SEPTEMBER 25th, 2013 - 12:00 - 1:00PM
Many commercial enterprises would consider themselves to have social objectives, but commitment to these objectives is motivated by the perception that such commitment will ultimately make the enterprise more financially valuable. Social Enterprises differ in that, inversely, they do not aim to offer any benefit to their investors, except where they believe that doing so will ultimately further their capacity to realize their social and environmental goals.
After the main speaker, the conference will be broken up into two phases. The morning will be presentations of Successful Social Enterprise Models. After lunch our main speaker will shift the focus and participants will be engaged in how to make their own social enterprise a reality. This will include the following:Mayor Mike Savage is a skilled team builder, experienced business person and public servant, community volunteer and strong advocate for Halifax Regional Municipality. Mike Savage was elected Mayor of HRM on October 20, 2012.
Who better to advise eager entrepreneurs than Dianne Buckner, the host of CBC TV’s wildly popular Dragons’ Den. She takes audiences through the “entrepreneur’s journey,” from identifying niche markets to the art of the pitch to taking advantage of business trends—while sharing entertaining backstage peaks into life in “The Den.”The Honourable Graham Steele was first elected to the Nova Scotia House of Assembly as MLA for Halifax Fairview in a by-election in 2001 and was re-elected in 2003, 2006 and 2009. He is a lawyer and practiced law, first in private practice, then as General Counsel to the Workers Compensation Board in 1993. He has served as Minister of Finance and Minister of Acadian Affairs.CoopZone is pleased to again be offering its co-op development training courses in 2013-14, starting in September. CoopZone offers various levels of training:
Advanced Program (Years 1 and 2): for those who wish to become active developers (Sept - May);
Foundation Program for those who may become developers or work in the early stages of development (Sept. - May); and
Shorter Introductory Course will be appropriate for people interested in understanding the types and roles of co-ops, and the basic co-op development process (Oct. - March). This is for people who are not co-op developers and may work in CED organizations, larger co-ops or credit unions, relevant government departments, etc.
All of these on-line courses take a few hours per week, and are designed to fit around a full-time job. The Course Director is Peter Hough, and experienced co-op developers provide mentoring to students.
Information session: For those who are thinking about taking one of the courses and would like to know more, there will be a webinar held on August 27th, at 12 noon Eastern Time for approximately 60 minutes. Please RSVP to Peter Hough (training@coopzone.coop) by the end of the day prior; you will receive the dial-in information by the start of the day of the call. (If you do not receive it by then, please write again at that time.)
For more information about the courses being offered and registration information, check out the CoopZone On-line Training Program website.
Position: Executive Director
Organization: Falls Brook Centre http://fallsbrookcentre.ca/fbc/our-work/
Location: Knowlesville, New Brunswick
Lunch 'N Learn Webinar: "Strengths, Challenges and Opportunities of Farm and Food co-ops in Eastern Canada"
Presenter: Andrew Alford
This short report will provide a quick glimpse to small-scale farm and food co-ops across Eastern Canada (i.e., Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia). There will also be an in-depth focus on farm and food co-ops located in Ontario. It is composed of co-op visits that took place during the summer of 2013.
Over the past two years, he has dedicated his time to learning and practicing ecological agriculture on small-scale farms in the Guelph area. Recently, he has shown a keen interest to co-operative business structures - especially when it incorporates healthy, local food! He has committed the summer of 2013 to studying and supporting smallscale farm and food co-ops across Eastern Canada. In the near future, Andrew is interested in farming co-operatively and involving himself in local food policy.
Lunch N' Learn Webinar: "Co-op Conversions: Profiling the Aron Theatre and Moonbeam Co-operative"
Presenters: Russ Christianson, Independent Co-op Developer & Christian Howald, Co-op Developer, CCO
As part of our "Profiling New and Emerging Co-ops" mini series, Russ and Christian will review the origins, successes, challenges, learnings and future steps of two businesses that were transformed into co-operatives to ensure their local communities continued to thrive.
Russ Christianson is the President and founder of Rhythm Communications. He has a broad range of experience in strategic positioning, market research, feasibility studies, business planning, management systems, facilitation, and multi-stakeholder consultations. Russ is the developer of Whole Systems Feedback, a unique motivational research methodology.
Since 2010, Christian Howald is the Northern Ontario co-operative development agent for a francophone co-operative association that was founded in 1964: the CCO (le Conseil de la coopération de l’Ontario).Christian acquired a master’s degree in applied social research for which he specialized in community social and economic development in Northern Ontario: teaching people to work together. His passion for developing Northern Ontario comes from his children, who unless the system changes, will be forced to leave the region like so many others.
