Ajit H. Someshwar (passed 13-Jan-2025 in Mumbai, India) was an

Indo-Canadian Indian Canadians are Canadians who have ancestry from India. The term ''East Indian'' is sometimes used to avoid confusion with Indigenous groups. Categorically, Indian Canadians comprise a subgroup of South Asian Canadians which is a furthe ...

entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value in ways that generally entail beyond the minimal amount of risk (assumed by a traditional business), and potentially involving values besides simply economic ones. An entreprene ...

philanthropist Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives for the public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private good, focusing on material ...

and social activist based in

Toronto, Ontario Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

, Canada. He was President and CEO of CSI Group of Companies. As per the Canadian Immigrant (magazine) (owned by the

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part of Torstar's Daily News Brands (Torstar), Daily News Brands division. ...

), he owned and had investments in dozens of others companies from custom draperies to real estate. He was the co-founder and outgoing National Convenor of the

Canada India Foundation The Canada India Foundation is a Canadian non-profit organisation established in 2007. The main stated objective of CIF comprises promoting Canada–India relations through their active intervention in public policy, which would cover domestic po ...

—a public policy organization. Someshwar was appointee of the Government of Canada Board of the

Export Development Canada Export Development Canada (EDC; ) is Canada's export credit agency and a Crown corporation wholly owned by the Government of Canada. Its mandate is to support and develop trade between Canada and other countries, and help Canada's competitiveness ...

—Canada's export credit agency. Prior to this, during the 2008-2009 global recession crises, Canadian finance minister

Jim Flaherty James Michael Flaherty (December 30, 1949 – April 10, 2014) was a Canadian politician who served as the federal minister of finance from 2006 to 2014 under Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper. First elected to the Legislative Assemb ...

appointed Someshwar to an 11-member advisory panel along with likes of

Mike Lazaridis Mihal "Mike" Lazaridis (born March 14, 1961) is a Greek Canadian businessman, investor in quantum computing technologies, and co-founder of Research In Motion, which created and manufactured the BlackBerry wireless handheld device. In November 2 ...

, Annette Verschuren and Geoff Beattie to advise him on the federal budget and the economy. It was announced that Someshwar, along with the other 10 members, were only paid a dollar a year for their insight.

Early life and education

Someshwar was born in Bombay (Mumbai). He obtained a degree in Commerce and Economics from the University of Bombay. He is also has a Chartered Accountancy (C.A.) designation from India and England. Prior to starting his businesses in the early 1990s, he was vice-president of operations, planning and analysis for

CIBC The Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC; ) is a Canadian Multinational corporation, multinational banking and financial services corporation headquartered at CIBC Square in the Financial District, Toronto, Financial District of Toronto, Ont ...

's assurance venture. He moved to Canada from England.

Philanthropy

Someshwar is an active fundraiser for hospitals, charities and the arts. In September 2010, Someshwar along with fellow businessmen

Vasu Chanchlani Vasu Chanchlani (born July 1, 1952 – September 7, 2014) was an Indian-Canadian serial entrepreneur, philanthropist and trans-nations builder. He is co-founder of the Sigma Group of Companies and a founding member of the Canada India Foundation ...

and Bhupinder Khalsa donated a Maple-Leaf Shaped Monument to the Canadian Armed Forces for their exemplary service as global peacekeepers. The unveiling ceremony was attended by a large number of Canadian Armed Forces personnel in their ceremonial attire, as well as top leaders including defence minister

Peter Mackay Peter Gordon MacKay (born September 27, 1965), a Canadian lawyer and politician, served as Member of Parliament (Canada), Member of Parliament from 1997 to 2015 and as Minister of Justice (Canada), Minister of Justice and Attorney General (20 ...

, opposition leader

Michael Ignatieff Michael Grant Ignatieff ( ; born May 12, 1947) is a Canadian author, academic and former politician who served as leader of the Liberal Party and leader of the Opposition from 2008 until 2011. Known for his work as a historian, Ignatieff has ...

, and finance minister

Public Policy

Someshwar is an active public speaker and participant in various policy forums. He is co-founder and founding National Convenor of the

and in that capacity advised governments on both sides on the Canada India Civil Nuclear treaty. He has been very vocal about the importance for the provincial and federal governments to put in a concerted effort on regularizing immigrants' professional qualifications and experience, making the process of absorbing them into the Canadian system a little less painful.

Appointments & Awards

* Board member,

* National Convenor,

* President, Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce (1991–93) * Member, Canada's Economic Advisory council

References

External links

csican.com

cfsf.ca

canadaindia.org
{{DEFAULTSORT:Someshwar, Ajit H. Canadian businesspeople Canadian philanthropists Living people Indian emigrants to Canada Businesspeople of Indian descent Year of birth missing (living people)