ONE Social Enterprise Partnerships – Northern Region Project Expansion
Sault Ste Marie, ON (June 5, 2018) – The Northern Region ONE Social Enterprise Partnership, led by NORDIK Institute is expanding its program to help social enterprises access business supports through the Ontario Network of Entrepreneurs (ONE) throughout Northern Ontario.
The second year of the project will provide members of the ONE, including Regional Innovation Centres, Small Business Enterprise Centres, Campus Lead Accelerator Hubs, and On Campus Accelerators across Northern Ontario, with training, support and resources to further develop their own capacity to support and promote social enterprises. The extension and expansion of funding will also create new mentorship opportunities for social enterprise scale-ups, and connecting social entrepreneurs to tailored resources and training opportunities, thereby increasing their financial viability.
Social enterprises have a mission to address social, environmental or cultural challenges by reinvesting profits above operational expenses back into their missions, and using a triple bottom line (people, planet, profit) to measure their success.
“We’re pleased to be part of the project to promote social entrepreneurship as a viable business model in our region”, stated Maggie Matear, Director of Community Development with the Timmins Economic Development Corporation. “ONE members and service providers will be getting specific training to help get more social enterprises off the ground.”
There are an estimated 10,000 social enterprises in Ontario generating an average of $1.2 million in revenues annually, including almost $1 million in sales. Each social enterprise generates an average of 38 jobs, often for people who experience barriers in labour force participation.
The ONE Social Enterprise Partnership – Northern Region Partnership is made up of NORDIK Institute, the Timmins Business Development Centre, Northwest Innovation Centre, PARO Centre for Women’s Enterprise, and YouLaunch, a division of the Sault Ste. Marie Innovation Centre.
NORDIK Institute is Algoma University’s community based research organization whose goal is to build Northern Ontario’s capacity to conduct research that contributes to social, economic and environmental justice in rural, Indigenous and northern communities and provides evidence for informed policy and decision making.
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For More information, please contact:
Elizabeth MacMillan, SEE Project Coordinator, 705-949-2301 ext. 4357 or visit SeetheChange.ca
Francophone contact: Sean Meades, Director of Research, NORDIK Institute, sean.meades@algomau.ca