Social Responsibility 2.0 & Entrepreneurial Leadership

Could you be an entrepreneurial leader and not be socially responsible? Not likely. That was one of the major themes of an event held recently in Vancouver. The Centre for Entrepreneurial Leaders, Trinity Western University held its 4th Annual Entrepreneur Forum on October 29th at the Vancouver Convention & Exhibition Centre.

The annual event focuses on entrepreneurial leadership and attracted a sell-out crowd of 500 people across a wide range of business, including the high tech sector. The event is believed to be the largest of its kind in the world, drawing attendees from throughout Canada, the US and Europe.

The vision of the CEL is “to empower entrepreneurial leaders for global impact.” The focus is on using entrepreneurial skills in a non-profit context, not only to have an impact in their businesses and in society, but also in charitable organizations.

The crowd feedback was that the program, speakers and networking was excellent. Kris Krug of Raincity Studios noted: “It was great to connect with such a bright group of entrepreneurs at the Entrepreneur Forum. I saw lots of old friends from TWU who are up to interesting technology business ventures and projects. I also met a couple companies I'm interested in working with.” TWU grad and principal of Burnkit Creative, Josh Dunford, was sharing table space with Krug.

Prior to the keynote speaker Peter Heslam, director of Transforming Business, a research centre at the University of Cambridge, talked about the importance of enterprise solutions to poverty in third world countries. He highlighted the notion that funds are only one part of the capital required for success in developing countries. In addition, there must be the active contribution of social, moral and reputational capital. This requires the involvement of individuals who will implement social responsibility, whether motivated by faith or other reasons.

The keynote speaker was Larry Farrell, of Farrell International, a company that has likely taught more people about entrepreneurship than any other in the world. Larry, based in Staunton, VI, spoke about the essentials of entrepreneurship: sense of mission; customer/product focus, high-speed innovation and self-inspired behaviour. One of his key examples is the storied career of Steve Jobs of Apple.

Shelley Kuipers, President, Cambrian House noted, “The keynote again reminded me of the basic entrepreneurial instinct and key guiding principles that we must retain, in good times and bad times - keep it simple, don't over complicate your business, high-tech included. I also believe that this is the time when we can create amazing opportunities for our ventures and us as entrepreneurs.”

One of the sponsors of the event was Domain 7 Solutions, a growing web development firm in Abbotsford. Fluevog Shoes was a contributor to the silent auction.

One of the major sponsors was MakeGood Technologies. MakeGood allows businesses to effectively convey social responsibility to the market and to build their business. Doug van Spronsen, Interactive Technology Analyst, noted, “Excitement over the product was high, as people loved the branding and concept.” Many of the entrepreneurs had heard about social responsibility, and most were actively practicing it, however few were actually communicating it to their customers.

The Forum continues to gather momentum, having more than doubled in size over the past four years. As one attendee said, the CEL “has targeted the right niche—the desire for people to understand and to be inspired by entrepreneurial leadership.” And social responsibility is one key component of entrepreneurial leadership.

(NOTE: By way of disclosure, I am the Director of the Centre for Entrepreneurial Leader and the founder of MakeGood.)