Building startups to change the world? Social entrepreneurship featured at our Wagon Talk
Social entrepreneurship, the sharing economy, tech for good, social impact, who has not heard these buzzwords in our Montreal entrepreneurial ecosystem over the past few years? And what exactly is a social entrepreneur? What is the magic ingredient that sets them apart from other entrepreneurs?
We (at Le Wagon Montréal) were curious to find out more. Two well-known social entrepreneurs from Quebec opened the fall season of Wagon Talk: Christine Renaud, CEO and Co-founder of e180 and Marc-Antoine Ducas, CEO and Founder of Netlift.
When she was 18, Christine Renaud realized that she had to help change the world after participating in a community exchange program in Guatemala. So she chose to teach, but soon realized that the system did not align with her values and beliefs. She became an education activist instead. A few years later, she founded e180, which lead to the global success of Braindates.
“ You have to be ok with things being not perfect, and deal with uncertainty and risks ” — Christine Renaud
What’s next for Christine? It’s not too far away. She and her team are already building a new school. A school in which meaningful learning happens and that supports child and adult happiness.
“ Entrepreneurship is about solving problems. Getting things done and finding the right method to solve the problems we have ” — Marc-Antoine Ducas
Nothing can stop Marc-Antoine Ducas. He is a serial entrepreneur, and founded his first startup at the age of 16. He adheres to the motto: If it doesn’t exist and I need it, I create it! That’s how he became an entrepreneur before even knowing the word. He even created his first company to finance his university studies. He first studied classical piano, then got a Polytechnic degree in computer science afterward.
This talk was an opportunity to hear about his impressive journey, his successes, his challenges and how today, with Netlift, he practices what he preaches, disrupts the transportation industry by actually using the sharing economy model in real life.
We’d like to thank La Gare for hosting our Wagon Talk.
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