Entrepreneurs create jobs and build communities

Kiva.org

In September 2008, we announced an in-kind donation of up to $1 million of professional services to Kiva.org, the world’s first not-for-profit website that provides person-to-person micro-lending. Ernst & Young is mobilizing its skilled professionals around the world to assist Kiva.org in increasing the transparency of its microfinance process.

Corporate Responsibility Fellows Program

This competitive program sends high-performing Ernst & Young people to high-impact entrepreneurs in Central and South America for three-month assignments. Corporate Responsibility Fellows’ projects are designed to improve the integrity and effectiveness of the entrepreneurs’ key business processes and to use the unique skills of each of our professionals

Meet our Corporate Responsibility fellows

The Corporate Responsibility Fellows program has a significant impact — both on our fellows, by offering them a world-class professional growth opportunity, and on entrepreneurs and their communities, by helping to catalyze economic growth. Here are a few examples:

• Lisa, an Advisory manager in Winnipeg, helped a network of online vertical communities with its financial and organizational structure in Chile.
• Scott, a Valuations manager in Halifax, travelled to Chile to help a special-interest tourism company with its international expansion plan.
• Carmen, an International Tax Services manager in Toronto, played a vital role in examining expansion opportunities into Brazil, Mexico, Venezuela and the US for Business News Americas — a news service agency. She developed an international tax and transfer-pricing strategy, and provided advice on International Financial Reporting Standards.
• Jennifer, a Business Tax Services senior manager in Vancouver, worked with Trabajando.com — a Chilean-based HR company — to develop an international tax strategy and corporate reorganization plan for the company’s expansion into Peru, Argentina, Mexico and Brazil.

Best practices in international corporate volunteering

The Corporate Responsibility Fellows program was featured in an independent study conducted by FSG Social Impact Advisors, Best Practices in International Corporate Volunteering. As noted by the study, the program leverages “its most valuable assets to help promising entrepreneurs create sustainable economic value” and is one of the top corporate approaches to making a positive impact abroad.

A focus on in high-impact entrepreneurs

We work with Endeavor, a respected non-profit organization in the field of entrepreneurship, to place our Corporate Responsibility Fellows with high-impact entrepreneurs that have a proven track record for delivering exceptional value in terms of both revenue growth and job creation, and are a source of innovation in the market. The entrepreneurs we assist through the program generally employ more than 200 people. They create long-term value: the companies Endeavor works with have a 96% survival rate over ten years, while most emerging market entrepreneurs are in business for 42 months or less. In addition, 80% of Endeavor entrepreneurs invest in research and development, and at least half have secured, or are in the process of securing, patents.

Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year Awards — social entrepreneur

Ernst & Young, in collaboration with the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship (an affiliate of the World Economic Forum), presents a social entrepreneur award as part of the Entrepreneur Of The Year Awards in five countries — to business leaders who successfully apply practical, innovative and market-oriented approaches to benefit marginalized and the poor people.

Junior Achievement

In Edmonton, our people volunteer with Junior Achievement’s Business Basics and Economics of Staying in School programs for elementary and junior high-school students. The programs teach younger students about business — while showing older students that getting a good education is the smart career choice.

In our Montreal office, our people volunteer as judges for the awards ceremony, and as advisors to the participants. Stephane Leblanc, one of our partners in Montreal, sits on Junior Achievement’s board of directors, and has been an executive committee member for the past five years.

Launchpad

Through local universities — Wilfrid Laurier and Waterloo — our Kitchener office supports an initiative called Launchpad, where young entrepreneurs present new business ideas to judging panels. The students compete for startup funds and business advice, which is provided by our young tax and accounting professionals — many of whom participated in the program when they attended university.