Training Flourishing Business Model Design

Flourishing Business Model Design

Design Enterprises That Enable Flourishing Futures

 

A flourishing business model design experience that will transform the way that you think about and do business

To flourish, we must embrace new ways of thinking, being, and acting.

This is especially true when reimagining what flourishing means in the context of business design. It calls for new tools and methods, innovative language, and bold new paradigms for how businesses can support and enable a flourishing world.

The Flourishing Business Model Design Course will support you to design, test, and refine your own business model using the Flourishing Business Canvas while developing the critical skills, mindsets, and contextual understanding essential for creating regenerative ventures.

The course combines self‑paced online learning with weekly live group coaching by the creators of the Flourishing Business Canvas and Flourishing Startup Method

 

Georgian College Completion Badge |  Hybrid learning | Self-paced | Design your own Flourishing Business Model
 

Ready to Shape a Flourishing Future?

This isn’t just another course.  We live in a time of intersecting crises: social, ecological, and economic. Traditional models of doing business often reinforce the very problems we’re trying to solve. To flourish, we must embrace new ways of thinking, being, and acting, and that all begins with how we design our businesses.

This course helps you move beyond extractive models and toward regenerative enterprise design. You’ll learn to see business as a powerful tool for enabling flourishing futures, grounded in systems thinking, equity, and innovation.

What Others are Saying

“I feel inspired. The course has given me new ways to design programs, services, and projects within my organization.” 

— Nonprofit Leader

“This course expands venture design thinking. If the lean start‑up and business model canvas is high school, the flourishing start‑up method and flourishing business canvas is post‑growth and post‑secondary.” — Entrepreneur

“I learned how to design business models that meaningfully incorporate environmental, societal, and economic benefits at the same time.” — Business Leader

“It’s an excellent mix of technical training and personal support that I’m already integrating directly into my own business.”
— Entrepreneur

“This course has me completely rethinking the way I offer my business coaching services.” — Business Coach

“I left the course inspired, hopeful, and grateful for the opportunity to learn such in‑depth practices and exercises that help me better understand and do flourishing business modelling for myself and the classes I teach.” — Educator

Is this Course for You?

For the shift toward flourishing futures to happen, we need people from all walks of life to reimagine what business can be and to put those ideas into practice.

This is not a course only for entrepreneurs or executives. We welcome anyone committed to shaping enterprises, projects, and communities that enable people, nature, and economies to thrive.

Here are some of the folks who most often join us:

  • Entrepreneurs starting or growing a venture who want to embed flourishing principles from the ground up.

  • Leaders of established businesses or non-profits who are ready to explore regenerative, future-fit models.

  • Consultants, coaches, and mentors looking to expand their toolkit with flourishing-focused business design.

  • Educators in innovation, strategy, or entrepreneurship seek to equip learners with next-generation tools, models and skills.

  • Facilitators or program designers in startup accelerators and incubators who want to integrate flourishing business design into their programs.

  • Stewards of bioregional initiatives such as eco-villages, landscape restoration, and community regeneration, looking for business models that sustain their work.

  • Leaders of community-driven projects tackling social, environmental, or economic challenges who want to strengthen their impact through flourishing design.

No matter your sector, background, or starting point, if you’re ready to challenge business-as-usual and design for thriving futures, you’ll find your place here. 

 

Course Info

September 26, 2025 – January 30, 2026

Time Investment

30 hours of self-paced online learning  Interactive platform with videos, readings, your own flourishing business canvas and reflection activities.

Weekly 1-hour live, interactive group coaching  Wednesdays 10:30 EST / 4:00 pm CET: Program support and peer learning

Additional resources and tools to go deep Available in the learning platform

Optional Peer Meet-Ups
Design your Floruishing Business Model with your peers

Completion Badge

Upon completion, receive a badge from Georgian College of Applied Arts and Technology, Ontario, Canada.

Your badge makes you eligible to complete the full Micro-Certificate in Flourishing Business Design.  See more info below. 

