Rambling with… Sean Hogan of Build Inc.

St. Vital

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 05/02/2025 (424 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

I reached out Sean Hogan, executive director of Build Inc., to ask him about this unique social enterprise. Part of Build’s mission statement reads: “Build is an Indigenous social enterprise non-profit contractor and a training program that hires, trains, empowers, and launches individuals facing barriers into long, meaningful careers.”

Build is advertised as a social enterprise which isn’t driven by profit so I’m assuming it is a government-sponsored entity?

A social enterprise is any company (for-profit or not-for-profit) that takes at least 50 per cent of their profits and reinvests them in their social mission. For us, as a not-for-profit, any profits we make we seed into programming and outreach, providing training and employment opportunities for individuals who would normally experience difficulty finding access to the labour market. We believe that the true on-ramp out of poverty is through a job, and so we use our resources to ensure that any many people as we can help can be successful at finding and keeping a job.

Build does receive money from grants from the Province of Manitoba and some private grant sponsors, but 61 per cent of our revenue last year came from our construction business. The grant money we do receive is spent on things like in-class training and support services, providing wrap-around supports and giving trainees the chance to level up and become competitive on the labour market.

Do you only accept Indigenous clients or are you open all applicants regardless of their backgrounds?

Build’s programming is built on Indigenous principles, (and features) a significant amount of Indigenous cultural teaching, but all are welcome to apply. The vast majority of Build’s trainees and staff, however, are Indigenous.

Are you still located at Unit 200 – 765 Main St. Winnipeg, and if so, do you require a lot of space for tools, vehicles, etc. or is that supplied on the job site?

We are located at 765 Main Street, the Social Enterprise Centre, in Winnipeg’s historic North Point Douglas neighbourhood. Every seven weeks, Build holds an information session, a type of open house that allows individuals facing barriers to employment to apply for one of the eight jobs that become available for every cohort. Since our trainees are often starting from zero in trades experience, we provide the tools and personal protective equipment that will be required for the work.

Feel free to add any relevant information …

Highlights of the outcomes of the work from last fiscal year:

• Over $1,400,000 in wages paid to individuals facing barriers to employment;

• Nine children reunited with their parents out of CFS care;

• 67 per cent of trainees found full-time employment post-training;

• Nine per cent of trainees left us to go to school.

About our construction work – Build works with property management companies to perform rental renovation work in preparation for new tenants moving in. Our work is fee-for-service at market rate, it is high-quality, and rapid response. We focus when we can on affordable housing, as the need is so high. In the last fiscal year, we renovated 391 affordable housing units.

Find out more about Build Inc. at www.buildinc.ca