Qissa Stories

What Qissa Stories does

Qissa (operating as Qissa Stories) is a Toronto-based non-profit storytelling platform founded in 2020 by anthropologists, oral historians and published authors Anam Zakaria and Haroon Khalid, and incorporated as a non-profit in 2024. The organization documents, archives, and exhibits oral histories of immigrants to Canada, deliberately telling stories in immigrants' own voices to challenge what it terms the "western gaze" through which immigrant narratives are typically framed. Its methodology combines academic rigor in anthropology and oral history with trauma-informed interview practices informed by Zakaria's counselling psychology training.

The core technology and offering is not a software product but a portfolio of oral history projects and accompanying cultural services. Major projects include Driving Canada (documenting immigrant Uber drivers in Toronto, partnered with the Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21 and Toronto Ward Museum, with funding from Digital Museums Canada), Creative Canada (video-based oral histories of immigrant and refugee artists), the annual Qissa Festival celebrating newcomer and refugee writers (inaugurated March 2026 at Small World Music Centre in Toronto), the North Battleford Immigrant Oral History Project (rural Saskatchewan), and the Diasporic Communities archive focused on pre-2000 immigrants. Supporting services include qualitative research, workshops (delivered at institutions including University of Toronto, Al Jazeera Media Institute, and University of Iowa), cultural consultancy, and digital and physical exhibition development.

Qissa operates as a registered Canadian charity (Charity Number #732323126 RR0001) and is funded through a diversified mix of charitable donations (processed via The Veritas Foundation), project-based grants from cultural institutions, workshop and consultancy fees, and earned media-driven community engagement. Distribution occurs through digital exhibition platforms, pop-up physical exhibitions at partner venues, festival programming, and institutional partnerships with museums, universities and diaspora organizations. The organization is small, led by its two co-founders, and currently serves Canadian immigrant, refugee and diasporic communities along with institutional clients seeking cultural inclusivity expertise.

Name

Qissa Stories

Legal name

Qissa

Website

https://qissa.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2020

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Qissa is a Toronto-based non-profit storytelling platform that documents, archives, and exhibits oral histories of immigrants to Canada through projects, festivals, exhibitions, research, and consultancy services for newcomer communities and cultural institutions.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Community Storytelling and Oral History Services

NAICS

Museums, Historical Sites, and Similar Institutions (712)

SIC

Miscellaneous Publishing (2741), Services-Miscellaneous Amusement & Recreation (7990)

akta.pro primary industry

Indigenous, Ethnic & Folk Arts/Heritage Organizations (BPAGAHAI)

akta.pro secondary industry

Cultural Festivals & Events Organizations (BPAGAHAG)

Keywords

• Oral history documentation
• Immigrant storytelling
• Cultural consultancy
• Qualitative research services
• Community oral history archives

Headquarters

HQ city

Toronto

HQ country

Canada

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Donations and Charitable Contributions: Qissa is a registered Canadian charity (#732323126 RR0001). Donations are processed through The Veritas Foundation and provide charitable tax credits to donors.
2. Consultancy Services: Cultural consultancy services to organizations including newcomer experience consulting, cultural consultancy for belonging, storytelling and narrative consultancy, and report writing. Clients include Dancemakers, UNESCO, WWF, and others.
3. Workshop Delivery: Educational workshops on storytelling, narrative development, feature writing, and challenging the western gaze. Delivered at universities, media organizations, and cultural institutions including University of Toronto, Al Jazeera Media Institute, University of Iowa, and Kolkata Partition Museum.
4. Grant Funding: Project-based grants from cultural institutions including Digital Museums Canada investment program for the Driving Canada digital exhibition, and support from Rob and Nora Rongve Family Fund for North Battleford project.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Qissa is a non-profit storytelling platform that documents, archives, and exhibits oral histories of immigrants to Canada. It operates a portfolio of oral history projects (Driving Canada, Creative Canada, North Battleford, Diasporic Communities), an annual festival celebrating newcomer writers, and fee-based services including qualitative research, workshops, and cultural consultancy for organizations.

Product overview

Qissa is a non-profit storytelling platform that documents, archives, and exhibits oral histories of immigrants to Canada. Rather than a unified software product, Qissa operates as a portfolio of oral history projects and cultural services. The core offerings include: Driving Canada (documenting immigrant Uber drivers through interviews and exhibitions), Creative Canada (capturing immigrant artists' journeys), the annual Qissa Festival (celebrating newcomer writers), and the Diasporic Communities project (archiving pre-2000 immigrant stories). Supporting these are Qualitative Research services, Workshops (storytelling and writing mentorship), Consultancies (inclusion and narrative advisory), and Digital Exhibitions. The organization functions as an artistic collective and community archive rather than a technology product.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Driving Canada: A Front Seat View of Immigration through Uber: An oral history project documenting the experiences of immigrants and refugees in Toronto who drive for Uber
• Creative Canada
• Qissa Festival: Celebrating Newcomer & Refugee Writers
• Diasporic Communities
• North Battleford Immigrant Oral History Project

