Beedie School of Business News

The Executive MBA in Aboriginal Business and Leadership at Simon Fraser University’s Beedie School of Business has been selected to BC Business Magazine’s list of British Columbia’s most innovative companies.

Launched in 2012, the EMBA program is the first graduate business degree of its kind in Canada.

“B.C.’s aboriginal business community has a big stake in the province’s economic future,” notes BC Business Magazine in its April 2013 issue in referring to SFU’s newest EMBA cohort. “The program (has) attracted business leaders, administrators and senior officials as students, including Squamish Nation Chief Ian Campbell, and former mayor of West Vancouver, Pam Goldsmith-Jones.

BC Business Magazine’s annual list recognizes the top 20 organizations in the province that have used an innovative idea to build a company and redefine an industry. Keep reading…

Tags: Aboriginal busi­ness opportunities, Andrew Petter, award, BC Business, BC Business Magazine, Beedie School of Business, Executive MBA in Aboriginal Business and Leadership, First Nations, Ian Campbell, innovation, Pam Goldsmith-Jones, Simon Fraser University

Satsan (Herb George), hereditary chief of the Frog Clan of the Wet’suwet’en Nation

The Beedie School of Business at Simon Fraser University and SFU Public Square hosted Satsan (Herb George), hereditary chief of the Frog Clan of the Wet’suwet’en Nation on March 1 at SFU’s downtown Vancouver campus, as he talked about the story behind the Idle No More movement and its relevance to all Canadians today.

William Lindsay, director of the SFU Office for Aboriginal Peoples, introduced Satsan, who is also a member of the Advisory Board to Beedie’s Executive MBA in Aboriginal Business and Leadership. Lindsay was followed by Dr. Vicki Kelly, assistant professor, Indigenous Education at SFU, who played an honour song on the Native American flute to welcome Satsan into the public square.

As the musical notes echoing around the meeting room faded, Satsan explained that the Idle No More movement is concerned with sustainability for all Canadians – a powerful message given the implication of natural resources-related extraction and transportation projects located on traditional First Nations territories. Satsan noted that First Nations wish to take back their rightful place on their land, to look after it and properly protect its resources for the good of the nation. Keep reading…

Tags: Aboriginal rights, Beedie School of Business, Executive MBA in Aboriginal Business and Leadership, First Nations, Frog Clan of the Wet’suwet’en Nation, Herb George, Idle No More, Satsan, SFU Office for Aboriginal Peoples, SFU Public Square, Simon Fraser University

The Responsible Minerals Sector Initiative at the Beedie School of Business hosted the Global Exploration, Mining and Minerals Dialogue earlier this year.

The following article was first published by the Globe and Mail as a special information feature in the November 2012 issue of Report on Business Magazine.

Since launching Canada’s first Executive MBA in 1968, Simon Fraser University’s School of Business has gained a reputation for program development that meets the shifting demands of an increasingly global marketplace, as well as for its world-class research.

In 2011, the newly named Beedie School of Business built on that reputa­tion by growing a number of initiatives aimed at integrating sustainability principles with education.

Those efforts have occurred at every level of the institution, and incorporate a broad sustainability mandate, says Dean Daniel Shapiro. “A sustainable society is one that does not do harm to its environment, but is also sustainable socially and economically.” Keep reading…

Tags: Aboriginal busi­ness opportunities, Aboriginal Executive MBA, Americas EMBA, Beedie School of Business, Daimler, Daniel Shapiro, Ecotrust Canada, Executive MBA, experiential learning, First Nations, Glenn Sigurdson, Global engagement, global responsibility, Globally Responsible Leadership Initiative, Globe and Mail, GRLI, IBM, Mark Selman, Petrobas, Responsible Minerals Sector Initiative, RMSI, sfu, social entrepreneurship, sustainability, sustainable innovation, Teck

This past April, five of them, along with SFU MBA alumnus Lerato Chondoma and MBA Academic Director Dave Hannah, explored and engaged Vancouver Island Aboriginal communities in the context of not only business development, but also their traditions, beliefs and customs.

The group set off on April 23 to visit Nuu-chah-nulth communities on Vancouver Island – including Tseshaht, Ucluelet and Ahousaht – over the course of six days. The latter First Nation is the largest Nuu-chah-nulth Nation and home to Shawn Atleo, recently re-elected as national leader of Canada’s Assembly of First Nations.

