Zahra Qureshi always wanted to start her own business, but it wasn’t until she lost her job for the second time that the accounting professional decided to open her own firm in 2019.

Around that same time Qureshi began volunteering as a workshop facilitator helping startups, who rarely had dedicated finance teams, with their books and accounting. It was through that volunteer work that Qureshi identified a significant gap in the market among a specific kind of entrepreneur.

“I found a lot of people wanted to make the world a better place, do something unique with their business, rather than just make money,” she says. “For many people, that means earning a sustainable income doing what you want to do and having the stability to create products and services that improve people’s lives.”

Such “impact ventures” or “social enterprises” typically use a profit-driven business model in pursuit of a charitable cause. The niche category, however, poses unique finance and accounting challenging, and isn’t one that many finance professionals have experience in.

In fact, businesses in Canada don’t even have the option to register as a social enterprise, meaning they either need to abide by the strict regulatory framework of a registered charity or the financial structures of a for-profit business.

“Naturally, a for-profit pays taxes, it’s driven to sell a product or service and make revenue, so how do you embed that impact piece?” Qureshi explains. “For a non-profit, they have the impact piece, they have the governance structure, they have a mission, but they need to make sure that the revenue piece is baked in properly so that the organization has funding to create the desired impact.”

Today, Qureshi’s accounting firm, Optinum, offers both for-profit and non-profit services to large enterprises and entrepreneurs alike. Combining the two, Qureshi adds, allows her to also provide real-world insights to clients who, like herself, want to operate in both for-profit and non-profit capacities.

“We offer traditional, outsourced finance services on a monthly retainer managing your accounting systems, payable, receivable, payroll, reporting to CRA — everything that you would rely on a finance department for,” she says. “For smaller organizations who want to take a DIY approach we also offer coaching support to make sure they’re doing things right without incurring significant costs.”

Last year, as the business was starting to scale up, Qureshi says she was looking to move some of the company’s financial literacy coaching services online. That’s when she discovered the EmpowHER Tech Launchpad, a joint program from IDEA Mississauga and York University’s YSpace that offers female entrepreneurs education, training, one-to-one mentorship and networks designed to take their businesses to the next level.

Qureshi ultimately entered the program’s first cohort in the fall of 2024, alongside 11 other female entrepreneurs from a broad array of backgrounds and industries.

“Zahra is very experienced; she comes with a lot of technical knowledge and background in her field, but despite that she was willing to pivot and think long-term, and was very coachable,” says Sneha Punwani, the Supervisor of IDEA Square One.

“She’s actually been a speaker and a workshop facilitator in some of our programs,” adds Marlina Ramchandran, the manager of special projects at YSpace and program lead for EmpowHER. “What I love about her is she comes with this wealth of knowledge but was still open to learning from the community.”

One of EmpowHER’s youngest and most curious alumnus also joined the program seeking to use technology to expand her social enterprise. As one of the many women frustrated by a recent lawsuit exposing a major for-profit company for mislabelling period underwear made with harmful chemicals as “organic,” 16-year-old Mariam Oyinloye decided to take matters into her own hands.

“When this lawsuit was going down, I was on TikTok, and women were mad,” she says. “My mom, who is also an entrepreneur was just like, ‘why don’t you just create your own business that’s actually chemical-free so you know you could trust it, and other people could trust it as well’”?

In April of 2023 Oyinloye launched Abimbola, offering eco-friendly, reusable, affordable, and Oeko Tex Standard 100 Certified chemical-free period underwear.

“If you buy a pair, we donate a pair to someone else in need,” Oyinloye says. “We’re really committed to making this impact, so even if you can’t afford our products, we will donate them to you.”

Oyinloye says that building a successful social enterprise as a ninth grader comes with many challenges, especially as she seeks to move from in-person to more online sales. That’s what ultimately what inspired her to join the EmpowHER Tech Launchpad as well. “It definitely gave me more insight into online marketing, SEO marketing, and curating each step of the customer journey,” she says.

Though they’re at very different ages and stages of their careers, both Oyinloye and Qureshi were able to use the guidance, mentorship and workshops offered by the program to further their social enterprises.

“Whether you’ve run your business for years or are just starting off with your mom, we’re thrilled to provide that platform and support to help these entrepreneurs make a profit while also making an impact,” adds Punwani of IDEA Square One.

Those interested in joining the waitlist for the 2025 EmpowHER cohort this fall can do so by clicking here.