Executive MBA in Aboriginal Business and Leadership
IBF Entrepreneur Online – The Executive MBA in Aboriginal Business and Leadership explores contemporary business issues and knowledge while recognizing that the traditional protocols and ways of understanding the world are also growing and changing as new generations assume responsibility for moving forward. The program includes the core concepts and knowledge included in most MBA programs, but recognizes that traditional knowledge also plays a significant role in aboriginal leadership and decision making. It is designed for aboriginal and non-aboriginal students working within this context.
Business and economic development education are increasingly important to First Nations, Metis and Inuit in terms of establishing independent sources of income and control over traditional territories. Business skills and knowledge are also important in protecting and growing resources available through impact benefit agreements or revenue sharing arrangements with governments. On an individual level, Aboriginal people are increasingly turning to entrepreneurial activities as a way to build security for their families and as a means of expressing their independence and creativity.
The Beedie School has many years of experience customizing programs and courses to meet the needs of individual students and is used to working with adults who have already proved themselves but want to enhance their capacities.
Executive MBA in Aboriginal Business and Leadership student Sheryl Fisher spoke with NationTalk, Canada’s premier Aboriginal newswire, employment, and events service. In the interview, she explains why she made the decision to switch her major from law to business, and discusses the differences between a traditional MBA program and the Beedie EMBA in Aboriginal Business and Leadership.
Watch a video featuring Professor Stephen Cornell discussing The Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development and its Application to Canadian Aboriginal Business. (1:38:00 in length)
The lecture is part of a course Prof. Cornell is teaching in the EMBA in Aboriginal Business and Leadership program. A panel of three joined Dr. Cornell in a discussion: Dr. Sophie Pierre, Chief Commissioner of the B.C. Treaty Commission, Lori Simcox, Senior Manager Tsleil Waututh Nation Economic Development, and Dr. Doug McArthur, SFU School of Public Policy.
Professor Stephen Cornell is the Co-Director, Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development; Professor of Sociology and of Government and Public Policy and the Director of the Udall Center for Studies in Public Policy at the University of Arizona; as well as a faculty associate with the Native Nations Institute for Leadership, Management, and Policy.
