Flourishing Business Community
Speakers Series: Stories from the Field #20
Using the Canvas in an Entrepreneurship and Innovation Graduate Course with Patricia O’Connor and Lesley Robb
| Date: Tuesday, April 8, 2025 |
| 15h00 UTC – 08h00 PST, 11h00 EST, 15h00 BST, 16h00 CET, 00h00 JST To convert UTC to your timezone, click here |
| Duration: 1 hour |
| Registration: Required via Eventbrite at bit.ly/SFF20-Register |
For our twentieth monthly flourishing business community speaker series: stories from the field, the community is delighted to welcome Patricia (Trish) O’Connor, at Trent University, Ontario, Canada and Lesley Robb from Swell Impact in Nova Scotia, Canada.
Patricia is a sustainability leader specializing in advancing sustainability initiatives within higher education and the public sector. She has a strong track record of delivering impactful projects with organizations such as Colleges and Institutes Canada, Ontario universities, Sheridan College, Fleming College, College of the North Atlantic, Peterborough Housing Corporation, and Buy Social Canada.
During her tenure as Director of Sustainability at Fleming College, the institution consistently ranked among the Top Ten Associate Colleges in AASHE’s annual Sustainable Campus Index.
Patricia now teaches Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management in Trent University’s Master’s in Sustainability Studies program, with a focus on the Lean Start-up methodology. She also teaches courses at Trent’s School of Business and School of Environment.
In Patricia’s entrepreneurship and innovation course, she introduces the Flourishing Business Canvas (FBC) as an alternative to the traditional Osterwalder Business Model Canvas. Over the past three years, students have used the FBC to develop business proposals for their capstone projects, leading to exciting innovations.
Lesley is a former mature student and mentee of Patricia and experienced the FBC for the first time during her entrepreneurship studies at Trent University. This led her to significantly change her professional trajectory, recognizing that the FBC has the potential to drive sustainable business transformation.
This initial exposure catalyzed a deeper collaboration with Patricia through the Leadership in Sustainability course. There, Lesley applied the FBC in a real-world setting, partnering with the June Motel to analyze and enhance their sustainability practices. This hands-on experience proved invaluable, informing her subsequent master’s research working with female-led sustainable businesses across Canada.
The academic-to-entrepreneurial transition culminated in 2023 when Lesley launched Swell Impact, a venture conceived during her coursework with the Flourishing Business Canvas. Swell Impact brings Lesley’s 18 years of experience to the travel and tourism sectors with a focus on regenerative tourism, holistic sustainability strategies, ethical communications, and brand development for purpose-driven businesses and destinations. In 2023, Swell Impact achieved B Corp certification, demonstrating Lesley’s commitment to embedding sustainability and flourishing into business models. Today, she collaborates professionally with Patricia while steering her company’s efforts to help others thrive.
Together Patricia and Lesley will share insights from their experiences, highlighting student creativity and the potential of the FBC in sustainability-focused entrepreneurship.
During their talk Patricia and Lesley will highlight:
- How is the Canvas introduced?
- How do students react to the Canvas?
- What are the innovations using Canvas?
- What are the challenges students experience using Canvas?
- How have former students continued to use the Canvas in their work?
- What does Trent University hope to gain from participating in the Flourishing Business Community and what can Trent University offer to the community?
At the end of their talk Patricia and Lesley will take questions from members of the community.
After the event, a video of the talk plus slides will be shared in the “Speaker Series” space of the Flourishing Business Community. Please join other flourishing business leaders and become a full member to access.