Social enterprise issues to be addressed at Groupe Convex conference

ROCKLAND – In celebration of its fifth anniversary, social enterprise manager Groupe Convex is organizing a day conference about issues surrounding organizations like those it manages.

A social enterprise is defined as an organization that primarily aims to achieve a social mission. Social enterprises use an entrepreneurial approach to counter socio-economic problems.

Groupe Convex, which manages 10 social enterprises, was incorporated in June 2004 and since then, with its various development and business projects, employs more than 150 people across the region.

To emphasize the contribution of such a model for the socio-economic development of a region, Convex decided to inform stakeholders and the population about the workings of a social enterprise.

At its conference, speakers with international status will tackle topics such as the government’s return on investment in social economy projects, the role of a social enterprise in the economic competitiveness of the markets and the various forms of support offered to social enterprises. There will also be presentations of social enterprises from Canada and Europe, which demonstrate a surprising success.

“Anyone who is interested in improving living conditions for people at risk will be encouraged to see that there are solutions to chronic unemployment,” said Normand Charette, president of Groupe Convex. “One of these is the social enterprise. In Prescott-Russell, Convex employs a large number of people who could not, at this point in their career and also because of the economic situation, keep, let alone find a job.”

Charette said the form of social enterprise, which is both an economic engine and a way to support the chronically unemployed, is an emerging form of Eastern Ontario’s economy.

The Conference on Social Enterprise will be held on June 9, 2009, at the River Rock Inn hotel in Rockland. Participants can register for a modest sum.

For more information, visit www.groupeconvexpr.ca, contact the project manager at 613-673-3583 or call at 613-632-4809 for the Convex office.