Manu Sharma

Biography

Manu Sharma works with social purpose organizations seeking to shift their business strategy to improve their bottom line, generate innovation, increase social impact and/or launch new products and services. He takes a human-centered approach to innovation through the integration of customer empathy, deep analysis and business strategy. He applies the principles and practices of future-oriented design to help organizations create new value and new forms of competitive advantage.

Based in Canada, Manu is an engineer by background, technology entrepreneur by choice, and community activist at heart. He has over 19 years of experience in building multiple technology startups, encouraging and empowering entrepreneurs, supporting community betterment initiatives, facilitating innovation relationships, championing social causes and developing niche talent advancement and training programs. With a strategic interest in creating opportunities to empower individuals, organizations and communities to connect, communicate, collaborate and co-create, he strongly believes in the power and purpose of social enterprises and social good. Manu has spent a significant amount of his professional life creating and supporting environments and attitudes that celebrate new ideas, welcome risk taking and curate creative dialog. He takes pride in catalyzing relationships that can help generate a common purpose while producing a shared understanding and excitement for social and economic change. 

With a background in strategic planning, stakeholder engagement, and technology development, Manu has extensive experience in designing and building enterprise solutions for some of the most complex business domains including education, real estate, ecommerce, retail, digital communication, insurance, hospitality, and social computing. He is a managing partner at “Innovation by Design”, a global strategic consulting and training practice which provides support for analysis, evaluation, design and innovation of business models to organizations seeking to improve their bottom line, enhance their innovation, increase their impact and/or start new business lines. Besides his entrepreneurial and training commitments, Manu also currently serves as a strategic advisor with Centre for Social Enterprise Development, strategic advisor with Youth Ottawa, board member with Mindtrust Leadership Development Program, charter member with TiE Global, advisor with Future of Good, advisor with Junior Achievement Ottawa, and member of College of Reviewers with Ontario Centres of Excellence (OCE).

Manu has over 11 years of experience in supporting charities, social enterprises and non-profits to help them articulate the strategic vision/social mission of their ventures. Some of his current clients include The Ottawa Mission, Ottawa Network for Education, Somerset West Community Health Centre, Christie Lake Kids and Youth Ottawa. Manu is a Trustee with Kiva Zip and together with his younger sister he manages one of the biggest Kiva loan member groups of Ottawa, having personally given more than 900 social impact loans across the world. He has worked closely with the executive teams of a host of youth leadership, entrepreneurship and innovation programs including Impact HUB Ottawa, 1125@Carleton, the Ottawa chapter of The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE), Mindtrust Leadership Development Program, Junior Achievements, Wes Nicol Business Plan Competition, Tech Venture Challenge (TVC), Canadian Youth Business Foundation (CYBF), and Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) and he has mentored over 200 youth leaders and budding entrepreneurs globally.

Manu holds a Bachelor of Engineering in Electronics & Communications Engineering, a Master of Engineering in Computer Engineering, a Master of Business Administration and a diploma in International Trade from the Forum in International Trade (F.I.I.T). He also holds the “Masterclass certified Practitioner” certification of Business Model You methodology and the “Business Model Innovation and Value Proposition Design Workshop Certification” offered by Strategyzer. He is a past recipient of Ottawa’s Forty Under 40 award, City’s Immigrant  ntrepreneur Award, Startup Canada’s Mentor Rock Star Award, and a proud alumnus of the Governor Generals Canadian Leadership Conference.