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Canadian businesswoman and social entrepreneur From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Zita Cobb, CM, is a Canadian businesswoman and social entrepreneur[1][2] who grew up on Fogo Island, Newfoundland, a small outport fishing community off the North Atlantic Ocean.[3]
Zita is the co-founder and CEO of the registered Canadian charity, Shorefast, which she launched with her brothers Anthony and Alan Cobb, on Fogo Island in 2004.[2][4][5] She is also the Innkeeper of world-renowned Fogo Island Inn.[6]
Zita has been recognized for her significant contributions to the Canadian economy and business world garnering awards such as the Order of Canada (2016)[7][8] and induction into the Canadian Business Hall of Fame (2021) with special distinction as the first social entrepreneur to be included within its ranks.[9][10][11]
Since its inception, Shorefast has been on a mission to help build a resilient community economy on Fogo Island, Newfoundland, and adapt those learnings to foster economically empowered communities across Canada.[3][12]
Building from Pilot learnings and active practice on Fogo Island, Shorefast established The Shorefast Network for Place-Based Economies, housing resources and opportunities for businesses, government bodies, and community members to learn, share, and connect on how to operate with a place-centric focus in economic development.[13]
Zita Cobb volunteers her full time to Shorefast.[3]
Cobb is an eighth-generation Fogo Islander.[14] Cobb has six brothers,[15] and her father was a 7th generation inshore fisherman. She grew up in a household with no electricity or running water.[15] She battled and survived tuberculosis at the age of six during a year spent at a sanatorium, which she credits for the confidence that she carried with her later into her career[16].[17] Cobb studied business and graduated from Carleton University in Ottawa.[18][15]
Cobb started working with various oil companies in Alberta, and traveling in Canada and Africa.[15] She worked at Ottawa-based JDS Fitel for ten years and became the CFO.[15] The company merged with the U.S. company Uniphase in 1999 to become JDS Uniphase.[19][15] In 2001, she exercised stock options worth US$69 million, and left the company to sail around the world for 4 years.[15]
In 2006, Cobb and her brother Andy founded Shorefast, a Canadian social enterprise, in response to the economic and cultural difficulties her Newfoundland outport home had experienced over the past decades.[6][15] She contributed $10 million of her own money to the organization.[15] The Canadian government contributed $5 million, and the provincial government contributed another $5 million.[15] Shorefast built the Fogo Island Inn, which opened in 2013 and continues to be operated by Shorefast Social Enterprises Inc.[20][21] The inn is a 100% social business, and all operating surpluses are reinvested in the community of Fogo Island through the projects and programs of Shorefast.[22] The inn aims to build another leg on the existing economies of the island and to provide employment.[7]
On June 30, 2016, Cobb was made a Member of the Order of Canada by Governor General David Johnston for "her contributions as a social entrepreneur who has helped revive the unique rural communities of Fogo Island and Change Islands through innovative social engagement and geotourism."[8]
She has been recognized with honorary doctorate degrees from Carleton University,[23] Memorial University of Newfoundland,[24] McGill University[11] and University of Ottawa.[10]
Cobb was inducted into the Junior Achievement Business Hall of Fame in May 2018.[9]
On November 12, 2019, Cobb interviewed 44th President of the United States Barack Obama for a public event at the Mile One Centre in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, which was hosted by the St. John's Board of Trade.[25] More than 5,000 people attended the discussion, which covered topics of community, climate change and democracy.[25]
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