The first of what organizers hope to be many in-person meetings of a group of community innovators was held at Found Books on Jan. 10.
Innovate Cochrane chair Nathan Klassen set the stage for the meeting before introducing featured guest Reid Kimmett of Two Pharmacy.
‘Social impact,’ ‘corporate social responsibility’ and ‘social value’ are all terms used in the literature surrounding this idea. While they overlap, definitions may vary from organization to organization. They can generally be used interchangeably.
In its most basic form, the idea of social impact in the business context is about recognizing that people will want to associate themselves with companies that mirror their own values and commitment.
Businesses that go above and beyond to not only secure profit for themselves, but also improve the state of society in general and their communities in particular are engaged in having social impact as well as generating profits. The two are intertwined.
Klassen said they chose Kimmett to come and speak because Two Pharmacy is an example of a local company that has made social impact a cornerstone of everything they do.
“They are a business that integrates social impact right into the DNA of their business model,” he said.
The Kimmett family is well-known in Cochrane, partially because of the Lindsay Leigh Kimmett Memorial Foundation, which has donated over $3 million to projects and organizations locally and around the world, as of 2022.
The Kimmett Cup pond hockey tournament in February and the Monumental Tournament of Aces Golf Tournament in late August or early September are their flagship events.
Kimmett shared his personal story Jan. 10, saying that before he lost his sister Lindsay in a car accident in 2008, he was working towards a commerce degree at university, and had planned to go into the oil and gas sector “and make a lot of money.”
His priorities shifted when he lost his sister.
His father Kelly was a pharmacist, his mother a nurse, and Lindsay was in medical school.
“I realized there was probably a greater purpose for me. Maybe my purpose was taking what I’m good at, business, and applying that to what my family’s familiar with . . . caring for others,” he said.
Kimmett has been working in the family-run pharmacy since 2012. He said his father Kelly (who retired in 2019) always had a certain approach to requests from local charities.
“My dad had an MO [which] was that any request that came, he would say yes to them in some way,” Kimmett said.
It was a sort of logical progression then, for Two Pharmacy to incorporate social impact into their mission statement.
Kimmett cited an example of the power of social impact thinking as it applies to their bottom line.
He said one of their biggest fears was what would happen to the pharmacy if the Primary Care Centre next to them ever closed down. When it did in 2021, the pharmacy was pleasantly surprised at the degree of customer loyalty they had cultivated. The business continued to grow despite the closure of the adjacent clinic.
He also mentioned another example of the importance of social impact is that younger people are especially looking to align themselves with companies that exhibit that kind of a commitment.
Kimmett also offered some sage advice to the Town of Cochrane, as it relates to the municipality’s venture into fostering innovation at The Station, which opened last fall.
He said his impression was that the Station was looking to help tech innovators get going in new businesses, which was a good idea. But he thinks maybe they should be broadening their scope. He said the approach needs to go way beyond just tech to build a healthy business ecosystem.
“They are basing their plan on what Waterloo (Ontario) did, but we don’t have a huge university cranking out constant tech talent,” he said.
“But we have a wealth of talent and experience in all sorts of other things. Maybe we need to broaden our scope, looking at how we can build the next Found Books or Two Pharmacy.”
Broadening the conversation into the topic of innovation itself, Klassen said there are many definitions of innovation, and thinking outside the box can be difficult for some.
It’s about what he called “cultivating curiosity.”
“I find discomfort can be a great comfort, combined with curiosity, and humility,” he said.
On a personal level, Klassen said being open to new ideas is the key to embracing innovation.
Innovate Cochrane will be facilitating Startup 101 and Customer 101, with remote viewing from The Corner Coworking at 225 Railway St. E, the evenings of Jan. 23 and 30, respectively. For more information and to sign up, go to innovatecochrane.com.
Startup Cochrane (#startupcochrane) is a monthly event hosted by Innovate Cochrane, held on the fourth Tuesday of the month, also held at The Corner, with a 7 p.m. start.
