Nancy Neamtan has been working on developing community economic development and the social economy ecosystem in Quebec for decades. Throughout that body of experience, she has been able to work on the challenges that come with building up a sector. In addition, she was one of the founders and builders of the Chantier de l’économie sociale, a major network of networks for the social economy in Quebec.

In this conversation with Nancy we discuss some of the challenges of building organizations in the social economy, such as how to scale organizations, finding impact investment, financing, and patient capital. We also discuss the upcoming issues and opportunities for the social economy, including how we can connect and collaborate, and helping to re-define the purpose of the economy.

Sandra Allen is a Member, Co-Owner, Board Member and People Team Lead for Shift Delivery Co-op. Shift Delivery is a last mile carrier based in Vancouver, Canada that uses e-assist trikes instead of motor vehicles for their deliveries.

Sandra describes the value that Shift has in it's people, how they onboard new staff and help them prepare and transition into becoming members, and how Shift has been able to maintain their company culture. One intentional decision that contributes to their culture is that all members do the foundational work of triking and making deliveries.

Chris Nichols is a Worker, Co-Founder, Director and Operations Coordinator for Wood Shop Workers' Cooperative. Wood Shop is focused on creating wood furniture out of reclaimed wood for customers in the Vancouver area.

They are working towards creating a more circular economy through their work. They started by using reclaimed pallet wood to create their furniture, but now they take materials from places such as residential deconstruction sites. The point of a circular economy is that what would be considered waste is diverted from landfill, and instead is used to create new products.

David Thuss is the current Director at the London Brewing Cooperative, and one of the founding worker owners of the Co-op. He has experience in many of the areas of the brewing business, but now works in a supporting role for the other workers in the Co-op.

London Brewing follows a triple bottom line approach to running a social enterprise, and also emphasises partnerships with other values aligned organizations including an organic food delivery company, and a Café. Through these partnerships, each organization is able to lean on their strengths and rely on their partners for everything else.

Joey Pittoello is the General Manager at Just Us! Coffee Roasters Co-op, and has worked in many different roles within the company. Just Us! is a worker Co-op, where each worker has the option to join as a member with a stake in the organization, and the opportunity to influence it's overall direction.

One of the significant challenges that has been present throughout the history of Just Us! Coffee Roasters Co-op is ensuring that every worker member understands the added responsibilities that come with ownership in a Co-op. Towards solving that challenge, Just Us! has been intentional about creating member onboarding and training to improve the health of the Co-op overall.

Susan Holt is the Chief Growth Officer for Plato Testing, a software testing service that hires and trains people with indigenous backgrounds. She also acts in the same role for their sister company PQA. She has been part of Plato Testing's growth from a single office to five offices across Canada over the past five years.

Throughout the growth of the company, there have been decisions that have contributed to Plato's ability to provide quality software testing, and build up the skills of their employees. In addition, they have provided opportunities for employees to become limited partners in the company and receive some of the benefits that ownership provides.

Olowo-n'djo Tchala is the founder and CEO of Alaffia, an international fair trade hair and body product company based in the USA. He was able to take this company from the garage, to supplying large national grocery store chains with their products.

Throughout the growth of the company, he has put the mission first, and ensured that the workers in West Africa continue to get fair wages for their work, and that the products that Alaffia produces have natural ingredients made with traditional methods.

The purpose of B Corp is to certify and demonstrate businesses that are doing social good through their operations. Built into the system is an incentive to improve the impact that is being done by the business. ACU received their B Corp certification in February of 2020, and received the highest score in Canada and the 6th highest score in the world. I had the opportunity to sit down with Brendan Reimer to discuss what being a B Corp means for ACU, why it joined the movement, and why it’s a focus for the organization.

Meg Ronson is the Project Manager for Legacy Leadership Lab, a team based out of the University of Waterloo. They are working on using social innovation labs to build up a network and tools to facilitate social acquisitions. Social acquisitions are a form of succession planning so that business owners can exit, and the businesses can be converted to co-ops or community owned businesses with social goals.

Erinch Sahan is the Chief Executive of the World Fair Trade Organization. The WFTO is a combination social enterprise and fair trade certifier, with offices around the world. The WFTO is a member led organization working towards improving the situation for workers around the world using the 10 Principles of Fair Trade.