The AGAZ Summit 2025 established a new, urgent mandate for Canadian economic growth: pivoting the nation’s diverse immigrant and equity-deserving founders toward high-growth markets in the Global South and the Middle East (GCC). This shift from aspiration to actionable policy and capital access frames Canadian diversity not merely as a social ideal, but as a strategic trade asset critical for sustained global competitiveness and economic resilience.
The mission, set by CSA President Tehmina Chaudhry, emphasizes creating a “more resilient, inclusive, and cohesive” ecosystem with policy solutions that are founder-shaped. Parliamentary Secretary Taleeb Noormohamad aligned this vision with the national strategic agenda, asserting that innovation is a geopolitical tool essential for Canada’s global resilience.
Talent Retention: The core challenge is retaining high-level talent required for global scaling. Canadian companies must leverage the global talent attracted under Canadian Immigration Programs and also harness local talent to meet market demand.
Diaspora as Trade Asset: The extensive diaspora network of Canadian immigrant founders is a strategic trade asset to be leveraged for market entry and accelerated trade linkages with new regions.
Market Fluency: The inherent cultural fluency of diverse Canadian founders is the greatest competitive edge, but requires localized product strategies—not mere translation—to succeed in uncharted opportunities (emerging markets with favorable demographics and less competition).
The Summit concluded with four high-priority actions to translate insights into measurable ecosystem impact:
Activate the $25,000 Procurement Gateway: Create a Procurement Navigator Program to simplify administrative steps and raise awareness about the $25,000 contract minimum as the key entry point.
Formalize Global Mobility and Retention Funds: Advocate for a Global Mobility Fund (GMF) to offer partial salary subsidies/tax credits for the first 6–12 months of operations in an international expansion office, de-risking physical global presence.
Mandate Global Market Readiness via Cultural Fluency: Develop a “Global Market Readiness Scorecard” to track and incentivize a startup’s use of its founder’s inherent cultural fluency and diaspora networks for validated market entry.
Sustain and Scale Global Access Models: The CSA should seek funding to make the Expand North Star delegation an annual event, replicating this trade mission model in other strategic priority markets such as Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America.
The time for incremental change is over. Canada must now rapidly accelerate its founders onto the world stage by strategically leveraging its diversity, non-dilutive capital resources, and policy instruments. The action plan focuses on operational discipline, capital efficiency, and integrating social impact to attract purpose-driven talent and capital. The mandate is clear: make Canadian diversity a cornerstone of global economic leadership.
