a MUCH younger version of me on the right; incumbent mayor of Calgary, Naheed Nenshi pictured on the left.

Talking in class about entrepreneurship, as well as the readings about micro-financing reminded me about a program that is very dear to my own heart. There’s a foundation in my hometown (Calgary, Alberta) that goes by the name “Awesome Calgary”, and each month it distributes a $1000 no-strings-attached micro-grant to the business idea that they deem to be the most awesome.

Each month, entrepreneurs and businesses in development submit a generic outline of their pitch online, and the top three ideas of the month are selected to pitch their business plans in front of a board of trustees live in Awesome Calgary’s downtown office.

The goals of the organization are to support local business, and help to strengthen ties between the entrepreneurs of Calgary’s growing business world and the community around it.

For the month of April, 2012, a couple of friends and I were the grant winners with a social enterprise idea to help develop a stronger sense of community between young Calgarians, which did in fact include Cookie Monster (pictured above), the details of which certainly won’t fit within 200 words.

It is efforts like those of the Awesome Calgary foundation, and other organizations who promote the development of shared value between other businesses and the local area that really make a difference in shaping the business world. Any number of groups of people making money can be businesses, but programs like this really help to develop a business community, which is what makes what Awesome Calgary does all the more special.

source: Awesome Calgary Foundation Website

photo credit: Awesome Calgary Foundation