As is becoming increasingly apparent at a local and global scale, society is facing a number of ‘big problems’. Problems bigger than choosing Starbucks or Second Cup for your morning coffee and even bigger than meeting next quarter quotas.

In the Waterloo Region, there are numerous organizations and new ideas being dedicated to solving the bigger problems of our local and global community by using innovative approaches. At 5:30pm on March 4th at the Kitchener Children’s Museum, these change-makers will come together to share their social innovations and seek support from this community as they continue to work towards finding new ways to solve old problems.

The event is called SEE: Social Entrepreneurship Exchange. It is a unique networking event bringing social entrepreneurship to the forefront, showcasing the innovative organizations and individuals who are using the principles of entrepreneurship to support a social or environmental injustice. This event is not only designed to help us learn about the social innovations through informal discussions and a pitch competition ($300 for winners!), but also features a poker-chip style exchange, where all participants become philanthropic investors in social change by receiving two $10 poker chips and one two-hour volunteer chip on arrival (from your $30 event fee). By the end of the night, as you learn about Social Innovation, if you hear something you like, support them with your chips. After the event the new ideas, or innovative organizations can turn those chips into real dollars (and contact information from donated time chips!) to help grow and develop their innovations.

This event is hosted by Students Offering Support (www.studentsofferingsupport.ca), a local turned national student-led social venture headquartered here in Waterloo. The event is sponsored by Capacity Waterloo Region and Laurier’s Centre for Sustainable Organizations. SEE’s community partners include: Manulife Financial, Leadership Waterloo Region, Communitech, DreamNow, Lime Events, and the Kitchener Children’s Museum.

When: Thursday, March 4th, 2010
Start Time: 5:30PM
Location: Kitchener Children’s Museum, 10 King Street West, Kitchener, ON
Tickets: $30 - Register now

To learn more about the event (check out our event video), and to register / participate – go to www.SEEinnovation.ca.

If you have any questions, e-mail seeinnovation@studentsofferingsupport.ca.  You canalso follow them on Twitter (@SOSnational) or Facebook (Students Offering Support).

This coming Friday, exactly one week before the 2010 Winter Olympics arrive in Vancouver, VEF Momentum will be hosting its first event of the year!

On Friday, February 5th at 5:30PM VEF Momentum: Higher, Faster, Stronger will feature a speaker and Q&A session, as well as ample networking time to help entrepreneurs connect with the people, resources and answers they need to succeed – all in an inviting, fun and casual atmosphere. What better way can you kick off the weekend than a great speaker, excellent company and delectable drinks and appetizers at our venue Pop Opera in the heart of downtown Vancouver.

When: Friday, February 5th, 2010
Start Time: 5:30PM
Location: Pop Opera, 686 W Hastings, Vancouver
Tickets: $10 – Register now (Registration is online only, there will be no registrations at the door and a maximum capacity of 150. Ticket price includes appetizers.)

The keynote speaker for the evening will be Mark Williams, Co-Founder of Elastic Path Software, a local success story that has created an e-commerce platform used by everyone from Sony Ericsson to the Vancouver Olympic Committee. Elastic Path has consistently ranked among the fastest growing companies in Canada. Mark will share some great war stories co-founding his start-up in Vancouver and will share what first-time entrepreneurs can do to reach the podium in their entrepreneurial endeavours.

Click here to register now!

For more information, please contact VEF Momentum at vefmomentum@gmail.com. You can also follow them on Twitter (@VEFMomentum), Facebook (VEF Momentum) or LinkedIn (group name: VEF Momentum).

If you’re looking to have a good time tomorrow night, come check out StartUp Drinks, a monthly meetup with techies, startups and curious people looking to have enlightening conversations. There’s one taking place in Ottawa, Montreal and Toronto and even one coming up in Waterloo the next week.

Here are the details:

Toronto – Sign up here!

Venue: Fionn MacCool’s,  70 The Esplanade, Btw Church and Victoria

When: Wednesday, October 28, 2009, 2009 from 6pm

Montreal – Sign up here!

Venue: Brutopia, 1215 Crescent St, Sth of Ste-Catherine

When:  Wednesday, October 28, 2009 from 5:30pm

Ottawa – Sign up here!

Venue:  Fox & Feather Pub (cnr McLaren), Upstairs, Fox 2 room

When: Wednesday, October 28, 2009 from 6pm

Waterloo:  

Venue: TBA

When: Tuesday, November 3, 2009 from 6pm

For more information and to register, click here!

Hope to see you there!

Christine, Erin Bury, and Shanak

Christine and I had the chance to attend an awesome event yesterday, SproutUp held by Sprouter -> http://sprouter.com/blog/sprout-up-toronto/

You know its a fantastic networking event when:
1. You run out of your own business cards
2. You receive more business cards than you count on your hands
3. You have completely lost your voice by the end of the night

All of this happened to me last night, so kudos to Sprouter, Erin Bury, and Sarah Prevette for the awesome event. ~also Mike McDerment’s talk rocked..hopefully we can get him for our conference!!