By Ammi Parmar
Students can now graduate with a certification in business and multiculturalism.
Ryerson’s G. Raymond Chang School of Continuing Education launched the first-in-Canada entrepreneurship and multiculturalism program, which will take off in the winter.
The program was started by Steven Tissenbaum, adjunct professor with the Ted Rogers School of Management. He got the idea from his students, who expressed an interest in starting new businesses and serving a diverse market.
“What first gave me the idea was the sheer size, the growth in the multiculturalism community,” Tissenbaum said. “The multiculturalism communities are not being served by advertising and promotion as much as others. Multiculturalism businesses have always existed — I wanted to help these businesses to better understand how to go about expanding their business in a cheaper, more efficient way.”
With the help of entrepreneurship professor Sean Wise and Linda Koechli, program director at the Chang School, Tissenbaum worked to get the certificate approved.
Wise, now the academic coordinator for the certificate, said the program is aimed at students who seek an entrepreneurial opportunity in culturally diverse markets, as well as for newcomers from those markets to leverage their diversity as a competitive advantage.
“In today’s economy, a startup is global on day one. So understanding different cultures and investing into emerging markets is now synonymous with entrepreneurship,” Wise said.
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