Joanna Buczkowska-McCumber

Biography

I help entrepreneurs launch and scale their impact businesses. I am a strategist, innovator, investor, and consultant devoted to exploring and building new ways to enhance business to create social change. It’s about building changemaking ideas from concept to reality, to big impact. Through my work I have been at the forefront of social entrepreneurship, and believe we can create enterprises that are not only profitable but create social and environmental value in our communities through their activities and their brands. My work at Ideas for Impact Sustainability Agency is focused on bridging the gap between capitalism and impact where I work with institutions and companies to develop actionable social purpose strategies that stick. My work includes strategic development, marketing, and fundraising strategy (for startups), acceleration models, and impact research.

I am highly involved in ensuring our ecosystem regionally and nationally reflects that through my participation in the Canadian Accelerator and Incubator Network (CAIN), Board member at the League of Innovators, and as Chair of Scale Institute.

I am a public speaker, facilitator, and lecturer focusing on the intersection of entrepreneurship, impact, and the future of work. I was the founding Managing Director of the Centre for Social Innovation & Impact Investing, co-creator of the award-winning Coast Capital Savings Innovation Hub, previously steered the ship at The Next Big Thing, Canada’s only fully inclusive youth entrepreneurial program, and grew League of Innovators from an idea to a multipronged accelerator and fund for youth entrepreneurs across Canada. You can find me lecturing about entrepreneurship and innovation at Simon Fraser Beedie School of Business and at Emily Carr University; and advising startups such as SmartSweets, Blume, WizeMonkey, Revol Undies.

I have curated the annual Propelling Social Ventures conference, led a multimedia design startup, developed the Innovation Jam, a hands-on experiential learning event to grasp the possibilities of innovation and entrepreneurship in themselves. I speak and teach on topics related to social entrepreneurship, innovation, entrepreneurial and growth mindset, and utilizing business models and tools for impact.