Deb Alcadinho
Deb Alcadinho
Founder & Chief Impact Officer
“Quite simply, I want to make the world a better place, Making a profit should not be at the expense of purpose, vision and heart. I think as business owners, we all want to make a difference, but are not sure how or where to start. I created Business 4 Social Good and the Social Good Academy to provide the tactical, strategic framework to create social impact, but filled with meaning, purpose and heart so business owners can wrap their head and heart around the causes they care about to create meaningful change.”
As a business owner, I’ve always had a social impact integration in my business, long before I knew what social impact really was. I’ve been following the trend and conducting social impact research for the past decade. As a seasoned business owner, researcher, marketer, and course creator, I’m adept at putting my research into curriculum and as such have created life-changing social impact training, together with co-collaborators in the Social Good Academy.
Many of my professional career experiences have provided insight into all sides of the social impact equation. From being employed in government, to working in non-profits, to small, medium, and large businesses, I’ve seen what works (and what doesn’t) and where the social impact gaps are. As a community engagement officer and fundraiser, the need for financial and human resource management were very apparent. In a deeply-rooted community-focused business, making funding decisions for community support donation requests, highlighted the need for funding to many local and regional non-profits. My tenure as a board member and active member of a global service organization developing programs and services to support women and girls, illuminated the local and global needs. (I’d go on to co-found a BC registered society to parallel the work of the service organization).
My serial entrepreneurship started when I was ten years old as a little prairie girl. Raised to be fiercely independent and financially self-reliant, I took that to heart. In the four decades to follow, I’d own seven more small business ventures in a variety of business sectors, while raising a family of three boys and working full-time.
A sales and marketing graduate, decades of working in media and marketing, along with serial entrepreneurship, have provided perspective to help women lead their companies with impact using voice, vision, and heart.
I founded and operated Westshore Women’s Business Network for 12 years, a business organization in Victoria BC, Canada, serving businesswomen with connections, tools and resources to grow their business and build their network.
In 2023 I co-authored a book with forty-four other women entitled Voices of the 21st Century: Women Transforming the World, which became an Amazon International #1 bestseller. I’m very proud of this book and in my chapter I share how my journey has led to this moment of working on this important cause and empowering other businesswomen to take a stand and contribute toward a cause they are passionate about.
This co-authored book contains chapters from 45 contributing women around the globe that will both inspire and give pause to the reader. The authors share their personal transformations, some through struggles and challenges, others through triumphs and celebrations. They courageously challenge the status quo, bring light to once-dark topics, and introduce new ways of thinking.
When I’m not working, you’ll find me in the forest or by the ocean, soaking up all nature’s gifts and bringing them to life in photography or on the dinner table gathering family or friends.
“I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples.”
~ Mother Teresa