There have been discussions lately about corporate social responsibility, businesses responding to the current economic climate and social situation. One of the very first things you have to ask yourself as an entrepreneur/founder or as an employer or manager is: What do we believe in here? What is the purpose of this company?

Should all businesses have a social purpose?

When it comes to making a choice about whether or not your company should be giving back, I believe the answer is yes — and there are a number of ways to do that. You don’t have to be a charity, you don’t have to be a social enterprise to do it. Every business and every entrepreneur I believe should look from the beginning to choose a cause you care about, look at the need of the community, look at the need of your employees and team and take action and embed that into your culture from the beginning.

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For the third week of social distancing and self-quarantine, with much uncertainty and change, I decided to host a live discussion on the current state of entrepreneurship with fellow founder, Daniel Lewis. 

Daniel and I have always supported local small businesses and aspiring entrepreneurs through our own events, workshops, and social media. We also have a YouTube series helping entrepreneurs start-up, The Daniel and Daniel Show, which we recorded a couple of years ago at http://DanielShow.co.

Throughout this discussion, recorded live on Instagram, we took questions on anything related to business, branding, balance and of course operating while social distancing.

For future lives, feel free to follow me at https://instagram.com/danielfrancavilla.

We’re inviting social impact projects and organizations to apply to pitch at the Bright Ideas Pitch for funding and mentorship. This year, we’re also raising funds to help support even more youth-led social impact projects.

Here’s how you can take action or participate in all of this:

Contribute to the crowdfunding campaign by February 26: https://nownet.me/2t4E0wE

Attend the pitch event and ACCESS 14th anniversary celebration on March 4: https://nownet.me/2O2RSyu

Apply to pitch your idea by February 7 (if you’re under 30): https://nownet.me/2RUBfGz

This is about sparking positive social change and inspiring youth to take action on issues that matter — which is why I consider it some of my most important work.

One of my favourite podcast interview experiences.

Back in early 2019, before the show pivoted to a new format and relaunched (which coincidentally, Now Creative Group worked on the visual refresh), I was on the Hustle Harder podcast, interviewed by the awesome team at Origins Media Haus.

The episode is no longer live on the original podcast feed, so it's living here as an archive.

You can visit the new, totally rebranded version of the Hustle Harder podcast now, which is all about their entrepreneurial journey building Origins here.

On this episode, I interviewed Jordan Gross as one of the 90 Podcast Interviews in 90 Days for a challenge he embarked on.

We tall about his approach to productivity and experimentation, and he shares some tips on how to land your very own TEDx talk.

Learn about Jordan and his journey at journeytocloudnine.com.

Entrepreneurship panel discussion at a Brampton Hackathon called #WolfHacks19 featuring speakers from Brampton Entrepreneur Centre, Bramptonist.com, Our Wave Hub and Now Creative Group. We answer some moderator questions and end with some Q & A.

Recorded on Sunday, March 24, 2019 at the Bramalea City Centre.

Questions or connections? Reach out to me @Francavilla on Twitter or on LinkedIn.