Entrepreneur Muraly Srinarayanathas gives back by helping other newcomers

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Immigrants to Canada at times take the route of founding a private business, an important driver of the country’s economy. In this series we look at immigrant-founded family businesses, whether from the founder’s perspective or that of rising generations.

From Britain to Sri Lanka to India and finally to Winnipeg, Muraly Srinarayanathas’s childhood and his parents’ experience led him to deeply understand the challenges newcomers face and the skills they offer.

Mentored by a Nobel laureate, among others, along with his entrepreneur father, Srinarayanathas, co-founder and executive chairman, helped build Ajax, Ont.-based 369 Global Inc., which holds a portfolio of companies, from Ontario career college Computek to marketing firm 369Konnect and film production company station 369.

The company’s investments range from venture funds, including one backing immigrant founders, to a pharmaceutical firm, among others.

His entrepreneurial route was not straightforward. For example, when his father had a heart attack, he moved to Bangladesh to help run a string of businesses.

Srinarayanathas is focused on education and supports for immigrants as a path to leverage the skills and talents of newcomers and their families and businesses, to contribute to Canada’s success, as well as their own.

As part of their commitment to underrepresented communities and a more prosperous and inclusive Canada, the Srinarayanathas Family Foundation supports healthcare, education, civic engagement, and the creative arts.

What are your memories of your immigration experience?

“I was born in the U.K., but my parents needed time to settle and determine how and where they would raise a young family. Global conflict and opportunity were crucial considerations at that time.

I was living with my grandparents in Sri Lanka, and at the age of 6, I immigrated to Canada to live with my aunt and uncle. I then travelled to India, where my father ran a film business.

Finally, when I was 7, my family moved to Winnipeg to reunite with their relatives and that is where I grew up.

I consider myself a third culture kid because I experienced what it means to be a newcomer very much through my parents’ lens and exposure to many countries and labour markets.

I saw their struggles and the resources they could have benefited from, which, at the time, did not exist. At a very young age, I knew I wanted to lead businesses that would help newcomers succeed.”

What supports did you receive in your career and as an entrepreneur?

“I have had the good fortune of a strong and supportive network throughout my career, being mentored by a Nobel laureate, political leaders, passionate entrepreneurs and successful business leaders.

Still, my father was my very first mentor and helped carve my path as an entrepreneur early on. He showed me how to build a life without fear or doubt and have a vision for a future that I may not even be alive to see. Appa showed me from birth how to take any dream or business idea and make it a reality. He encouraged me to take strategic and calculated risks that quickly taught me I was good at building businesses and enjoyed doing it.”

How did your education choices inform your career trajectory?

“I knew I wanted to be an entrepreneur before applying to university.

An MBA was the most appropriate path for me education-wise, following my BA, as it taught me the fundamentals of running a business effectively, keeping in mind that the most challenging business lessons are learned only from lived experience.

I also pursued a Global Professional Master of Law at the University of Toronto; having a global perspective is integral, as we do business globally. It has equipped me with knowledge of legal frameworks, government policies, and trade agreements that drive global trade.”

What have been some of your greatest challenges?

“During university, my father suffered a heart attack, and I moved to Bangladesh to help him run a string of businesses. I had to learn the ropes very quickly and help my family.

This was an incredibly stressful and lonely period for me; I had little support and no friends. It was very much a sink-or-swim situation. At the time, I had to rely on what my father and mentors had taught me early on. Failure was not an option.

What is one of the achievements you are proudest of?

One of my most significant achievements is building Computek College from 60 to 2,000 students a year. I am proudest of the number of people we have empowered and the outcomes we have transformed while always being culturally sensitive to the needs of our students.

Computek grew because we worked hard to understand true insights and positively impact one student at a time. We are also unique in having offered fair tuition for international students from the start, making it possible for them to build a life here and become citizens. Unfortunately, fair tuition is still not the norm in Canada. This needs to change.”

How do you incorporate your own experience into helping newcomers?

“Through my own experience, I have developed a three-step process to understand the challenges newcomers experience and what is required to be supportive, relatable and offer value.

“Embed: This means authentically inserting [ourselves] into the communities you [we] operate in to listen, learn, and understand the community’s needs and desires.

“Interpret: This is about looking at the information we learned during the “Embed” stage and interpreting that information from our own perspective and experiences.

“Act: By interpreting and applying the insights gathered, we can understand the newcomer’s experience, needs and circumstances to add value. This process applies to the work we do through the [family’s] foundation, Computek College and all of our business entities.”

What brought you to establish the Srinarayanathas Family Foundation?

“Through my parents’ experience and my own, our family identified an opportunity to create a foundation decades ago. The Srinarayanathas Foundation has a hundred-year legacy [of philanthropic giving by several generations in the family] that provides holistic, sustainable support to organizations focused on improving outcomes for underrepresented communities at home and abroad.

We focus on the eight pillars of wellness – physical, social, emotional, occupational, financial, spiritual, intellectual, and environmental – often overlooked when thinking about the socioeconomic realities of communities of colour in … Canada and the lived experiences of vulnerable populations worldwide.

To maximize transformational and transgenerational impact, we are committed to helping individuals and communities by making philanthropic investments in healthcare, education, civic engagement, and the creative arts.

An example of a cause we support aligned with the foundation’s vision is the Institute for Canadian Citizenship, an organization working to unlock Canada for newcomers, facilitating and encouraging the journey toward full and active Canadian citizenship. We have made a commitment of $250,000 over the next five years to support their transformative initiatives, especially the Canoo Access Pass, which is a great example of entrepreneurialism by a charity.”

How do you and your family work together to keep the foundation’s mission alive?

“Service has always been a core value of our family and one I have instilled in my two young children already. Providing context on global issues and teaching understanding and empathy must start at birth. It is something my wife and I are very focused on. My background is Sri Lankan, and hers is Eastern European so we have both different and shared newcomer experiences that we have discussed with our children.

Our approach to philanthropy is driven by our vision to become an innovative organization at the forefront of transforming the future of charitable giving in Canada and around the world by providing holistic, sustainable, and barrier-free support for philanthropic causes.

This requires us to look beyond current impact investing trends and draw from our own lived experiences of immigration and socioeconomic challenges to holistically address the needs of those who feel invisible, unheard and marginalized, whether here or abroad.

This work has only started. There is so much need in today’s global economy, and change is only possible through collective commitment and action.”

Responses have been lightly edited for clarity and length.

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