In this insightful episode of the CanadianSME Small Business Podcast, we featured Kristy O’Leary, the visionary Chief Strategist of Decade Impact. With a unique blend of expertise in fine arts, political theory, and entrepreneurship, Kristy has carved a niche in using business as a force for comprehensive betterment — socially, environmentally, and economically. Her leadership at Decade Impact is pioneering a new paradigm where sustainability, ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) criteria, and impact design are at the heart of business strategy. This episode dives into Kristy's entrepreneurial journey, the essence of B Corp Certification, critical facets of business sustainability, the evolving role of ESG criteria, and the power of community in fostering sustainable initiatives.

Dr. Manish Sadarangani, Director of the Vaccine Evaluation Center at the BC Children's Hospital Research Institute, discusses how funds raised through the BC Children's Hospital Choices Lottery help support pediatric research and healthcare.

David Lawes’s connection to nature and the outdoors can be traced back to his childhood years in Sidney: he loved riding his bike down Beacon Avenue to catch crabs on the dock and spending frigid Saturday mornings playing soccer outside.

That same interest has influenced his career, too: prior to taking over as CEO of Victoria-based Interchange Recycling (formerly the BC Used Oil Management Association) in 2014, Lawes oversaw recycling and waste management programs at the provincial Ministry of Environment (this was before the ministry added “climate change strategy” to its name). And even before that, one of the first jobs he ever had was working as a fisheries consultant looking at sockeye salmon in remote lakes in B.C.

A lot of small businesses live and die as undercover heroes. The corner store Kristy O’Leary’s parents owned in Smiths Falls, Ontario, for example, did much more than sell milk, bread and lottery tickets. 

“It was really a cultural hub,” recalls the founder of Vancouver consulting firm Decade Impact. Her parents bought the store when she was just seven years old and she saw them use their business to do all sorts of wonderful things for the community: they gave everyone credit to buy grocery staples (“It really didn’t matter who they were,” says O’Leary), they offered ride-home programs, they had a Jubilee and forgave the debt that anyone owed them in the ‘90s, and they even invited people to have Christmas and Easter dinners with the family. 

Mateo Duque, 3, has had two major heart surgeries, and his next one is scheduled for this summer.

Decade is a change agency that builds strategy and culture clubs to educate people so they might wield impact and make their mark today to ensure a beautiful future for all. Decade helps courageous people tell true stories that move the world to action. Decade Impact's Chief Strategist, Kristy O'Leary, is a multidisciplinary systems thinker with an innate ability to identify leading-edge entrepreneurs and align them with untapped opportunities to drive breakthrough change.

Researchers at BC Children’s Hospital have discovered a new rare disease found to plague the healthy development of young brains.

The discovery, released in the scientific journal HGG Advances last month, pinpoints an overactive MARK4 gene as responsible for a rare disease found in two brothers that visit the hospital. 

Over years of genetic testing, a team of B.C. doctors has discovered a rare new disease in two teen brothers impacting their neurological development. Gain-of-function MARK4 is a change in MARK4 gene that makes it overactive. That particular gene is critical for brain and nervous system function, explained pediatrician Dr. Stuart Turvey of the BC Children’s Hospital.

Organizations using recycled rubber for projects have an opportunity to access some financial support. Tire Stewardship B.C., a non-profit group that collects and recycles scrap tires, has opened applications for the 2024 Community Grant Program.

VGH & UBC Hospital Foundation, a key philanthropic partner for Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH), in collaboration with SportsCardiologyBC, announced the recent launch of the cardiopulmonary exercise test (“CPET”) laboratory at UBC Hospital, the first CPET lab in British Columbia dedicated to the athletic and active cardiac population. The lab is designed to help in the early detection of undiagnosed cardiovascular disease and detect risk factors before a cardiac event occurs in both healthy individuals and those with past heart conditions. CPET equipment provides cardiologist with data to better understand the impact of physical activity on a person’s heart. It can also be used to enhance diagnosis and help establish baseline testing for tailored treatment.

A minor league hockey team from North Vancouver is about to make history in Quebec.

The 2024 Choices Lottery launched today. The annual lottery supports the BC Children’s Hospital Foundation and gives people a chance to win one of nine grand prize home packages or $2.3 million in tax-free cash.

The Ocean Legacy Foundation has made a breakthrough in cleaning up plastic from the ocean — by recycling it into usable plastic pellets, Inhabitat reports.

Mike Winterfield, the founder and managing partner of Active Impact Investments, a Vancouver-based venture capital firm, says that there’s another industry of the U.S. stock market for which the election is a big deal: clean energy.

Corke went from being on the soccer pitch helping promising young athletes, to being isolated in hospital away from everything he loved — his wife Vanessa and two teenage sons. But with the support, care and expertise from Dr. Maryse Power and the health care teams at VGH, he made it.

A one of a kind program at BC Children's Hospital is helping support patients throughout the province receive care at home. Pediatrician, Dr. Tom McLaughlin, shares details of the PIVOT program.

Mike Winterfield, founder and managing partner of Active Impact Investments, shares three portfolio examples of companies his $120M climate tech fund will invest in.

Lorne Warburton thought the illness he was battling after a vacation overseas was the flu. The Pemberton resident never expected the virus he was fighting to be much more deadly.

The 55-year-old father is sharing his experience of contracting the rare hantavirus in the hopes of helping keep others safe.

Emmett Willms was just five months old when his parents, Josh and Alisha, started noticing their first-born didn’t seem to be hitting typical physical development milestones other infants did, such as grasping adult fingers or holding his head up.

The Abbotsford family was referred to B.C. Children’s Hospital in Vancouver. He was diagnosed with spinal muscular atrophy, a rare genetic neurodegenerative disease that causes muscle weakness and wasting.

BC Children's Hospital will soon be able to run more clinical trials for drugs that could potentially save the lives of patients with hard-to-cure medical conditions – patients like Emmett Willms.