Karina LeBlanc Has a Plan
FREDERICTON–Can a business do well by doing good? Can capitalism improve society?
Karina LeBlanc thinks so. And she has a plan to help make it happen in New Brunswick.
The head of the Pond Deshpande Centre at UNB believes that “social entrepreneurs” can solve complex societal problems. LeBlanc says that New Brunswick should be the place where Canadian projects, especially those that ignite social change, are tested first.
“I truly believe that there is a way for us to all live on a planet and be able to have a significantly decent standard of living if we can leverage innovation and technology,” LeBlanc said. “These really neat technologies and startups and innovations allow the democratization of access to information, transportation and infrastructure. All that kind of stuff, in my opinion, is going to close the gap between the elites and the most vulnerable.
The Pond Deshpande Centre was founded by Gururaj “Desh” Deshpande, Jaishree Deshpande and Gerry Pond to advance innovation and entrepreneurship in New Brunswick and the region. The centre creates learning and mentorship opportunities for aspiring innovators and helps entrepreneurs translate their ideas into companies, products or services.
LeBlanc prides herself in being involved with an organization that has become a catalyst for change. She explains that they do more than offer programs. They also work with the private sector and government to transform New Brunswick into a place where young people want to stay and work rather than escape from.
“It’s not a program, it’s not something that you can tangibly put your finger on but we act as kind of a beacon of the conversation to create that movement around a subject matter that’s really important for the region,” she said. “It also matters to our post-secondary students at UNB. It matters to youth across the province.”
Social entrepreneurship is the act of developing a business that will tackle social problems. This idea combines two things LeBlanc is passionate about: supporting startups and spurring social change. Her commitment to these causes inspired her to leave behind a promising career with a Fortune 500 company in Toronto to embrace the startup life in New Brunswick.
LeBlanc’s original career plan began after finishing her degree at Western University when she started with Procter & Gamble as an engineer. While working in pulp and paper manufacturing at P&G, LeBlanc became interested in the marketing and branding aspect of the business. She decided to earn her MBA and move over to that department at P&G. A bright future in a multinational conglomerate was ahead of her.
Her career path changed radically after a chance meeting on a plane to Halifax where she spoke with a venture capitalist who suggested that her skills would be well suited to the startup community in Atlantic Canada.
That piqued her interest. After some internal back and forth about whether to leave Toronto for Fredericton, LeBlanc decided to take on the highs and lows of startup life. She landed in Fredericton and began working for Mathis Instruments where she collaborated with the founders to take their technology to market.
“You’re no longer a small cog in a giant wheel like you are in a big Fortune 500,” she said. “Suddenly you’re essential to whether an organization is going to live or die.”
“Most of the entrepreneurs that we work with … once they dip their toe into it, even if their ventures fail, they don’t want to go back to a traditional career because they’ve just got that taste, the idea of autonomy, freedom, innovation, the ability to make a difference and solve problems. I kind of caught that bug at Mathis Instruments.”
LeBlanc went on to work for another startup developing a software called Autism Pro to help teachers work with children with autism. At the same time, she was volunteering with the YMCA as president of the board of directors. Through this, LeBlanc became interested in solving social problems through an organization that had a revenue stream at its disposal.
When she was encouraged to put her hat in the ring to be the first executive director of the new Pond Deshpande Centre, where she would be able to work with startups and entrepreneurs with a lens on social impact and creating social change, she went for it.
LeBlanc believes in the PDC as a way of creating a different narrative about New Brunswick: one that is positive about growth, innovation and change in the province. She says that the province is a perfect setting for new projects to take off because of its size, and the ease of connecting community members in a smaller setting, but that a change must first happen in the mindset of people here.
“We can’t rely on the way we’ve always done things, building in our traditional sectors or growing the kinds of jobs we’ve tried to grow in New Brunswick in the past,” she said. “We have to look at other opportunities for innovation and change and it has to come from our young people, our millennials. They’re passionate about things already. Let’s just find a way to ignite that passion and give them the tools they need to succeed and pursue it.”
A recent initiative of the Pond Deshpande Centre is the Millennial Dream Project. They’re working side by side with Hemmings House Films, the private sector and the federal government to help make New Brunswick a net importer of millennials instead of an exporter. Using documentary film is one way to drive that conversation.
“It’s really building a discussion around what does the next generation want? How are they different from current generations and how can we build cities, post-secondary institutions, governments and companies that are attractive to millennials, that allow them to pursue their passions and create meaningful, purpose-based careers?”