We recently conducted an interview with Cardigan, a company from our 2021 cohort, who shared with us the positive role that our partner PME Montréal played in their understanding of the importance of adopting sustainable practices.

PME Montréal is the City of Montréal’s business support network. Its mission is to offer a range of professional services that are accessible to private and social economy entrepreneurs located on the Island of Montreal.

Q: You are part of the 2021 cohort of the Parcours Développement Durable de Montréal (PDD).

What was your mindset before joining the PDD and what have you achieved since you joined it?

👉 There was a desire to adopt environmentally responsible practices within the company and to become a positive player in the Montreal community. We quickly realised that we lacked the knowledge and support to structure this approach and take concrete action. Since the beginning of the Parcours, we have identified the issues on which our agency should focus and have a real impact around us. We are redefining our own organisational mission with a desire to lead by example in our business practices and to raise awareness of these issues in other organisations..

Q: How do you feel about the support you receive from the PDD?

👉 The Parcours Développement Durable offers a methodology combining training, practical workshops, work sessions, exchanges and discussions and ongoing support to advance our thinking and develop our action plan. Moreover, the structured approach of the Parcours allows us to give real traction to our project and to live the experience with other companies that share the same motivations..

Q: In 2020, your candidacy for the PDD was not successful. PME Montréal, a partner of PDD, has supported and assisted you until your selection in 2021.

What has been the most important/significant support from PME Montréal for you?

👉 In 2020, we had an idea of what to improve, but we didn’t know where and how to start. Sabrina Cholette, Circular Economy and Sustainability Advisor at PME MTL, really helped us identify the issues that need to be improved at Cardigan to have a positive impact on sustainability. Each workshop opened up enriching internal discussions and motivated us to take concrete action. This 10-hour support (five 2-hour workshops) gave our internal committee a more solid basis for confidently applying to the 2021 cohort.

Our application to the PDD was full of good intentions, as was our desire to do things better by integrating sustainable development practices. Sabrina helped us to realise, be aware and put into perspective the sustainability of the company; that it is more than a good will to want to save the planet, but rather how to include good practices in our already existing business practices. What we realised with the support of PME MTL was that we should not do more, but rather do it better and above all more consciously; to be aware that our real current challenges were not in the environmental sphere, but rather in the social sphere of sustainable development.