Membership to The Flourishing CoLab 

The course includes access to the Flourishing Business Community

Contribution 

Full-paying participants: C$425  / €275 / US$300  Sign Up Here

Students or those not in full-time employment: C$200 /  €130 / US$145   Sign Up Here

Pay-it-forward: Make a difference by buying seats for others:  Sign Up Here

Closed group cohort:  Work together through the course with your team on your organization’s business model.  Rates available on request.  Enquire Here 

Scholarship:  We appreciate that economic realities differ around the world and don’t want there to be barriers to benefiting from this course.  Apply Here by 23 September 2025.

November 2025 Cohort

Miss this cohort? The next cohort starts November 10, 2025  – March 13, 2026.  Join the Waitlist Here

Questions

If you have further questions, please contact us.

In this course, you will:

Build foundational knowledge of flourishing-centred business design.

Learn to use the Flourishing Business Canvas to design the business model of your own venture or an organization you support.

Explore the integration of your personal and business journey, refine your business model, and test its assumptions using design practices aligned with flourishing goals.

Complete a flourishing competency assessment to identify opportunities for continued growth and learning. 

Explore new language to enable new possibilities. 

Earn a badge from Georgian College of Applied Arts and Technology, Ontario, Canada and become eligible to complete the full Micro-Certificate in Flourishing Business Design.

Join the Flourishing Business Community, a worldwide community of peers, innovators, and changemakers re-shaping the future of business.

Meet your coaches

Ondine Hogeboom 

Director & Co-Founder of Flourishing Startups.

Ondine is an impact entrepreneur having started 7 social enterprises, an educator, and a researcher who has designed over 25 startup programs and supported more than 12,000 learners globally. She brings systems thinking and co‑creation to help you imagine and build flourishing futures. Ondine is the co-creator of the Flourishing Startup Method.

Linkedin

Photo of Antony Upward

Antony Upward

Originator of the Flourishing Business Canvas, and Co-Founder of the Flourishing Enterprise Co-Lab.

Antony is a globally recognized thought leader and management consultant with over 35 years of experience. He oriented the freely available Flourishing Business Canvas, now used in over 70 countries, to enable organizations to be ready for the very different futures that are emerging

Linkedin

Together, Ondine and Antony bring you expertise and insights grounded in years of research and real‑world practice.

The Learning Journey

The course guides you through three learning phases: Groundwork, Practice, and Reflect.

You’ll engage with interactive materials, videos, reflection exercises, and practical tools that you can continue using long after the course ends, all designed to guide you in creating your own Flourishing Business Canvas. By the end of the program, you’ll have a completed canvas that has gone through multiple iterations, each refining and strengthening your business model.

Build a solid foundation for flourishing‑centred business model design.

Lesson 1: What is Flourishing
Uncover the challenges of current sustainability approaches and discover why a flourishing‑centred perspective matters.

Lesson 2: What is Business Model Design
Learn the foundations of business model design and discover how a flourishing‑centred approach reimagines what’s possible

Lesson 3: What is the Flourishing Business Canvas
Get to know the structure and language of the Flourishing Business Canvas and learn how it supports regenerative business creation.

Apply what you’re learning as you design your own Flourishing Business Canvas.

Lesson 4: Build a Flourishing Business Canvas
Start working on your flourishing business canvas and dive deeper into the key language and concepts that shape flourishing enterprises.

Lesson 5: Create an Enterprise Golden Circle. Define your vision and purpose, and see how they drive flourishing business model design.

Lesson 6: Design a Flourishing Business Model
Practice using design processes to refine and evolve your business model for greater alignment and impact.

Lesson 7: Explore Your Personal Journey
Reflect on how your values, lived experience, and worldview shape the way you imagine and design a flourishing business model.

Lesson 8: Validate a Flourishing Business Model
Learn validation practices aligned with flourishing principles to test your assumptions and ensure your model describes your enterprise so it meets real-world needs.

Bring it all together to take your learning forward and apply it to change the way you imagine the future of business.

