How Chloe Pobjoy-Ridolfo helped build a business plan for a non-profit tackling housing inequality
Experience Ventures connected the commerce student with real-world innovators in the housing sector
When Chloe Pobjoy-Ridolfo received an email about a non-profit housing start-up looking for student participation, she jumped at the chance.
The third-year Bachelor of Commerce student is currently double-majoring in accounting and finance — with her sights already set on a future career.
“Housing developer — that’s my end goal,” she says confidently. “My whole family is in construction. I love houses. I love the building process. I love the design process. I’m really interested in figuring out how we can make low-income communities more sustainable.”
The email offered an 8-week entrepreneurial thinking placement with Osprey Inspiration — a non-profit organization focused on expanding access to affordable housing through education, financial guidance, and community partnerships that help individuals overcome barriers to homeownership.
The placement was made possible by a partnership between the Arthur L. Irving Entrepreneurship Centre at Saint Mary’s University, and Experience Ventures — a program powered by the Hunter Hub of Entrepreneurial Thinking at the University of Calgary and funded in part by the Government of Canada’s Innovative Work-Integrated Learning Initiative (I-WIL).
Experience Ventures’ goal is to enable college and university students to practice entrepreneurial thinking alongside real-world innovators like Derrick Chan, the Chairman & Director of Strategic Partnerships at Osprey Inspiration. Chan heard about Experience Ventures while collaborating with a Saint Mary’s University professor on a financial literacy course.
“That relationship was great, and they told us about this program,” he says. “University students are also looking for housing. How do we meet them at their level and their perspective? That’s why we decided to work with them.”
Chan explains that a lack of knowledge can make it hard for people to sustain housing.
“Our goal is to help people get into housing, but we base it on financial literacy. We want to give them the tools to build a financial plan for their household so that they can eventually get into renting and then transition into home ownership.”
He adds that financial literacy is an asset that offers long-term benefits.
“Homeownership is often the end goal — most people do better financially and in terms of generational wealth when they own property.”
Four teams of students worked for Chan between November 2023 and January 2024, and each team was assigned a different focus area. Pobjoy-Ridolfo’s team worked on measuring social impact and developing Osprey Inspiration’s business plan.
The team met online every week with one of the organization’s managers, to ask questions and translate Derrick’s vision into an actionable business plan.
“They got to take their theories and see if they could realistically come to fruition,” Chan says. “That’s real entrepreneurial thinking — putting ideas to the test in a real-world setting.”
For Pobjoy-Ridolfo, her studies proved to be great preparation for the task at hand. Reflecting on where she experienced the most growth, she points to her communication style and a history of assuming a leadership role on group projects.
“I think it was really good to be on the other end of that where somebody else is the leader,” she muses. “Listening to them, putting their thoughts on paper, and really making something that reflects their vision for the business — as opposed to reflecting my vision.”
At the end of the placement, the teams made presentations with recommendations. Chan was impressed with their ideas and their energy.
“Some of the ideas they came up with — like Chloe’s business plan or the digital fundraising group — were really great. It was refreshing. You get new eyes, new thinking.”
Looking ahead to her future as an entrepreneur, Pobjoy-Ridolfo says that the Experience Ventures placement has refined her definition of the traits required to perform as an entrepreneur.
“I would say adaptability is a huge one. Empowerment is a huge one. Confidence. And I think that you need to be detail-oriented. If you have an idea, it’s easy to start a business — you just need to work hard and be passionate about what you’re doing.”
Chan describes having the students onboard as a “win-win” relationship.
“Hopefully the students got something out of it — I know we did. When you’re constantly in your own environment, you’re not seeing another perspective. You might not see the forest for the trees.”
Pobjoy-Ridolfo recommends the Experience Ventures program to other students who are looking to build resumes and relationships.
“I had a great experience with it and I felt like I learned a lot. I made a lot of connections at school and it’s great as well for your resume. People will vouch for you if you make an impact on their business and do well.”