Products and services

• Driving Canada: A Front Seat View of Immigration through Uber An oral history project documenting the experiences of immigrants in Canada who drive for Uber, exploring underemployment and the immigrant experience through recorded interviews and multimedia storytelling.
• Creative Canada A video-based oral history project documenting the lives and creative journeys of immigrant and refugee artists in Canada, exploring how artists navigate shifting geographies, audiences, and expectations.
• Qissa Festival: Celebrating Newcomer and Refugee Writers An annual multidisciplinary arts festival celebrating the creative work of newcomer and refugee artists, featuring literature, storytelling, music, performance, film, exhibitions, and community experiences.
• North Battleford Immigrant Oral History Project A project documenting the lives, journeys, and contributions of immigrants living in North Battleford and surrounding regions through in-depth oral history interviews.
• Diasporic Communities An ongoing initiative dedicated to documenting and archiving oral histories of individuals from diverse diasporic communities in Canada who immigrated before 2000.
• Qualitative Research Services Specialized qualitative research services including life stories, oral histories, qualitative interviews, and organizational histories, drawing on anthropological expertise.
• Workshops Storytelling and writing workshops covering craft mentorship, narrative development, feature writing, and challenging dominant narratives, delivered by experienced educators and researchers.
• Consultancies Consultancy services including newcomer experiences, cultural consultancy, storytelling and narrative consultancy, and report writing, designed to help organizations create inclusive spaces.
• Digital and Physical Exhibitions Innovative exhibition development grounded in oral histories, transforming immigrant stories into immersive experiences that deepen understanding and spark dialogue.

Quantifiable outcome

• 2026 Qissa Festival featured original works developed collaboratively with 8 newcomer and refugee writers
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature2 records

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

• World Education Services (WES)minorGTM or Marketing Partner · 1 May 2025Qissa brought the Driving Canada exhibition to WES' 25th Anniversary celebrations in Toronto through a pop-up exhibition. WES supported sharing these stories with a wider audience and sparking conversations about migration and recognition.
• Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 October 2024Qissa collaborated with CMIP on the Driving Canada: A Front Seat View of Immigration through Uber project. The museum provided institutional partnership for collecting and exhibiting oral histories of immigrant Uber drivers. Oral histories were recorded October 25-28, 2024, with the museum's support and future exhibition potential.
• Toronto Ward MuseumcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerQissa partnered with Toronto Ward Museum to develop the Driving Canada: A Digital Exhibition. The museum provides curatorial support and community connection for the interactive online exhibition project.
• The Veritas FoundationminorGTM or Marketing PartnerThe Veritas Foundation processes donations for Qissa and provides charitable tax credit infrastructure for donors. Partnership enables donation processing and registered charity compliance.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• StoryCenter: Non-profit focused on digital storytelling workshops and first-person narrative media for social impact. Comparable in combining oral history methods with workshop delivery and digital exhibitions.
• StoryCorps: US-based non-profit that records, preserves, and shares oral histories of everyday people, with a national archive and radio broadcasts. Most directly comparable to Qissa in mission, methodology, and community-driven storytelling model.
• The Immigrant Story: Portland-based non-profit that collects and shares immigrant stories through exhibitions, oral histories, and events. Closest US analog to Qissa's immigrant oral history and exhibition model.

Broad incumbents

• The Moth: Storytelling non-profit that produces live events and a popular podcast/radio show featuring first-person true stories. Comparable in promoting personal narrative as a cultural and community-building practice.
• The Tenement Museum: Lower East Side NYC museum telling immigrant stories through preserved historic spaces and guided narrative tours. Comparable in using place-based storytelling to surface immigrant experiences for public audiences.
• Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21: Canada's national museum of immigration and a Qissa partner. Larger, federally-supported institution that curates immigration narratives, providing institutional context for Qissa's more grassroots oral history approach.
• Museum of Chinese in America (MOCA): US-based heritage museum preserving and presenting Chinese American history through exhibitions and oral histories. Comparable as a diaspora-focused heritage institution with oral history programming.

Others

• Writers' Trust of Canada: Canadian literary non-profit that supports writers through prizes, fellowships, and programs. Comparable as a Canada-based literary ecosystem partner and potential funding/distribution ally for Qissa's writer-focused programming.

Regional players

• Voices of Immigrant Women (VIFON): Canadian non-profit amplifying immigrant women's voices through storytelling, advocacy, and community programs. Comparable as a Canada-based immigrant-focused narrative organization, though narrower in demographic focus.
• Storytellers of Canada: Canadian organization supporting the art of oral storytelling through festivals, workshops, and performer networks. Comparable in combining workshops, events, and oral narrative practice within Canada.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/qissastories

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Qissa Stories