Chandra Sundareswaran is the Director of the Centre for Learning Enterprise and Partnerships at Curtin University. Chandra is an entrepreneur with over two decades of experience in diverse sectors across the social enterprise, not-for-profit, retail, renewable energy, carbon markets and manufacturing sectors in India and Australia. Chandra has a personal commitment to social equity and is constantly looking for innovative solutions to foster sustainability and social inclusion through entrepreneurial activity. 

Having founded and operated startups, Chandra has a deep understanding of the needs of early and growth stage startup business and projects. His work on innovation projects with government, industry and tertiary education over the past decade makes him acutely aware of the challenges and the opportunities in driving innovation in large organisations and jurisdictions.

Chandra has previously led the Australian Energy Foundation’s social enterprise startup, Positive Charge, which delivered cost-effective community sustainability services to over 20 local governments in the East Coast of Australia – reducing emissions and empowering households and businesses to manage rising energy costs. 

Prior to joining Curtin, Chandra was the General Manager of Spacecubed, where he led business development and relationship management with key stakeholders including industry, government and academia. Over the six years in the role, he led the development and delivery of key startup and technology learning programs like Plus Eight and She Codes, delivered in partnership with industry.

Chandra also supports The Underground Collaborative, IDEA Academy, Hola Health and All Saints College in Board and Advisory capacities.