Rural Social Enterprise Workshops
One component of FRL's RSEP is the facilitation of two different Social Enterprise workshops, led by expert consultants from Eko Nomos and C. Lang Consulting. Nine workshops were held in rural locations accross Ontario in March and April of 2011, and over one hundred community organizers and entrepreneurs attended. FRL has made the materials from these workshops avaliable online here.
The “Social Enterprise Primer” Workshop provides a background on social enterprise for social entrepreneurs and leaders in organizations to assist them as they decide whether or not social enterprise is something that they should pursue. This workshop is designed specifically to provide information about the context of social enterprise development in Ontario.
Objectives of the workshop are to:
- Introduce participants to the concept and language of social enterprise
- Build a basic understanding of the social enterprise development field
- Identify regional social enterprise activity
- Provide participants with tools and information about services and resources available to support social enterprise development
The second workshop, “Business Idea Exploration and Feasibility Workshop” is geared to social entrepreneurs, nonprofits and charities who are beginning to explore a social enterprise idea or who are already exploring or operating a social business. Participants should be ready to commit to research and development of a particular business idea to see whether further research and investment in the idea is warranted.
Objectives of the workshop are to:
- Identify current market trends, and how social businesses might take advantage of them
- Provide tools to assess the social, organizational and business feasibility of an idea
- Provide a pre feasibility assessment of business, organizational and social aspects of the business idea
- Network with existing social entrepreneurs
