After a nice holiday break, Emerging Business Leaders is back in full force and ready to kickstart the year! 

This month also commemorates EBL's Two-Year Anniversary, so we have lined up two fantastic speakers to join our meeting on Monday, January 31st at 8:00PM, Accent Lounge (8223 104 Street Northwest, Map).:

1. Antoine Palmer - President of Konscious Management Solutions

Antoine Palmer is an entrepreneur and business consultant with an extensive background in leadership, communication and mediation, social enterprise, community development, project management, and real estate investment. From the age of 19, Antoine lived for five consecutive years as a resident monk in Hindu monasteries in Vancouver, France, Germany, and India. After graduating from the order, he traveled extensively throughout Europe and settled in Vienna, where he owned and managed several businesses and began his real estate investment portfolio. He holds a diploma in mediation and conflict resolution from a Vienna academy and a diploma in Indian philosophy from the University of Wales.

His firm, Konscious Corp. is a hub for champions of sustainability and social enterprise in Edmonton. Konscious facilitates collaboration among community leaders and provides a range of strategic consulting services. Among his many on-going projects, he is currently helping the Social Enterprise Fund (SEF), a $7 million fund designed to promote and facilitate social entreprise in Edmonton, to identify and support local candidates.

2. Mark Anielski - President and CEO of Anielski Management Inc.

Named as one of the world's "rising stars" and "visionaries" amongst economists by Adbusters Magazine in Sept/Oct 2004, Mark Anielski operates a family-owned small business enterprise, Anielski Management Inc. He gives at least one-third of his eight-hour work day to the community in the form of private and community counsel on how to build sustainable, flourishing and genuine wealth communities and enterprises. He holds an M.Sc. in forest economics, a B.A. in economics and B.Sc.F in forest science, all from the University of Alberta.

Some of his recent major accomplishments include:

-In 2007, published his first book, The Economics of Happiness: Building Genuine Wealth, a Canadian best-seller and winner of two book awards (the gold medal in the Nautilus book awards (Los Angeles) and a bronze medal in the Axiom book awards (New York).

-Since 2002, served as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Alberta, School of Business, teaching MBA and business students about Corporate Social Responsibility and Social Entrepreneurship.

-In 2000, co-authored a piece of Finance Minister Paul Martin's 2000 Budget that dedicated $9 million over three years to the development of Canada's first environment and sustainable development indicators, released in May of 2003.

He also serves on the advisory board to E-SAGE (Edmontonians for a Sustainable and Green Economy) and previously served on the board of the Edmonton City Centre Church Corporation, the Edmonton Social Planning Council and other organizations.

 Look forward to seeing you all there!