BCBusiness

70 BCBusiness march 2018 illUstration: tonia coWan j essica Pautsch isn't slow in going forward. The Vancouver social entrepreneur—who recently launched an online eort to tackle food waste in the city—wheedled her way past security at the Geneva ofices of the United Nations Educational, Scientiic and Cultural Organization in her early 20s. "I told them it was my lifelong goal to be here, and after talk- ing my way through, I ended up knocking on the director's door, who said, 'I like your sass—sit down,'" Pautsch re- calls with a smile. That unorthodox introduction led to a year as an as- sistant editor at UNESCO. A decade later, Pautsch is just as gung-ho about pushing down barri- ers. Tucking into steelhead trout— and cleaning the plate, naturally— at Olympic Village's Flying Pig restaurant, she rattles o the sta- tistics that sparked the FoodMesh portal, part of Mesh Exchange Inc. The site, which connects more than 140 vetted businesses as well as charities over discounted or donated surplus food ("Think of it as Tinder for the food-waste world," the co-founder and CEO says), is prompted by the fact that "almost 40 percent of food that's grown is never eaten." Even then, she continues, half of that is dis- carded before it reaches consumers because of supply chain ineficiences such as imper- fect produce or overstock. "It's insane," says Pautsch, who spoke on the sharing economy at TEDxStanleyPark in 2016. Also fuelled, she adds, shaking her head in disbelief, by research showing that it's "10 times more expensive to redistribute food than it is to throw it in the land—ll," Pautsch and her Gastown-based team of six seek out "champi- ons" in companies that will buy into the enter- prise's social aspect and make a match with an- other group wanting or oering food. "You have to make the case that it does actually create a more balanced bottom line," the 35-year-old resi- dent of a Cambie co-op avers. Although only o›cially launched last fall, FoodMesh "rescued" about $1 million worth of food headed for the land—ll in its beta period of the previous 12 months, she says. That includes consumable but not saleable granola bars la- belled organic but rejected after the manufac- turer accidentally used non-organic sugars. Obeying her "no margin, no mission" mantra—Pautsch previously worked as a social venture strategist for —ve years and spent a year as a sustainable busi- ness developer with SITA (Social Impact Technoložy Accelerator) in Vancouver—FoodMesh takes a 5- to 15-percent cut of most deals. "Social enterprise has the heart of a non-pro—t but the mind of busi- ness, and that's the superior busi- ness model," opines the Ontario transplant. Pautsch's time at UNESCO ("a very bureaucratic machine and not me. I'm more grassroots, more agile") was sandwiched between her degree in international development at Saint Francis Xavier University in Nova Scotia and a master in political science at UBC. From 2007 to 2013, she also set up Eco Trek Tours Society, a social enterprise where she con- nected people to adventures in B.C.'s great out- doors. (Pautsch is a devoted kayaker, skier and hiker.) That venture coincided with a two-year stint as a development manager with West Van- couver real estate —rm Hynes Developments Inc. If FoodMesh continues to take o in B.C., its founder hopes the model will go global. (She's already been approached for a software licence by other countries, including Dubai and Taiwan.) "It's highly repeatable and scalable," says Pautsch, whose husband, Ben, imports and exports craft beer. "I'm not a special- ist in supply chain logistics or software," she admits. "But when I couldn't shake the image of some of the scale of waste from my mind, I felt I had to jump in to solve the problem." ¥ Meal Plan Jessica pautsch takes on food waste by finding a home for discarded edibles Rocky Mountaineer's Peter Armstrong on trains, winston Churchill and the love of a good argument by Lucy Hyslop THREE THInGS ABOUT… jESSIcA PAUTScH NEXT moNTH LuNCH WITH LuCy 1. Pautsch grew up in Muskoka, Ontario, the youngest of seven children raised by a single mother. "She instilled a lot into us about being resourceful, figuring things out yourself and being independent." 2. Without having sailed before, Pautsch once found herself in an international sailing regatta–featuring 15 countries over a two- week race–in Italy. Two years later, she was invited back as a coach. "I just say yes to random things that feel right, and they lead to the most extraordinary adventures." 3. Pautsch loves travel, and after a trip to Kenya in 2007, she became vice-chair of KASOW (Kanyawegi Support for Orphans and Widows), a Canadian charity that encourages entrepreneurship and helps in areas such as health. It's the "real-life application" of her formal studies, she explains.

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