Ottawa social enterprise companies are looking to consumers to support them in their work, particularly as they navigate the current economic climate.
Often operated by a charity or non-profit, social enterprises sell goods and services to create social purpose value, reinvesting profits back into the mission so that, as the social enterprise grows, so does its community impact.
Like other businesses, social enterprises are struggling to navigate the current political and economic turbulence, with some customers cancelling or delaying purchases and costs rising.
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Collaboration and community are increasingly critical for Kelly Storie, executive director of the La Siembra Co-operative, makers of the Camino brand of fair-trade chocolate and sugar products, as she navigates the cooperative’s 25th year in a highly volatile cocoa market.
With the high cost of raw materials and the weaker Canadian dollar contributing to higher import costs, Camino is surviving on the strength of long-standing international trade relationships and the loyalty of customers and member workers.
Storie said it is difficult for small businesses like hers to compete with multinationals, adding that grocery chains have a role to play by lowering shelf placement fees and showcasing mission-driven brands alongside larger corporate brands.
“We are trying to build a social movement around fair trade … and we need allies to do this,” she said. “The answer will be to organize around shared values.”
Storie emphasized the need for consumers at all levels of the buying chain to educate themselves, to ask tough questions when choosing where to spend their money, and to consider who derives value from the transactions.
“Consumers have an enormous amount of power,” said Storie, “and it’s okay to ask partners to invest in local, social … because that’s really how you’re going to drive changes.”
Nutrition Blocs founder Abhijit Potdar said that, unlike organizations that depend on government funding, social enterprises have to focus on the success of the business as well as the mission.
“We can’t serve a meal one day and be gone the next.”
Nutrition Blocs aims to eradicate food insecurity for children in Ottawa by connecting social services organizations that have funding but no kitchen facilities to community kitchens that have facilities but no food. The result is more than 110,000 meals served to children in Ottawa annually.
This collaborative community-based model fills system gaps while remaining sustainable, scalable and adaptable to market challenges and opportunities, said Potdar. “We have a responsibility to take care of our communities,” he added.
Henry Akanko, director of community initiatives at United Way Eastern Ontario, highlighted the critical role social enterprises play in community wealth-building and emphasized that community support, ethical spending and local procurement are key to resilience and growth.
He cited social enterprises such as Foodworks, which provides food services training to at-risk youth, and EcoEquitable, which offers sewing skills training to newcomer women, as filling social services gaps in ways that contribute to the economy in the form of developing skilled labour and producing local products.
Michael Murr, executive director of the Centre for Social Enterprise (CSED), spoke to the challenges in his address to members of Ottawa’s social enterprise ecosystem at the annual Unleashed 2025 social impact conference Friday.
“In every enterprise, uncertainty and the unknowns are always with us,” said Murr, adding that all organizations must look for opportunities in times of change.
