Across Canada, organizations are operationalizing purpose within their core business strategy. Purpose in Business Week 2025 offered a clear window into how that shift is unfolding in practice.
The Canadian Purpose Economy Project (CPEP) launched Purpose in Business Week 2025 with energy, insight, and inspiration—sparked by a standout opening session led by one of its valued partners. With 37 attendees—a peak gathering of social purpose business leaders and practitioners—the workshop set a strong tone for a week dedicated to elevating purpose leadership and business strategy across the country.
The week also highlighted the momentum building in Canada’s purpose economy, including a celebration of leaders making remarkable strides in social purpose, acknowledging recent winners of Greater Purpose’s inaugural Social Purpose Awards in Toronto. Among those honoured were:
- Maureen Young, VP Social Purpose, Coast Capital – Purpose Leadership Award
- Coast Capital – Social Purpose Company of the Year (Large)
- MCIS Language Solutions – Social Purpose Company of the Year (Medium)
- Finalists: Liz McBeth (Armour Valve), Vancity, GreenShield, Community Savings Credit Union, and Modo
These recognitions underscore the growing strength and visibility of purpose-led organizations across Canada. Together they illustrate that purpose is emerging as a shared business discipline, not a niche practice.
A Spotlight Conversation with Sabrina Ladha of GreenShield
The conversation with GreenShield offered a practical demonstration of how organizations operationalize purpose.
Coro Strandberg, chair of the Canadian Purpose Economy Project, welcomed Sabrina Ladha, Vice-President of GreenShield Cares and a celebrated Top 40 Under 40 leader, for a dynamic conversation on purpose in action. Cares, which oversees the embedding of purpose across GreenShield, has helped the organization achieve a remarkable milestone: improving the lives of more than one million Canadians since 2020.
Ladha shared insights into how GreenShield’s social purpose drives its strategy, culture, and innovation, offering a firsthand look at how purpose can power meaningful change in business and society.
Embedding Purpose at the Core
As a non-profit health care and insurance organization, GreenShield was founded on the belief that health care is a right, not a privilege. Today, that founding purpose remains central to its business model, shaping everything from product design to community partnerships. Purpose, Ladha emphasized, is a strategic lens—not an add-on.
Leadership and Culture as the Anchor
Purpose at GreenShield “starts from the top,” Ladha noted. Purpose is a strategic priority rather than corporate social responsibility. Recruitment, training, and recognition programs all reflect the organization’s commitment to purpose, and employees, clients, and members play a role in co-creating solutions.
“Organizations with clarity of purpose outperform those driven by short-term thinking,” she shared. “Purpose is the most stable part of our strategy.”
Purpose as a Strategic Advantage in Turbulent Times
Referencing President & CEO Zahid Salman’s recent Globe and Mail article, Ladha reinforced why doubling down on purpose is smart business—especially in volatile markets. Purpose provides direction, resilience, and an innovation edge.
Advice for Small and Medium Organizations
Ladha’s guidance for smaller companies was refreshing and empowering:
“Start with clarity, not budget. Purpose is a mindset.”
Embedding purpose doesn’t require major capital. It requires focus—learning not to do everything for everyone—and strong relationships with partners who can multiply impact.
GreenShield’s Role in Advancing Canada’s Purpose Economy
Ladha sees GreenShield as both a national proof point and a committed partner in helping Canada become a global beacon for the purpose economy. “Purpose accelerates innovation,” she said, “and we want to be a driver of the purpose innovation economy.”
Sector Voices: Purpose as Strategy and Stability
The session also featured insights from leaders advancing purpose within their own organizations:
- Ruth Legg, VP ESG at Concert Properties, shared how by embracing a social purpose, the company has united its values, vision, and founding principles with its business strategy. This has meant anchoring every decision—operational, financial, and cultural—in a long-term commitment to create resilient, inclusive, and sustainable communities.
- Karen Alko, Director of Community Relations at ABC Recycling, highlighted how the century-old family business uses purpose to navigate turbulence and build deep, values-led partnerships—particularly with Indigenous communities, with whom they partner on scrap metal recycling projects.
- Carolina Triana, Purpose Integration Specialist at Libro Credit Union, shared that Libro had been working since 2017 on their purpose implementation roadmap. They recently revisited their purpose to give it more focus. An example of their purpose in action was the launch of a new branch in an underserved area looking to create community resilience by also investing in affordable housing.
These stories demonstrate that purpose is not only a moral compass but also a pragmatic business tool for resilience, innovation, and trust-building.
Continuing the Journey
The opening workshop set a high bar for Purpose in Business Week, providing participants with actionable examples, inspiration, and connections to advance purpose within their own organizations and across the economy. This reinforces the message that Canada’s purpose economy is not simply growing—it is accelerating, with over 400 signatories to A Call to Purpose and counting. With organizations like GreenShield, Libro Credit Union, Concert Properties, and ABC Recycling leading the way, purpose is becoming a defining feature of Canadian business strategy.
And as this kickoff session made clear, purpose-led organizations are not just doing good—they are building the resilient, innovative, and inclusive economy Canada needs for the future. Increasingly, purpose is becoming a defining feature of competitive business strategy in Canada.