RADIUS and Ashoka Canada bring Changemaker Showcase to SFU

Social entrepreneur Jonathan C. Lewis will deliver the keynote speech at the SFU Changemaker Showcase.

The Beedie School of Business’ interdisciplinary social innovation lab and venture incubator, RADIUS, in conjunction with Ashoka Canada, will host the second annual SFU Changemaker Showcase, a celebration of the brightest ideas and social innovators at Simon Fraser University.

The SFU Changemaker Showcase will provide an opportunity to celebrate some of the brightest ideas and innovators at SFU who are working to foment positive change in the community and beyond. It will feature three TED-style talks from social entrepreneurs, as well as a lightning round of social venture pitches and networking opportunities for aspiring social innovators.

The event, to be held from 5.30 to 8.30pm on March 6 at the Lost + Found Café in downtown Vancouver, will feature a keynote speech from renowned social enterprise leader Jonathan C. Lewis. Lewis is an accomplished social entrepreneur and a compelling public speaker on economic development issues and social change, as well as the founder of several leading social ventures.

It will also feature presentations from Alice Park, Beedie School of Business alumna and CEO and co-founder of real-time carpooling app go2gether, and Denise Taschereau, CEO and co-founder of Fairware, a Vancouver-based company that creates and distributes custom-branded sustainable products.

“RADIUS is very excited to bring together a room full of inspiring social innovators to share their brightest ideas,” says Shawn Smith, Director of RADIUS. “Vancouver continues to punch well above its weight in the global social innovation movement, and we are particularly happy to have an international leader like Jonathan Lewis to share his perspective.”

Launched in spring 2013, RADIUS (RADical Ideas, Useful to Society) seeks to change business education and launch high-impact solutions to social challenges. It works to strengthen the ecosystem that supports impact focused businesses, develop and test new ideas for an economy that prioritizes people and planet, and build a pipeline of emerging social economy leaders with real world experience.

Ashoka Canada is the global association of the world’s leading social entrepreneurs. It aims to redefine the global citizen sector by creating a system of collaborative entrepreneurship.

“With the Changemaker Showcase, we hope to inspire change and help build the community of changemakers at SFU,” said Charles Tsai, Director of Learning Networks at Ashoka Canada.

The SFU Changemaker Showcase is free to attend. To register, visit http://ow.ly/tNMbI