By: Maria Williams
For some entrepreneurs, business success is about more than personal achievement. For AJ Nassri, a Syrian-Canadian entrepreneur, a successful property maintenance business gave him the opportunity to pursue philanthropic efforts supporting Syrian refugees in his community and beyond.
For Nassri, “philanthropy” doesn’t only mean making monetary donations — it also means offering essential services, providing job opportunities, and pursuing political advocacy.
Nassri’s commitment to helping Syrian refugees is rooted, in part, in his own history. “I’m Syrian,” he says. “I initially came here in 2005 as an entrepreneur. My family came here as entrepreneurs to start a business.” Over the years, he did just that. Nassri decided to go into the property maintenance business, and in Canada, that often means providing snow removal services on demand.
As a teenager, Nassri built his business from the ground up. “I began on my own with just a shovel and one client during snowstorms, just like any teenager would,” he says. “Then I bought a snow blower and would disassemble and reassemble it each time I needed to move it. Eventually, I bought a truck, hired people, and got other clients on the same street, and the company grew from there.”
The pivot to advocacy and philanthropy came out of necessity — Nassri and his friends saw an injustice at the national level, and they were determined to intervene. When war broke out in Syria, Nassri was determined to help Syrian citizens find refuge in Canada.
“That’s when we started advocating — my friends and I,” he says. “As the group of Syrian people here in Toronto, we were advocating for change. We were writing to our MPs and going out in protest.”
While political advocacy was crucial, so was sending material aid to Syrian citizens — some who were dying of cold after their homes had been demolished.
“We also focused on collecting used clothing,” AJ says. “Over 40,000 people joined a Facebook group to support this effort. Mosques, churches, synagogues — everybody got together and started collecting. We initially planned to ship out one container, but we ended up shipping out three containers in one year due to donations.”
The massive effort started with a mere handful of people. “The project itself came from me, my friends, and our contacts in the different universities,” AJ says. “It expanded from there.”
Through work with other nonprofits, AJ Nassri has been an integral part of helping Syrian refugees assimilate — through both personal involvement and financial support.
“We were helping set up the newcomers by finding them jobs and shelter,” he says. “We opened up a food bank for them. By the end of my service in this non-profit, we opened up the first Syrian Canadian Community Center, a community center for everybody here in Mississauga.”
These days, Nassri has had to turn his focus more toward his business efforts. Still, he’s committed to supporting and advocating for Syrian immigrants as they discover the land they now call home.
Published by: Khy Talara