During the excursion, the students visited a myriad of leading Aboriginal entrepreneurs, small- and medium-sized businesses and government agencies. These included Nuu chah nulth Economic Development Corp., First Nations Wildcrafters, Ucluth Development Corp., Iisaak Forest Resources, Tseshaht Market, White Raven Consulting and Les Sam Construction.

They also met First Nations leaders, including Michelle Corfield, an Executive in Residence at the Beedie School of Business and Chair of the Legislature at Ucluelet First Nation and Trevor Jones, CEO of Ucluelet Economic Development.

Keep reading…

Tags: Aboriginal, Clayoquot Sound, David Hannah, entrepreneurship, First Nations, First Nations Wildcrafters, Iisaak Forest Resources, Les Sam Construction, MBA, Michelle Corfield, Nuu chah nulth Economic Development Corp., SFU MBA, social innovation, Trevor Jones, Tseshaht Market, Ucluelet, Ucluelet Economic Development, Ucluelet First Nation, Ucluth Development Corp., White Raven Consulting

As Canada reflects on National Aboriginal Day and a new era for Aboriginal peoples in the country, Simon Fraser University’s Beedie School of Business is moving quickly towards the September commencement of its Executive MBA in Aboriginal Business and Leadership. The program is one of many indicators that First Nations, Métis and Inuit people are entering a new era in which their communities and nations can return to prosperity.

The new EMBA, the first of its kind in the country, meets a growing need for senior-level management education for Aboriginal managers and entrepreneurs, as well as individuals and organizations collaborating with Aboriginal communities. It will provide executive-level education that reflects the growing role of business development for First Nations.

Participants will study core management concepts and principles already included in the Executive Master of Business Administration program but will also examine business and economic issues from the perspective of First Nations. Keep reading…

Tags: Aboriginal, Aboriginal Executive MBA, Andrew Petter, Beedie School of Business, Daniel Shapiro, EMBA, Executive MBA, Executive MBA in Aboriginal Business and Leadership, First Nations, graduate programs, Mark Selman, National Aboriginal Day, Office for Aboriginal Peoples, sfu, SFU Beedie, Simon Fraser University, William Lindsay

Submitted by Ahp-cii-uk, a Beedie School of Business-supported initiative

The Nuu-chah-nulth community of Tseshaht is the first aboriginal community to pursue funding under a system developed by the Aviva Insurance Company that involves online voting to select finalists for community grants.

Tseshaht has proposed a project to build an ocean-going canoe and a canoe shed, thereby reviving important traditions within the community (carving, paddling, visiting its traditional territories, interchanges with other coastal communities) and engaging its young people. Although Tseshaht was a whaling community in the past, for the last generation or so, Tseshaht has not had a canoe that is seaworthy enough to take on the ocean. This is an opportunity to renew that tradition.

Tseshaht is involved in this project because for the last three years, it has been one of the communities involved in Ahp-cii-uk, which means “going the right way” in Nuu-chah-nulth. Ahp-cii-uk is a unique partnership of First Nations, businesses, the federal and provincial government, and has been designed and managed by Mark Selman at the Beedie School of Business.

It is an attempt to find new ways to build relationships and support First Nations in making the changes they think will make them stronger and better places to raise their children. Ahp-cii-uk has worked with first nations communities to build trails, develop cultural tourism, engage young people in apprenticeship and job readiness programs, establish artists markets, road safety programs, build playgrounds and improve the transparency of their planning and governance processes.

More importantly, Ahp-cii-uk has built a sense of hope, trust, and mutual respect in communities and between partners.

The Tseshaht First Nation grassroots community is asking for your support and vote for this important “Going Home” Canoe and Canoe Shed Project. To vote for the project:

1. Click on the following link: http://www.avivacommunityfund.org/ideas/acf11193
2. click on “Vote Now” button
3. Register to vote by entering your name and email address. Create a password.
4. Receive a confirmation to your email, click on the link
5. Sign in with your email address and password
6. Click on the “vote now” button again.
7. You have a maximum of 15 votes but only one vote per day.
8. Voting for round 2 closes on 9 November 2011.
9. Vote now and help the community of Tseshaht make it through to the semi-finals.

For more information:

Lerato Chondoma
Ahp-cii-uk Community Liaison
778.862.8982

Mark Selman
Beedie School of Business
778.782.5070

Tags: Aboriginal, Ahp-cii-uk, First Nations, Mark Selman, Nuu-chah-nulth, Tseshaht