2026 EKO Tribute Award for Partnership

Nadia Hamilton always imagined a life in service of her community. After graduating university with a degree in political science and history, she thought of a career in the military or policing. While spending time with her brother Troy, who is neurodivergent, she became frustrated by the systemic barriers and lack of opportunities he faced. She channeled that frustration, determined to create a bridge “from the couch to the community” for those like Troy who must navigate what is so often an inaccessible world.

Over the years Nadia had created visual step-by-step guides to help her brother around the house. Driven by a belief that we have a responsibility to engage and empower everyone in our community, Nadia began imagining an app to host these visual guides as a way to help people with autism, neurodiversity—even dementia—navigate daily tasks.

She found out about Project Wildfire, a business pitch competition and incubator run by the Centre for Social Innovation and she entered her idea. Nadia’s pitch received initial investment, and the MagnusCards app was born. Through community collaborations with Autism Ontario and the Geneva Centre for Autism, Nadia got feedback from parents and users, improved the product, and officially launched with a few social posts. Right away MagnusCards was downloaded in 22 countries—a global impact Nadia never imagined.

Another turn of luck propelled Magnusmode (the business) and MagnusCards (it’s first solution) to the next level when Nadia was invited to appear on TVO’s The Agenda with Steve Paikin. That interview attracted the attention of CIBC. The bank wanted to assist neurodivergent customers in using their services—like getting a credit card, avoiding fraud, and creating a budget.

Working with CIBC unlocked a new model of Inclusion Partners that pay to develop and host their visual guides on the app. This meant MagnusCards would remain free of charge for users, while enabling corporate partners to fulfill their obligations to be accessible for all under the Canadian Disability Act, the AODA and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.

By 2016, with funding from the Ontario Centre of Excellences, the Business Development Bank of Canada, and angel investors, Magnusmode’s growth and impact grew globally with hundreds of thousands of MagnusCards users, and over 50 Inclusion Partners across North America ranging from international airports, restaurants, transit systems, cultural institutions, and Fortune 500 companies like to TD Bank, J.M. Smucker, and Kraft Heinz.

Magnusmode has also developed and commercialized other accessibility solutions: MagnusLearn (a disability empathy training module fueled by storytelling) and MagnusTeams (a dashboard empowering neurodiverse employment). The company was recently acquired by Vertus Group, a division of Constellation Software; a major milestone for a social purpose company and for Nadia as a minority and female founder. The acquisition brings global growth and expansion with even more resources to back the quickly growing company. Nadia's vision fuels Magnusmode’s next phase: the goal has always been to create a truly accessible world and foster a positive mindset around disability...with Magnusmode as a uniting flag.

This EKO Tribute Award of Excellence has made Nadia, and the entire Magnusmode team, feel deeply honoured and recognized—with the added impact of the recognition coming directly from the community that means the most to them. Nadia sees the award as “saying thank you for seeing us and we see you.” As a young entrepreneur, her advice to others comes from her life-long love of chess, where you must look five, even ten steps ahead. “The only distinction,” Nadia says, “is the importance of collaboration.”

Magnusmode has taken Nadia around the world—from Nigeria to Vietnam. Whatever comes next, Nadia says, will continue to uplift the community.