The evening of June 2nd saw the kick off of the Vibewire Enterprise Hub Seminar series for 2010. Primed with pens in one hand and salt & vinegar chips in the other, the Hub residents welcomed Simon Cant, an expert in innovation, to discuss “Growing Healthy Social Enterprises” in a Q&A type session.

Simon’s own enterprise, CANTT, works with companies to help them realize the potential of their people, assets and ideas through creativity, innovation and commercialisation. Throughout the evening the seminar took on a similar shape, as the residents of the Hub explored ways to harness the power of creativity, innovation and community to overcome individual challenges.

To break the ice, residents were asked to identify and share their biggest challenges, and there were many. Individually, the Enterprise Hub residents faced a diverse range of challenges, including getting a prototype out into the market, moving from one industry to another, getting a website into the public eye and generating traffic, educating the public about a new concept, or building a client base—all with a limited amount of money and time. Through this individual exercise, Simon was also able to isolate the Hub resident’s biggest challenge and biggest potential strength as a collective: taking the next step as a community.

What we found was that many of the challenges facing the individual Hub residents could at least in part be overcome with a little help from their neighbour; by pooling the connections and resources within the room, and by working together as a Hub. Simon was also able to impart various strategies to assist them in facilitating this exercise. Simon shared his tips on the importance of environment, signalling, visual tracking and how to greenhouse ideas successfully, with quips like: “How many turds does it take to spoil a pool party? Just one, and the same goes for an idea or creative session.”

From someone who had planned on being a mere spectator, and instead quickly became an active participant and unexpected beneficiary of the event, the night imparted an inspiring lesson on how to use creativity, innovation and community to overcome challenges, both collectively and individually.

Stay tuned for information on Vibewire’s upcoming seminars and workshops, or click here for information about becoming a resident.