BCBusiness

34 B C B U S I N E S S . C A J U N E 2 0 2 5 G GROWING UP in rural Ontario, Carla Guerrera experienced firsthand the way a community can either support or hinder a person's quality of life. Living on the outskirts of town—sur- rounded by cornfields and farmland—she saw both the strengths and shortcomings of small-town living. Her parents, both hairdressers and the own- ers of a salon, taught her the value of resourcefulness, vision and hard work. Their entrepre- neurial spirit became a guiding force in helping her dream big. CARLA GUERRERA F O U N D E R A N D C E O, P U R P O S E D R I V E N D E V E L O P M E N T ENTREPRENEURIAL LE ADER However, it was her father's first bold venture into land development, transforming an apple orchard into a residential cul-de-sac that he named Carla Court, that truly ignited her pas- sion: city building. Inspired by her father's tenacity in navigating the com- plexity of developing land, Guerrera became interested in the ways that cities can con- tribute to well-being, social connection and environmental sustainability. Following this curiosity in her 20s, she lived in some of Europe's most cel- ebrated cities—Bologna and Siena in Italy, and Grenoble in France—reinforcing her desire to create communities that bet- ter people's lives. After leading one of Can- ada's first climate-positive developments in Toronto, the West Don Lands, Guerrera quickly recognized that devel- opments focused on the "triple bottom-line"—in other words, supporting people, profit and the planet versus profit alone— achieve greater success. Follow- ing this experience, Guerrera worked in Vancouver's pri- vate sector, where she grew frustrated with the industry's profit-first approach. Seeing how projects driven solely by financial interests faced more roadblocks, she became deter- mined to change the system. "The juxtaposition between the two experiences led me to see a huge disconnect in what we were doing and who we were benefiting," she says. In 2016, she founded Pur- pose Driven Development to bring a rigorous private sector framework to nonprofits, First Nations communities, faith- based organizations, institu- tions and governments. "There are a lot of groups who want to do good with their land, but don't have the development expertise, capacity or financ- ing," says Guerrera. "This is where we come in." The firm is currently lead- ing Vancouver's largest social housing project, a collabora- tion with Soroptimist Interna- tional of Vancouver. Last year, the all-female team secured $85 million in financing to build a 13-storey, 135-unit rental hous- ing project dedicated to inter- generational women. G u e r r e r a's i m p a c t i s proof that real estate devel- opment, when approached with purpose, can be both financially viable and socially transformative.–R.W. "There are a lot of groups who want to do good with their land, but don't have the development expertise, capacity or financing. This is where we come in."

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