Seven social enterprises in the BC Interior have joined Purppl’s Scale Up acceleration program. This highly customized program pairs experienced entrepreneurs-in-residence (EIRs) with the social enterprise leadership teams to help accelerate their success. Typically Purppl works with social enterprises on challenges like:
- Growth model – grow your social enterprise revenue
- Operations – improve internal process so that your team and company can deliver more impact
- Financial model – explore / understand the model so you can make better decisions about your company
- Strategy / impact model – build or refresh your strategy, connect strategy to impact, and measure progress
- Leadership development – get personalized support to help your team level up
The seven social enterprises are each tackling different community, social, and environmental challenges while also building a more sustainable revenue model.
Here’s a quick look at the seven social enterprises.
ASK Enterprises, a program within ASK Wellness Society, works with the City of Kamloops and Thompson/Nicola Regional District by recovering mattresses from landfill sites across the region and recycling all but one by-product of the manufacturing process. The program provides transitional employment opportunities for individuals who have experienced barriers to employment and engagement in community and who would otherwise not likely return to the workforce. This effort fits within our Strategic Plan that supports individuals to have access to safe and affordable housing, mechanisms to improve their health, and finally, to gain economic independence through employment.
How to help? They are looking to grow their mattress supply as well as looking for buyers of recycled wood and steel.
Kamloops Makerspace is a non-profit society dedicated to serving the creative community in the Thompson Nicola region. Our goal is to establish and operate a space in Kamloops where hobbyists, investors, artists, and innovative people from all walks of life, can come together and share their enthusiasm and knowledge.
The Kamloops Makerspace is a volunteer driven community workspace collective. We have an active community forum where members share information, projects, and ideas. We at the Kamloops Makerspace hope to provide an open and inclusive community workspace.
How to help? Kamloops Makerspace is looking for members – both individual and business members who can either join as makers or buy products from their makers.
Farm Bound – Organic produce delivery. Not everyone in our province has access to quality organic food year round. Farm Bound can help by doing the work for you. We visit farms and develop partnerships to deliver only the best and most sustainably produced food. Doing whatever it takes to get you local and organic food efficiently is our priority!
How to help? Farmbound is always looking for people who want organic produce delivered to their door – they operate in 17 communities in BC.
Operation Take Two (OTT) is a youth-led social enterprise based at Rutland Senior Secondary in Kelowna that seeks to tackle this global issue by empowering communities to turn their trash into treasure. We do this by packing all the machinery and tools needed to recycle plastic waste into a forty-foot shipping container-turned-workspace. Not only does this workspace give communities responsibility for their waste, but it creates a self-sustaining community hub for youth-led education, innovation, and empowerment.
How to help? Operation Take Two is almost ready to sell their recycled, upcycled plastic products. Join their mailing list to stay up-to-date.
IndigenEYEZ is an Indigenous-led project and our workshops help develop resilient people and healthy communities with connections across generations. We train and contract a network of Indigenous facilitators who use best practices in community building, the arts, and land-based methodologies to share skills that help participants make positive changes as individuals and as communities. Since our first workshops in 2014, we have reached 5,000 participants through more than 100 workshops and 25 youth camps.
How to help? Hire IndigenEYEZ to run a reconciliation and / or decolonization workshop for your workplace or community.
30% of all traumatic brain injuries are sustained by children and youth. We help people with concussion and acquired brain injury by providing programs and services that improve quality of life. Braintrust offers life skills support, clinical counselling, group programs, youth concussion clinic, and a brain health clinic. Our services include both prevention and treatment of brain injuries. Many of our services are free of charge. Your initial consultation is also free. Fees are determined based on financial need and available funding.
How to help? Refer your friends or family to Braintrust if they have suffer from a concussion or acquired brain injury.
Open to people of all ages, Naramata Centre is an inclusive, welcoming place to connect and deepen in mind, body and spirit. Situated on 23 acres of land on the east shore of Lake Okanagan, the Centre provides a peaceful oasis for children, teens, adults, families and elders to play, relax, grow and be authentically themselves, supported in community. The Centre offers a wide variety of programs in music, the arts, health and well-being, leadership, social justice and spiritual nurture.
How to help? Sign up for one of the 2020 programs or book a custom retreat for your organization.
Partnerships Drive Participation
Participation in Purppl’s acceleration program is often supported by partners who help support the development of the growing social enterprise ecosystem. Why? Take a look below.
“The City of Kamloops has identified building social agency capacity and social enterprises as a priority in its Social Plan,” says Natalie Serl, Social & Community Development Supervisor at The City of Kamloops. “We have seen the impact Purppl has had on social enterprises in Kamloops through their mentorship program and we look forward to furthering their (social enterprises) success and impact on our community.”
“As a local credit union and cooperative organization, Interior Savings was built on the belief that business can be a force for good,” says Kathy Conway, CEO of Interior Savings. “We’re proud to support the growth of organizations right here in our community that are harnessing entrepreneurship to help build solutions to social and environmental challenges.”
“As part of our mission to help our communities thrive, we have proudly been supporting the development and sustainment of the social enterprise sector for many years,” says Tracy Clark, Marketing & Communications Business Partner for Valley First. We look forward to being part of the journey as social enterprises grow and flourish.”
“This collaborative fund is about supporting the capacity and long term sustainability of charities in our region, a goal we all share,” says Jude Brunt, Community Investment Manager with United Way SIBC. “This is year two of a fund that is ground breaking in our region. It’s something we hope to repeat in future years as we learn how this kind of smart investment can spark the growth of new social businesses, and have positive impact on their missions at the same time.” United Way collaborates with Interior Savings and the Community Foundations of North and South Okanagan to help support this program.
