The 2021 Libro-EPIC Social Enterprise Program wrapped up on May 6th, 2021. Since early February, six social enterprises had the opportunity to engage in several activities and events on topics such as design thinking, social impact, storytelling, networking, business model generation and many more. Our changemakers also had the opportunity to receive one-on-one specialized coaching by Pillar Nonprofit Network – a catalyst organization supporting budding social enterprises.
At the end of the program, each social enterprise had the opportunity to pitch their business idea to a panel of judges and LIVE audience. Two awards, sponsored by Libro Credit Union, were available to the presenting teams:
- Top Pitch Award: $5,000
- People’s Choice Award: $1,000
Our Final Pitch Judging Panel welcomed:
- Lori Atkinson, Windsor-Essex Regional Manager, Libro Credit Union
- Wen Teoh, Director, EPICentre
- Julie Forrester, Manager of Impact Consulting, Pillar Nonprofit Network
- Joseph Heraldo, Enterprise Resource Planning Specialist, Canadian Premier Supplements
Congratulations to the Community Family Fitness Centre for winning the Top Pitch Award. This social enterprise aims to invest profits to people experiencing homelessness, affordable housing, and food security. The centre will also operate as a co-op where the people working in the facility will donate some of their time to provide health and fitness programs to families, children, youth living or at risk of living in poverty.
The People’s Choice Award was awarded to The Working Class, an innovative workforce development program for marginalized individuals in Leamington. They will provide in-house employment opportunities to these individuals through their catering service which will offer nutritionally balanced, delicious, boxed meals to migrant workers, conveniently delivered to their workplaces or bunkhouses.
Thank you to everyone who helped to make our 2021 Libro-EPIC Social Enterprise Program such a great success. A big thank you to Libro Credit Union for their support of this program. To find out more information about the program speakers and events, please click here.
