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Mukti Suvedi, FCT business professor, has devoted his life to peace. While traveling and living in developing nations, he witnessed conflict, struggles, and suffering, prompting him to take action, drive change, and build peace wherever he could.

He attained a Ph.D with a focus in peace and development studies and began working with international organizations to spread peace and teach his methods at colleges and universities.

Now, Suvedi has brought his passion and expertise to Fleming College Toronto, where he works as a business instructor, empowering students to grow to their fullest potential and create positive change in the world. We sat down with Suvedi to learn more about peacebuilding, business, and the experience of international students in Canada.

What is peace?

For me, peace is a context or situation where there is less stress, equity, promotion of well-being of human beings, animals, and nature. You feel the existence of peace when you go out into the world. There is no separation, anxiety, or war.

Why did you become a business instructor?

I realized that peace and entrepreneurship go hand in hand. Our financial systems and business systems have a great role to contribute to global peace. We need to change the notion of the profit-oriented business system to a transformational-oriented business system, one that promotes peace practices through business.

Imagine, if a person is hungry or doesn’t have money or resources in his pocket. The chance of conflict is higher for them than for those who already have resources. By ensuring equal access to resources, business can help prevent conflict.

How do you get business students interested in peacebuilding?

When I start teaching a class, I ask students what their vision in life is. They say pleasures, money, and all these sorts of things. I then say, “Okay, I’m going to give you an abundance of money and time. What are you going to do next?”

They usually respond by bringing up materialistic things: “I want to travel the world. I want to own something.”

Then I say, “Okay, I’m going to give you all those materialistic things. What are you going to do next?”

Eventually, they realize that what they really want is peace and happiness. They realize that money and resources become tools to achieve peace and happiness.

These are the thinking patterns that reshape their mindset.

What advice would you give a student who is new to Canada?

For international students, volunteering is the best way of learning about culture, society, and community. Volunteering brings happiness. It brings the feeling of doing something substantial. When you volunteer, you get to know people, and the community gets to know you.  

For many students, volunteering can be a milestone in their journey to success.

How does one get started? Well, in my class, I always show students the Charity Village website, which is the best resource to find organizations devoted to causes that they care about.

Anything else you would like to add?

My vision in life is adding value to the life of students and helping them grow to their fullest potential. This is what I really want to achieve. Hopefully, I will get strong enough to walk that path and promote the notions of peace through helping students and youth grow to their full potential.