MOT MBA alumnus awarded Fulbright Scholarship

Management of Technology (MOT) MBA alumnus Rick Colbourne.

Beedie School of Business Management of Technology (MOT) MBA alumnus Rick Colbourne has been awarded a Fulbright Visiting Research Chair in Indigenous Entrepreneurship at the University of Arizona.

The Canada-U.S. Fulbright Scholar Program provides the opportunity for outstanding Canadian scholars to lecture and conduct research in the United States.

Colbourne was a member of the first MOT MBA cohort, and has since taught in universities across the globe, including the Beedie Executive MBA and MOT MBA programs.

His research focuses on how the practice of Indigenous entrepreneurship interacts with the complexity and diversity of Indigenous communities to facilitate and/or constrain the development of Indigenous entrepreneurial ecosystems. It examines how an Indigenous community’s particular geographical location, traditional knowledge, culture, values, traditions, and social needs frame and influence Indigenous entrepreneurial activities.

His research in the United States will connect to Indigenous business research he is undertaking with colleagues in Canada and beyond.

“Indigenous entrepreneurship is not just about money, it is about history, traditions, culture and language embedded in time and traditional territory,” says Colbourne. “It is the creation, management, and development of new ventures by Indigenous people for the benefit of Indigenous people. I hope to develop strong insights into the range of factors involved in developing an inclusive, just, and sustainable Indigenous entrepreneurial ecosystems for Indigenous peoples in Canada.”

The research will build on Colbourne’s significant experience working with Indigenous communities and on the insights and understandings he gained in designing and delivering programs for Indigenous business students and senior leaders in BC, Canada, and other countries, including New Zealand.

The Foundation for Educational Exchange between Canada and the United States of America (Fulbright Canada) is a binational, treaty-based, non-governmental, not-for-profit organization with a mandate to identify the best and brightest minds in both countries and engage them in residential academic exchange.

For more information, visit fulbright.ca/2016/08/Fulbright-Canada-Announces-the-Class-of-2017