Lesson 9: Embrace Complexity and Business Model Competencies
Reflect on your journey, dive into the complexities of flourishing business design, and complete a competency assessment to identify opportunities for future growth

Summary and What’s Next
Complete your final reflections and find out how to continue your journey with the full Micro‑Certificate in Flourishing Business Design.

Your pathway to the Micro-Certificate in Flourishing Business Design

The Flourishing Business Model Design Course is the essential first step toward earning the Micro-Certificate in Flourishing Business Design through Georgian College of Applied Arts and Technology,  Ontario, Canada.

This is the world’s first formal credential in regenerative business model design. This academic program is designed for entrepreneurial coaches, startup enablers, and business consultants who want to support the creation of next-generation enterprises.

After completing this course,  Course 1, you can continue with:

Course 2: Deep Dive into the Flourishing Startup Method
Gain a richer understanding of the principles and practices behind the Flourishing Startup Method, strengthening your ability to design programs, engagements and support flourishing enterprises.

Course 3: Applied Practicum with a Startup Team
Work directly with a real startup team to apply the method in practice, guiding them through designing their own flourishing business model.

Important: Completion of the Flourishing Business Model Design Course is a prerequisite for joining the Micro-Certificate program.

The next Micro-Certificate cohort will commence in 2026, with dates to be announced soon. Join the waitlist here. 

Our Commitment to You

We designed this program intentionally to create a space where you feel supported to learn, stretch your thinking, and show up authentically.

We aim to foster a responsible space that values and respects all backgrounds and identities.  A responsible space welcomes everyone, regardless of race, gender, abilities, language, or lived experience. It’s supportive and non‑threatening, so you can share honestly without fear of discrimination or reprisal. In this space, we all t

Land Acknowledgement

We designed this program on the traditional, unceded lands of the Kanien’kehá:ka (Mohawk) and Haudenosaunee peoples in Tiohtià:ke/Montréal, and the Mississaugas of the Credit, Anishinaabe, Haudenosaunee, and Huron-Wendat nations in Tkaronto/Toronto—territories connected by the St. Lawrence and Lake Ontario watershed. We honour the enduring relationships these Indigenous communities maintain with this land and water and offer gratitude for their stewardship past, present, and future.

Q1: Do I need a background in business model design to take this course?
No prior experience is required. If you’re new to business model design, you’ll learn how to create your own from the ground up. If you already have experience, you’ll deepen and expand your skills through the lens of flourishing business design.

Q2: Do I need to have a business to do this course? No, you don’t. You can choose to work on your own business model, your organization’s business model, or use a business idea we provide for you to explore.

Q3: What if I am unable to complete the course after I start?
If life gets in the way, you can join the next cohort to finish where you left off.

Q4: What is your refund policy?
If you cancel before the program starts, you’ll receive a 100% refund. Once the program has started, refunds are not available, but you can rejoin a future cohort.

Q5: Will I receive a certificate upon completing this program?
Yes. You’ll earn a completion badge Georgian College of Applied Arts and Technology, Ontario, Canada and unlock your eligibility for the full academic Micro-Certificate in Flourishing Business Design.

Q6: What if I miss some of the live coaching sessions?
These sessions are not mandatory.  However, based on feedback from past participants, they provide a highly valuable learning opportunity.  We strongly encourage you to attend the weekly live sessions for peer learning and real-time coaching. These sessions are not recorded because they include interactive group activities. There will be no coaching sessions from December 19 to January 2 due to a scheduled holiday break.

Q7: Are coaching sessions offered at different times for other time zones?
Yes. If more than four people join from Pacific time zones, we’ll add a coaching session that fits your schedule.

Q8: Are scholarship opportunities available?
Yes. We appreciate that economic realities differ around the world and don’t want there to be barriers to benefiting from this course.  Please apply for a scholarship here

Q9: I have accessibility needs. Can this program support me?
Absolutely. please contact us so we can discuss how to support your learning needs. 

Q10: Can I speak with someone before signing up?
Yes, definitely! If you have questions please contact us