The other night I attended a local gathering of folks organized by Social Venture Network, Renewal Partners, B-Lab, Vancity and RSF Social Finance. It was billed as "an evening of connections and collaboration" and it went down at the home of Dana and Joel Solomon, a couple whose names are synonymous with the success of values-driven businesses in this city and who we'll be bringing you more about in the future.
Joel kicking things off
Being new to the world of non-profit (I'm a creative director turned executive director ofVancouver Is Awesome Inc, in case you didn't know), I've slowly been getting my footing and was excited to be given the opportunity to meet and connect with the community of entrepreneurs, CEOs and investors who use business to build a just economy and a sustainable planet, all here in this beautiful city of ours.
I met a bunch of really interesting folks on similar paths to my own, running businesses and organizations with a mission at their core, and perhaps the best thing that I took away from the evening was a quote from one of the speakers who said that "It's time to start thinking less about how shareholders will be affected and more about how stakeholders will be.". Statements like that give me hope that projects like Vancouver Is Awesome (and, of course, Vancouver Is Awesome specifically!) have a bright future ahead of them.
