‘It is up to the young crowds,’ Windsor SOUP

By Christian Dutchyn

Local entrepreneurs are continuing to find support from a unique grant funding event – Windsor SOUP.

Entrepreneurs were invited to attend an event run by Enactus, a global non-profit organization with the goal of helping businesses achieve growth, on Jan 31.

Guests attending the event were asked to leave a five dollar donation at the door, and were given an assortment of soups and salads provided by Enactus.

The presentations were hosted at the Foundry Pub, which has been the location of the event since it moved from the Walkerville Brewery.

The previous event, held in December, drew a record crowd with an estimated 200 people attending, while this event hosted just under 150.

Entrepreneurs take to the stage to present their ideas and business plans to a crowd, with the winner taking the proceeds collected at the door to aid in the expansion of their companies. The amount raised is also matched by the P. and L. Odette Charitable Foundation.

Luciana Giglio, a volunteer for Enactus and the project manager of SOUP, said she feels an event like SOUP is very important to the city.

“The importance of an event like this is encouraging people in Windsor to start their own business and to start a social innovation to uplift our city. I think so many people in Windsor have these ideas but it’s so hard to get your ideas started without funding,” said Giglio. “The funding they get from this event gives them that opportunity to actually go forward with their idea and actually make something happen.”

The Foundry Pub on Ouellette Avenue, has hosted SOUP since just before December. Daniel Boisjoly is the second in charge of the kitchen at the Foundry. He said he also feels that an event like SOUP benefits the city. Daniel said that in a city of failing industries, supporting entrepreneurs is a key part in bringing the people of Windsor together.

“I think it’s bringing a more diverse, wider crowd,” said Boisjoly. “We’re in what a lot of people would call a rebirth stage, our industries are failing us in a sense and it is up to the young crowds and entrepreneurs to bring in new ideas and create that sense of community.”

This year the micro-grant was awarded to TerraCloth, a small business that creates eco-friendly aprons from repurposed dress shirts. The business was founded approximately four months ago and they are currently planning to expand and donate aprons to nursing homes.

George Kelso is TerraCloth’s vice president of sales and said he feels SOUP is a great benefit to small businesses like the one he is part of.

“This event for us is really important because it helps us lay down the groundwork to help us expand our own business, to help us make these innovations we need to make,” said Kelso. “Without this, it would be astronomically harder to make those leaps and bounds we need to make,”

More information on Windsor SOUP and TerraCloth is available at their respective websites and Facebook pages.