to serve and promote the emerging blended value business and social finance sectors. David works as a consultant, trainer and advisor with a cross section of social enterprises, social purpose businesses and social impact investors. He is a founder of Buy Social Canada, an initiative to promote social purchasing and social enterprise certification.
David is the Chair of the Social Enterprise Council of Canada. He serves as a Program Adjunct to the Sandermoen School of Business MBA in Social Enterprise Leadership. He is a member of the Social Enterprise World Forum Steering Group, the Canadian CED Network's Policy Council, Imagine Canada’s Advisory Committee, and the BC Partners for Social Impact. He is also a Board member of the Vancouver Farmer's Market and a Board member of Ethelo Decisions. David is the former Team Manager of enp-BC and played a lead role in the development of enp-Canada.
Nabeel Ahmed, Network Coordinator for Social Enterprise Toronto
Nabeel is the Network Coordinator for Social Enterprise Toronto. Previously, he was a Financial Analyst at the University of Central Asia in Bishkek as part of a fellowship in microfinance and microenterprise with the Aga Khan Foundation Canada. He was also the Managing Editor of SocialFinance.ca, where his keen eye and deep knowledge of the field aided him in supporting the conversation around social finance and impact investing in Canada.
This fall Nabeel returned to school to complate a Master of Environmental Studies, City/Urban, Community and Regional Planning with York University.
Darcy Penner, Social Enterprise Policy & Program Manager with the Canadian CED Network
Darcy has been working in community economic development since graduating from the University of Winnipeg with a BA (Honours) degree in Politics. Starting at CCEDNet in 2013, his role has seen him work with member-organizations to pursue a broad policy agenda through workshops, presentations, budget submissions, policy papers and community-organizing, while specializing in supportive social enterprise policy and research – including coordinating the Manitoba Social Enterprise Sector Survey and the Manitoba Social Enterprise Strategy being co-created with the Province of Manitoba. Darcy was also a contributing author to the Alternative Municipal Budget for CCEDNet-Manitoba.
