NIC ADAM / FREE PRESS Nick Ridley (right) and Savanna Vagianos are two of the people behind Beyond Profit: Seeking Sustainability, a 25-minute documentary produced by U of M students and professors that explores three local small businesses that prioritize social and ecological wellbeing over maximizing profit.

Winnipeg Free Press: Planet before profit: local businesses featured in students’ sustainability film

July 31, 2024 —

Three local businesses that prioritize social and ecological well-being are the focus of a new documentary.

Produced by students and instructors at the University of Manitoba’s Asper School of Business, Beyond Profit: Seeking Sustainability showcases efforts by owners and managers at Tall Grass Prairie Bread Co., BUILD Inc. and Long Way Homestead to run businesses that give more to the community than they take.

“I’m a bit of a skeptic when it comes to sustainability in business, but I’m hoping to discover businesses that actually place people and planet ahead of maximizing profit, and see if that’s even possible,” filmmaker and business student Nick Ridley says at the beginning of the documentary.

To read the full story and learn how the Asper School of Business played a role in this movie, please visit the Winnipeg Free Press.

Asper School of Business, Asper Sustainability

Empowering entrepreneurship to advance inclusivity and deliver greater value

Kiran Pedada (Assistant Professor of Marketing and The Associates Fellow in Marketing and Inclusive Business), has published a study in the FT50-ranked Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science. The paper, “Rural women microentrepreneurs, consumer acquisition, and value delivery,” examines how recruiting women entrepreneurs living in rural India can aid in consumer acquisition and value delivery.