Social Venture Institute (SVI)

At SVI we will feature three enterprises that have identified a specific strategic challenge to a panel of experts. The format of SVI is highly interactive and experiential. Participants present their business problems to a panel of experienced business leaders and fellow participants. In return, they receive advice, tools, and resources to strengthen and grow their enterprise in a socially conscious way.

• Zego Foods: Colleen Kavanagh
  • Zego Foods is revolutionizing the food industry with their clean, allergen-free products. Their innovative approach ensures safe, nutritious options for consumers with dietary restrictions, setting a new standard for food safety and quality. Be a part of Zego’s Case Study to explore how to shift an industry, with their example of toxin-free foods.
• Granville Island: Tom Lancaster
  • Granville Island is a vibrant cultural hub in Vancouver, attracting over 10 million visitors annually with its unique blend of artisan shops, public markets, and performance spaces. With a thriving community of over 300 businesses and artists, it generates more than $215 million in economic activity each year. Join SVI to crack the code on how Granville Island’s strategy for the next 40 years, keeping culture, reconciliation, and financial stability at its core.
• RavenSong Soap & Candle: Alissa Assu
  • RavenSong curates collections of luxury cold-processed artisan soaps formulated with industry clean standards, high-quality and premium fragrances and the finest organic, ethical and wildcrafted essential oils. Together, with Bear Essential Oils, we offer international award-wining soap, luxury candles, herbal sea bath salts, bath bombs and more.

Learn practical tools and tactics in SVI workshops. Workshop topics cover sales, marketing, finance, strategy, and leadership. Stay tuned for the full workshop list!

• Introduction to Somatic Abolitionism (Resmaa Menakem, New York Times Bestselling Author of My Grandmother’s Hands)

  As a person of color, an Indigenous person, or a white person, are you open to exploring and healing the effects of racism or supremacy within your own body? Are you interested in doing the challenging work of releasing racialized trauma and building an anti-racist culture? Resmaa guides you through an introduction to somatic abolitionism—an embodied anti-racist practice and process of culture building that he developed. Resmaa’s emergent somatic abolitionism practice is a form of maturation into a more integrated human experience and a way of being in the world.

• In Search of Mino-Biimaadziwin through Generational Wealth (Hillory Tenute, Lodge Consulting)
  This presentation explores the path to mino-biimaadziwin—living the good life—through the lens of an Anishinaabekwe’s pursuit of generational wealth. Rooted in the timeless teachings of community interconnectedness and holistic well-being, we will delve into the delicate balance required to navigate two competing worlds: the modern economic system and traditional Indigenous values. Guided by the principles that “no one should go without” and “you only take as much as you need,” this session will provide insights into harmonizing these worlds, disrupting family intergenerational trauma and ensuring that wealth creation benefits the next seven generations. Join us to explore strategies that honor Indigenous teachings while fostering sustainable and inclusive growth.
• Agile Strategy for the Social Venture (Mike Rowlands, Junxion Strategy)

  Today, effective strategy integrates culture and brand, embraces the change that’s all around us, and is captured in a living document that empowers leaders through change, growth, and organizational development. In this session Mike Rowlands will share insights into Junxion’s Turning Point™ approach, which blends Agile methodologies, Appreciative Inquiry, stakeholder engagement and systems thinking in an integrated model that’s been implemented by many SVI alumni in their ventures—and a long list of visionary, social purpose organizations.

• Aligning Impact and Storytelling: How to Use Your Theory of Change for Strategic Marketing & Communications (Hilary Henegar, Purppl)

  Join us to explore how a Theory of Change can help your organization maintain consistent and impactful narratives. Through interactive group exercises and real world examples, we’ll learn practical techniques for developing clear, consistent messages that compel customers and employees to lean in and engage.

• Building Software with Love (Sharon Kennedy Vickers, Software for Good)
  This workshop is designed to explore what it means to build software with love and why it is necessary, now more than ever. Grounded in bell hooks’ definition of love as – taking actions towards one’s own or another’s spiritual growth, we explore how to build technology with the ethos of building towards the highest good for all of humanity.
• Meeting of the Minds (Eva Manole, Emergenetics Canada)
  The “Meeting of the Minds” workshop empowers attendees to:
  • Enhance their self-awareness with insights into their strengths
  • Understand how their thinking preferences impact work/personal relationships and styles
  • Recognize and appreciate the gifts of others from a new perspective
  • Strengthen communication and collaboration while building lasting relationships
  • Improve outcomes using the power of cognitive diversity