In this special episode of The Business Leadership Podcast, Edwin Frondozo sat down with Sakeena Mihyar, Founder and CEO of SAVIN, as part of BVZ: Five Years Bold — a founder story series celebrating five years of the Brampton Venture Zone.

Sakeena is a refugee-led founder building a digital, neuroscience-based mental health platform delivering trauma care in fragile and conflict-affected contexts. Inspired by her lived experience as a survivor of war, SAVIN uses evidence-based EMDR therapy principles to make trauma treatment accessible, culturally appropriate, and scalable across languages and regions.

We explore:

• How lived experience became the foundation for a global mental health platform

• Why neuroscience-based trauma care can outperform traditional talk therapies

• The challenges of building a HealthTech company as a refugee and Muslim woman founder

• How empathy and inclusion can be operationalized at scale

• How BVZ supported SAVIN in identifying blind spots, refining its pitch, and scaling impact globally

Today, SAVIN operates across Canada and internationally, including in post-conflict regions such as Syria, supporting communities affected by trauma with dignity and care.

This episode is a special collaboration with UpNext Global and the Brampton Venture Zone by Toronto Metropolitan University, produced in celebration of BVZ’s fifth anniversary.

🎥 Watch the full video interview on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/Gxhz-q0NRWQ

Guest:
Sakeena Mihyar
Founder & CEO, SAVIN
BVZ Launch Program Alum