Event

For more on Craig Kielburger's presentation, see Inside@Ivey

Necessity may be the mother of innovation, but not-for-profits are its master.  Nobody knows that better than the young entrepreneur who launched and rapidly grew two of the world’s most influential international non-profit organizations, Free The Children and Me to We.  Over the past 16 years, Co-founder, Craig Kielburger, has achieved the holy grail of entrepreneurship, leading his organizations through rapid growth, global expansion and sustainable success through innovation. With inspiring and entertaining flair, Kielburger illuminated how private-sector leaders can make extensive gains following the practices of their not-for-profit colleagues, in terms of retaining and motivating employees, engaging customers and making companies more profitable by being more meaningful. Kielburger was joined by award-winning Ivey Professor Oana Branzei. A vocal advocate for the pro-social role of enterprise in Canada and around the world, Professor Branzei has been lauded for her promising research on social innovations. Her recent research looks at how profit and non-profit organizations can create cross-sector partnerships to maximize their potential for value.

Since age 12, Craig Kielburger has been a prominent leader in the non-profit world and an influential speaker and role model. Prompted by news of the death of a Pakistani boy who was reportedly killed for speaking out against child slavery, Kielburger founded the group, Twelve-Twelve-Year-Olds, to help make the world a better place for children. Twelve-Twelve-Year-Olds later morphed into Free The Children, which is one of the world’s most influential children’s organizations and has built more than 650 schools in Asia, Africa and Latin America and school rooms in developing regions,  providing education to more than 55,000 children every day. Free The Children delivers innovative programming that educates, engages and empowers hundreds of thousands of youth in Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom.

He also co-founded with his brother, Marc, Me to We. An innovative social enterprise, Me to We provides people with better choices for a better world, including socially conscious and environmentally friendly clothes and accessories, as well as life-changing international volunteer trips, leadership training programs and materials, an inspirational speakers bureau, and books which address issues of positive social change. In addition, half of Me to We's net profit is donated to Free The Children, while the other half is reinvested to grow the enterprise and its social mission.

Kielburger was one of the youngest recipients of the Order of Canada and has received many more awards, including The World of Children's Prize for the Rights of the Child   (also known as the Nobel Prize for Child Advocacy), Nelson Mandela Human Rights Award, Top 20 Under 20 Award, Top 40 Under 40 Award, The Roosevelt Freedom Medal, World’s Children’s Prize for the Rights of the Child, World Economic Forum Global Leaders of Tomorrow Award and numerous honorary degrees. Craig and Marc Kielburger received an honorary Doctor of Law from The University of Western Ontario at the school’s recent 297^th Convocation. The brothers are also authors of New York Times bestselling book, Me to We and have a syndicated column, Global Voices.

Craig Kielburger serves on a number of boards and award committees, including the Board of Governors of Scouts Canada. His work has been featured on multiple appearances on The Oprah Winfrey Show, CNN, 60 Minutes and The Today Show; and in People, Time and The Economist.