Business: A Tool for Good with Tonya Surman – March 31st 2020

Ever wondered if your business could solve more than just your customers’ problems? Then Tonya Surman, CEO of the Centre for Social Innovation wants to talk!

Tonya is one of Canada’s leading social entrepreneurs. Her clients: people and planet. Her superpowers: visionary ideas that inspire, models that harness collaboration, and spaces that accelerate systemic change.

Highlights from her 20-year career include co-founding and leading the Centre for Social Innovation, a pioneer in the coworking and social enterprise movements that has catalyzed more than 100 world-changing initiatives; developing the Constellation Model, a multi-stakeholder partnership framework that was used to ban toxic chemicals in baby bottles and organize 40,000+ Ontario nonprofits into a network with policymaking clout; creating the Community Bond, a groundbreaking social finance tool that raised $6.3 million to purchase $25 million in real estate to house 70+ social entrepreneurs; and launching Catapult, a micro-loan fund that galvanizes government, corporate and nonprofit partners.

“I hope entrepreneurs reflect on what entrepreneurship is, as it’s ultimately a tactic to get some outcome out of the world, a tool to make the change we want to see in the world.” 

In this week’s episode of the #StartupCanadaPodcast, sponsored by Mastercard and Ceridian, Tonya discusses how your business can make the change your community needs – whether that community is local, national, or global.