With a mission to inform, empower, celebrate and advocate for British Columbia's current and aspiring business leaders, BCBusiness go behind the headlines and bring readers face to face with the key issues and people driving business in B.C.
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W I N N E R JENNIFER JOHNSTONE P R E S I D E N T + C E O , C E N T R A L C I T Y F O U N D A T I O N LIKE EVERYWHERE ELSE, Vancouver's Downtown Eastside saw mixed results for businesses during the first few months of the pandemic last spring. Property services spe- cialist CleanStart BC, based in the troubled inner-city neigh- bourhood, enjoyed a surge in demand for sanitation and disinfection. But fellow social enterprise EMBERS, a staff- ing agency, found itself with excess labour as construction slowed down. That's where Jennifer Johnstone and the Central City Foundation ( CCF) stepped in, bringing the two organiza- tions together and providing funds to redeploy workers where needed. By pooling their resources, the new partners also saw an opportunity to develop a new line of business in home deconstruction. "They suddenly realized there was a great synergy in terms of equipment and peo- ple and purpose," Johnstone says. "There were all kinds of wins in that one for me." Since she took charge in 2006, the CCF has tried to bet- ter understand what it means to be community-led, explains the Richmond native, whose 30-year career includes serving as executive director of Ballet British Columbia and acting executive director of the Van- city Community Foundation. "The work at Central City Foundation is rooted in relationship-building, in walk- ing alongside the organizations that work in the inner city," Johnstone says of the non- profit, launched by a group of neighbours in 1907. "It's about building those lasting relation- ships so we can understand from those most directly affected what the issues are, the kinds of things that will improve conditions in the inner city, and help people to improve their lives." To that end, Johnstone responded to the pandemic by advising and working with groups such as the BC Women's Health Foundation, the Coordinated Commu- nity Response Network and the Emergency Community Response Fund. Her efforts helped ensure that front-line organizations received more than $8 million in philan- thropic funding. 20 BCBUSINESS MAY 2021 R U N N E R - U P CANDICE APPLEBY E X E C U T I V E D I R E C T O R , S M A L L S C A L E F O O D P R O C E S S O R A S S O C I A T I O N CANDICE APPLEBY GOT an early start as an entrepreneur. At 15 in her hometown of Regina, she earned a real estate licence so she could fill in for her realtor dad. Appleby owned a car detailing shop, a music store and a fishing resort before taking over the two-year- old Small Scale Food Processor Association ( SSFPA) in 2004. The food business and its regulations are complex, Appleby notes. "I find the food system as a whole really similar to jazz, especially if you use all 10 fingers," the musician says with a laugh. The Nanaimo-based SSFPA, which aims to be Canada's top support organization for small and medium-sized food proces- sors, helps them navigate that minefield. Its 350-plus members have access to a variety of food safety and other educational programs, plus help with marketing, networking and advocacy. Because the SSFPA has a small budget, it operates through partnerships, Appleby explains. One such effort is its food safety programs, which meet international standards. Another alliance launched the Foodmetrics Community Food Analysis Lab, where processors and growers can do the testing they need to sell at gro- cery chains and to export, in Courtenay in 2018. "It's food safety and those requirements–industry requirements much more so than government–that dictate access to markets," Appleby says. When COVID struck, the SSFPA noticed that many government supports left small food processors behind. So it joined forces with a member to create the Food Business Refresh program, which has seen several participants pivot and enhance their operations. Appleby served on the advisory committee for the provincial government's Buy BC, Feed BC and Grow BC marketing cam- paigns, as well as for its Food Hub Network. "I see huge upside in B.C.," she says of her industry. "Together we're strong." Johnstone, who is one of four staff, has also moved to an investment model that sets the CCF apart from its peers across the country, using almost half of its capital to buy social purpose real estate. "We're there on an ongoing, consistent basis to support folks," the vet- eran fundraiser says of those holdings, which range from Vancouver affordable housing to a youth treatment centre for addictions in Keremeos. The CCF has more than doubled its assets during John- stone's tenure, to some $40 million. For every dollar spent, the foundation generates $3.90 in social benefit, it estimates. In the fragmented social services sector, Johnstone finds it encouraging that COVID has prompted groups supporting Indigenous and other local resi- dents to collaborate. "When we come together as a community, it gives each of us hope." –N.R. NONPROFIT LE ADER TOP RIGHT: DEREK FORD