York University’s Schulich School of Business has partnered with A Different Booklist Cultural Centre in Toronto to launch an” introduction to business ” certificate program. for Toronto’s Black community.

The webinar program  which if free of charge, covers topics that range from marketing and accounting to leadership and human resources management and concludes with a session on how to develop a business plan. Each webinar is 75 minutes in length and includes a lecture from a Schulich professor, a discussion with a Black entrepreneur, and a Q-and-A session.

Professor Ashwin Joshi, director of the school’s MBA program said he  had been thinking about the need for such a program for some time, when a friend of his wife, introduced him to Itah Sadu,  managing director of  A Different Booklist Cultural Centre, and the  partnership was created to bring the academic opportunity directly to the community.

The course came out of a “desire to see a greater relationship between Schulich and community,” Sadu said.

She  noted that  at this  time there is a greater call for the university to become more accessible to local and racialized communities.

Joshi said that he hopes that the course  ” will be one of several initiatives over a sustained period of time in terms of engagement with the Black community with the intent of having that community grow in strength, numbers [and] representation at the Schulich School of Business,”

Participants who complete all the webinars will receive a Certificate of Completion.

For more information on the webinar series, visit https://adbcc.org.