Zita Cobb

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].

Zita Cobb volunteers her full time to Shorefast^[3].

Early life and education

Cobb is an eighth-generation Fogo Islander.^[13] Cobb has six brothers,^[14] and her father was an inshore fisherman. She grew up in a household with no electricity or running water.^[14] She battled and survived tuberculosis at the age of six, which she credits for the confidence that she carried with her later into her career.^[15] Cobb studied business and graduated from Carleton University in Ottawa.^[16][14]

Career

Cobb started working with various oil companies in Alberta, and traveling in Canada and Africa.^[14] She worked at Ottawa-based JDS Fitel for ten years and became the CFO.^[14] The company merged with the U.S. company Uniphase in 1999 to become JDS Uniphase.^[17][14] In 2001, she exercised stock options worth US$69 million, and left the company to sail around the world for 4 years.^[14]

Fogo Island Inn

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][14] She contributed $10 million of her own money to the organization.^[14] The Canadian government contributed $5 million, and the provincial government contributed another $5 million.^[14] Shorefast built the Fogo Island Inn, which opened in 2013 and continues to be operated by Shorefast Social Enterprises Inc.^[18][19] 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.^[20] The inn aims to build another leg on the existing economies of the island and to provide employment.^[7]

Honours and awards

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,^[21] Memorial University of Newfoundland,^[22] 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.^[23] More than 5,000 people attended the discussion, which covered topics of community, climate change and democracy.^[23]

References

This page was last edited on 11 April 2024, at 20:17