Learning.
Clarity.
Inspiration.

Finance, accounting and impact planning concepts made simple and accessible for entrepreneurs, changemakers, and work teams.

Learning. Clarity. Inspiration.

Finance, accounting and impact planning concepts made simple and accessible for entrepreneurs, changemakers, and work teams.

Featured workshop series for entrepreneurs and changemakers

Whether you are an incubator, an education institution, a corporation, or a non-profit, a subject matter expert can bring enormous value to your organization’s learning and growth objectives. Our signature topics for interactive learning include:

Early-stage entrepreneurs

Introduction to accounting and tax
Introduction to budgeting
Introduction to social enterprise
Creating funding strategies
Canada Revenue Agency and you

Growing businesses and social enterprises

Getting ready to scale
Financial strategies for sustainable growth
KPIs for balancing purpose and profit
Refining accounting processes

Non-profit organizations and charities

Finance for non-profit boards
Financial management for non-profit teams

Each session is designed for 120 minutes with time for Q&A, and participants receive a deck and templates to help them take away tangible next steps for every session.

Looking for something more customized to suit your community’s needs? We do curriculum design, facilitation guides and coaching. We can manage the whole process including design, delivery and training. We cater to a variety of audiences, event styles and experience levels according to your needs.

Meet Zahra, our Workshop Facilitator

Zahra Qureshi, a Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA, CMA), is a trailblazer in the finance and social enterprise space, and an entrepreneur herself. She is the Founder of Optinum Professional Corporation, an innovative service provider for changemakers, and the Founder and Executive Director of Social Venture Circuit, a not-for-profit community of mission-driven enterprises committed to social, cultural and environmental impact. She is the co-facilitator of Start with Impact, a unique 6-week program to empower businesses as social enterprises.

As a speaker and facilitator, Zahra shares her vision to transform how small businesses can build robust, sustainable and purpose-driven operations and financial resilience. Her portfolio of work includes managing complex financial reporting structures, planning and budgeting that empowers strategic decision making, and successfully raising funds.

Testimonials

At ICUBE, our core mission is to empower innovators, creators, and change-makers to explore their ideas and make them happen. As we work to support entrepreneurs, especially those leading social enterprises, we cannot stress enough how instrumental the support from Optinum has been! Zahra Qureshi has provided ongoing mentorship to our members, who are trying to navigate the complicated waters of both finance and understanding the intersection between their business and social impact. As a workshop facilitator, Zahra is incredibly dynamic and engaging. Participants from her sessions always leave incredible feedback and request follow-up meetings with her, which is so often gracious enough to support. Finally, both Zahra and Optinum, have proved to be excellent collaborators with the whole ICUBE team and our ongoing programming. I would highly recommend that any start-up venture or organization in need of a great workshop or strategic support consult with Optinum around social impact planning and financial management.

The Centre for Entrepreneurship (CfE) is for everyone who wants to explore the world of entrepreneurship. We support Humber students, alumni and faculty/staff at their earliest stages of entrepreneurship: when they learn to recognize opportunities; develop, analyze and refine ideas; create plans; form teams; and pitch ideas. Optinum is our go-to financial education resource. The CfE relies on Optinum’s expertise to advise our clients, teach workshops, and provide entrepreneurs with ongoing support as they start and grow their businesses. Working with Optinum is a pleasure! Our experience has always been positive, and we can trust that our students and partners are in good hands. We know that when we hire Optinum to deliver a workshop, the students will be thoughtfully led through critical financial literacy material that is vital to the foundation of their entrepreneurial journey. Our teams always provide great feedback about any workshops or sessions they attend with Zahra. They comment on the friendly and relaxed relationship, the way their anxieties are alleviated, and they self-assess themselves as more competent and confident when it comes to the financial aspects of their business.

The My Start-Up Program at Elizabeth Fry Toronto is a self-employment training and support program for women who want to run their own businesses and create meaningful change in their lives. Zahra developed and facilitated a number of customized workshops for Elizabeth Fry Toronto on a variety of topics related to financial literacy and well-being. Participants who attended her workshops received practical information about navigating the complex financial landscape, existing and forecasted economic trends, and more. Zahra has worked with diverse groups of people as part of her involvement with our organization, and has created applicable and responsive content with the goal of providing our clients with the tools of financial empowerment.