An Army of Problem Solvers - Guelph
Join Shaun Loney for 2 days of learning about social enterprises, social finance tools, social procurement and Canadian and provincial ecosystems that are emerging.
Building on his 2016 book "An Army of Problem Solvers", social entrepreneur Shaun Loney will take participants through a 2 day process to dig into the art and science of solving complex problems, particularly at the local community scale. Learn about how to see poverty and other social and environmental challenges as opportunities, how to better understand the motivations and drivers of peoples, businesses, and government, and how to support the re-emergence of Indigenous economics.
Register for the An Army of Problem Solvers workshop
Loney draws from a rich well of practical learnings as one of Canada's leading social enterprise developers, uncovering the secrets to successful social enterprises, profiling the skills and mindsets required of community-focused entrepreneurs, and reporting on the rural renaissance through the small farm movement.
The workshop will also explore policies and practices necessary to decolonizing government, helping communities become active beneficiaries in the transition to clean energy, and supporting the solutions economy.
Topics Covered Include:
- What is a social enterprise and why are they popping up everywhere?
- What can governments do to encourage their development?
- What are the four shifts in thinking that will accompany the emergent problem solving paradigm?
- What is the one and only question to ask government?
- How do you start a social enterprise?
Who should attend:
Non-profit sector leaders, civil servants, procurement officers, members of the business community, Indigenous leaders (urban and community), people working to reduce poverty and environmental NGO’s.
Shaun Loney is one of Canada’s leading social enterprise developers having been involved in now 12 successful start-ups. These non-profit businesses hire people with barriers to employment and collectively have now reached over $10 million a year in revenues. Shaun is an Ashoka Fellow (first in Canadian Prairies) and Ernst and Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year (2014).
In 2016, Shaun Loney released his book “An Army of Problem Solvers: Reconciliation and the Solutions Economy”. First Nations reconciliation has to include rebuilding local economies. Problem solvers such as social enterprises, social entrepreneurs and the small farm movement are demonstrating we can tackle society’s most stubborn problems affordably. How do we reinvent government to make it happen?
“No better manual exists for how enterprise, community spirit, innovation and determination, really can and do make good things happen” - Hugh Segal, Master, Massey College
3:00pm - 4:00pm Eastern Time
Sylvia Cheuy is a Consulting Director of the Tamarack Institute’s Collective Impact Idea Area and also supports Tamarack’s Community Engagement Idea Area. She is passionate about community change and what becomes possible when residents and various sector leaders share an aspirational vision for their future. Sylvia believes that when the assets of residents and community are recognized and connected they become powerful drivers of community change. Sylvia is an internationally recognized community-builder and trainer. Over the past five years, much of Sylvia’s work has focused on building awareness and capacity in the areas of Collective Impact and Community Engagement throughout North America. 
