Philanthropy, a lever for building an inclusive society

In light of recent events and the lasting fight against systemic racism, we wonder about how our practices work and how we think.

• Can philanthropy contribute to the creation of a more civil society focused on equality and the creation of a sense of belonging?
• How can we promote diversity within our profession?
• Do we need to review our organizational structures to ensure a safe and inclusive space where everyone can have their voice heard?

In order to promote fair representation in the philanthropic sector, we will open a discussion with four panelists: Carla Beauvais, Fabienne Colas, Dorothy Rhau and Frantz Saintellemy, who will describe their experiences and offer their thoughts and advice. The conference will be moderated by Ericka Alneus.

Session offered in French, Q&A in French and English.

BIOGRAPHIES

Carla Beauvais

Carla has made diversity and inclusion a priority. Columnist and social entrepreneur, she has campaigned for more than 20 years for a better representation and emancipation of black and marginalized communities. With an authentic approach, she’s now continuing her commitment by equipping leaders to foster better inclusive climate. A graduate from Cornell University, she‘s raising awareness on the competitive and human advantages of creating more inclusive spaces. Her method consists in offering guidelines and solutions based on a deep analysis of unconscious biases and leadership.

Carla Beauvais is also a social entrepreneur whose purpose is to build innovative ecosystems that can help empower and promote melanated communities. In 2019, she co-founded 0rjin Vilaj — an initiative who want to regroup melanated people towards a collaborative goal: unite and prosper.

She is also the co-founder of Fondation Dynastie, the organization behind the Gala Dynastie – an event which honors achievements and efforts from the best and brightest of the Montreal Black Communities. The Foundation also have the mission to equip the next generation by creating an academy and mentoring clinics.

For more than a decade, Carla has been involved in the organization of festivities surrounding Black History Month as the coordinator and strategist for La Table Ronde du Mois de l’histoire des Noirs. Her involvement has enabled the organization to grow and carve out a place for itself in the socio-cultural landscape of Montreal.

Carla’s work, involvement and articles has been published or featured in La Presse, Journal Metro, Le Devoir, The Gazette, The Huffington Post, Challenges Magazine, Maman pour la vie, and several other publications. She has been interviewed by high-profile media such as Tout le Monde en parle, Radio-Canada – CBC, RDI, TVA and many more. 

Fabienne Colas

Winner of the 2019 Canada’s Most Powerful Women: Top 100 Award, named 2018 Canada’s Top 40 under 40, Personality of the Year (Arts & Culture) by La Presse newspaper in 2018 and recipient of Prix Relève Femme d’exception from Quebec’s Federation of Chambers of Commerce (Les Mercuriades), Fabienne colas is an award-winning actress, filmmaker, speaker and business owner who works tirelessly and passionately to support and promote Diversity off and on screen around the globe.

She is the ‘Queen of Festivals’ who created and manages 9 successful festivals in Montreal, Toronto, New York City, Halifax, Port-au-Prince and Salvador (Bahia, Brazil) – including the Montreal Intl Black Film Festival, Canada’s largest black film festival and the very popular Toronto Black Film Festival. These events, which attracted close to 1 million festivalgoers and supported over 2,000 artists, have welcomed top names such as Harry Belafonte, Spike Lee, Stedman Graham, Danny Glover, Euzhan Palcy, Isaach de Bankolé, Martin Luther King III, Dany Laferrière, Wyclef Jean, P.K. Subban, Souleymane Cissé, Alfre Woodard…

Her primary mission is to continue to create platforms that show a diversity of voices, faces and points of view. As chairman of the Fabienne Colas Foundation, she supports, awards grants and promotes independent films and artists who, otherwise, would be invisible.

In 2015, Colas was awarded a Medal from Quebec’s National Assembly recognizing her leadership and contribution in the fight against racism and discrimination in Quebec. CEO of Zaza Production, she also sat as a board member on the Society for the Celebrations of Montréal’s 375th Anniversary.

She just started the McGill-HEC Montréal EMBA program at (2019-2021)

Dorothy Rhau

Born in Montreal and of Haitian origin, Dorothy Rhau became known as the first black female French stand up comedian in Quebec and Canada. In December 2016, she assembled a team and created in 2018, Audace au Féminin (Feminine Boldness) a non-profit organization which presents annually the Salon International De La Femme Noire (International Black Women’s Expo), a new social entrepreneurship project. Since the first edition in 2018, the fair has continued with the vision of making Montreal the mecca for black women around the world.

Recently, she joined the DanieleHenkel.tv team as a columnist where she works on articles focused of “The Power of Diversity”.

Thanks to her former life as a human resources manager, Dorothy surrounds herself with an exceptional team to build this constantly evolving event which aims to highlight the Black Women shining in the shadows. Once one hears Dorothy Rhau speak, they understand better why the theme of the Salon is: «n’aie pas peur, OSE!» (“Don’t be scared, DARE!”)

Frantz Saintellemy

Engineer, innovator and internationally recognized expert in advanced technologies, Mr. Saintellemy has over 20 years of experience in the high tech and automotive tech sectors. A dedicated entrepreneur, angel investor, mentor, coach and philanthropist, he is co-founder and chairman of Groupe 3737, an incubator / accelerator and entrepreneurial innovation centre helps minority led ventures and entrepreneurs leverage technology and innovation to massively scale their start-ups and transform one of the most underprivileged neighbourhoods in Canada. Opened in March 2012, Groupe 3737 is recognized for addressing the issue of diversity, inclusion and financial equity with private investments, knowledge transfer and entrepreneurship.

Mr Saintellemy is also currently President and COO of LeddarTech since September 2017. He joined LeddarTech following a $10M investment and since his arrival, the company has raised over $180M while scaling from a single location with 30 people in Quebec City to more than 200 in 8 different countries. He was previously EVP and General Manager of the Automotive and Industrial Division of Integrated Device Technology (Nasdaq: IDTI). Prior to IDT, he was President of ZMDI AG which he sold to IDT in December 2015 for $325M. Prior to ZMDI, Mr. Saintellemy was CTO and Corporate VP for Tech Marketing, Global Accounts and Advanced Engineering Group at Future Electronics.

Mr. Saintellemy has founded or co-founded several startups with 3 successful exits and has several patents and published papers to his credit. In addition to angel investing and he is a mentor to young entrepreneurs, sits on several boards and advisory committees including board member of the University of Montreal where he chairs the Information, Communications and Technology Committee. He is an advisor to the Minister of Economy, Science and Innovation (MESI) to develop Quebec’s strategy for research and innovation (SQRI) as well as being a member of Aligo Innovation Investment Committee, an organization responsible for the valorization of Quebec university research and is also a board member of AQT – Quebec’s largest cluster of technology companies. He is currently Chairman of the board of Groupe 3737.

Mr. Saintellemy is an experienced public speaker with more than 500 conferences, publications and presentations across the globe on technology, innovation, entrepreneurship, leadership, and more recently on a new series called Competitive Fitness. He was recently recognized at the 2020 Gala des Nouveaux Performants for his success as an entrepreneur and business leader and lifetime achievement and contribution to Canada.

Ericka Alneus

Ericka Alneus works as a philanthropic development advisor at Pour 3 Points and a certificate graduate in philanthropic management from l’Université de Montréal. Passionate about social issues and interpersonal relations, she is involved in the community through the boards of governors of Les Ateliers Speech, the Press Council of Quebec and Concertation Montréal.