The Cadillac of Social Enterprise

Looking on as we watch the woodshop employees at work

Groupe Convex truly is the cadillac of social enterprise in Ontario.  What amazing thing to see it first hand!

Last week,  eleven of us from 4 different organizations (Shepherds of Good Hope/Good Day Workshop, Ottawa Carleton Lifeskills, L’Arche Ottawa, Causeway Work Centre), and one individual from the City of Ottawa showed up in Casselman for the start of an inspiring and eye-opening tour of Groupe Convex’s eight enterprises.

In the Casselman woodshop we watched as employees made wooden lawn furniture for Rona, skids for Alexander Mouldings, and beautiful wooden seats for the upcoming International Plowing Competition!

In addition we visited the antique shop, Recycle Action, the print shop and had lunch at Cafe Le Plateau before sitting down with Caroline Arcand –  GC’s Executive Director.

Here are some interesting notes from her presentation to the group:

Overview

•       GC is 7 years old

•       They run 8 enterprises (had 10 at one point, but closed two that weren’t profitable)

• Groundskeeping, maintenance and moving
• Café and catering
• Antique furniture restoration
• Recycling (pick up from companies, starting municipal pick soon)
• Print Shop
• Manual labour in agriculture
• Packaging and Handling
• Woodworking

Structure

•       Collectively they employ 162 people, 120 of those live with an intellectual disability

•       Set up as a Non-profit but not a charity, set up as a separate entity from the community living centres & social service agencies they work with

•       Each business has a business manager and a ‘product lead’ who trains employees .  The business managers report to the Executive Director of GC.

Revenue

•       3.5 million annual budget

• Started with 100% subsidy
• 4 years in, at 60% subsidy
• Today at 36% subsidy (cumulative for all businesses with the most profitable subsidizing others)

•       Grounds keeping/moving services and their recycling business are the most profitable

•       GC doesn’t use the word client, only the term employee.  They work hard to differentiate the employees relationship with their social worker vs. their manager.

•       Few employees move out to other jobs, this isn’t their goal.  Increasing an employees sense of self-worth is their primary mission. Many employees have been there for 10 yrs.

Social Costs

•  On average their employees with a disability are 26% as effective as employees without a disability
• 60% of their managers time are spent on activities that are not part of a typical business

Other interesting things that came out of the tour included GC’s ability to capitalize on opportunities that present themselves.  Both the printshop and the Cafe were businesses that were closing, or where a manager was retiring.  GC either took over the space (in the case of the Cafe), or bought out the business (in the case of the printshop), allowing them to maintain an existing customer base and reduce risk.

Overall the tour was a huge success and gave all of us some new ideas and inspiration to go home with.  A huge thanks to Groupe Convex for taking the time to show us around!

Business Model Canvas

The Osterwalder Business Model Canvas is a great tool that CISED has recently started using in workshops and in coaching sessions.  It moves away from long business plan documents and allows you to think through the basics of your business plan quickly and on a single page.

It was a useful tool in the business planning workshops where participants created their ‘canvas’ on a piece of flipchart paper decorated with markers and post-it-notes, creating a ‘gallery’ where others in the workshop could contribute to their ideas.

I have since discovered a great site where you can easily write up your canvas online and share it with others to work collaboratively.  Have fun!

A different kind of soup kitchen…

The latest issue of the Stanford Social Innovation Review features a number of for profit businesses that are working to solve social problems.  Panera Cares is one of the companies featured that runs a pay what you can cafe.  Habitat International Inc., which produces indoor and outdoor grass carpet and employs a workforce where the majority have a mental or physical disability is another.  Habitat International Inc. doesn’t have any ‘job coaches’ or social workers supporting their 50 employees and instead creates a family type environment with an in-house radio show, dance parties, drum circles, & basketball courts.

Both are profitable businesses who challenge our view on soup kitchens and  job ‘supports’ for people with disabilities while also challenging conventions on how to meet a social and financial bottom line.