Thrive with a challenging and rewarding career as an entrepreneur.

The two-year Business - Management and Entrepreneurship Ontario College Diploma program provides you with the knowledge and skills for a successful career in management or ownership of a small or medium-sized enterprise.

This program has a strong focus on business trends, developing an entrepreneurial mindset, and innovation in a digital economy. It encourages your creativity, strategic thinking and originality, as you cultivate the skills to start up and run a small business.

Explore your talents and creativity through hands-on projects that can be customized to your interests. Learn about business concepts and how to:

• develop a good business idea
• create a business model
• validate your business through market research
• manage people and resources
• understand financial information
• gain customer attention and sell
• create a digital presence
• launch a business

Create a start-up idea that you develop and enhance throughout the program. Complete multiple team-based projects, including the creation of an online store as well as the presentation of a comprehensive business plan.

Our campus is the ideal place for an entrepreneur. Program faculty include entrepreneurs and business owners who continue to keep up with trends in their areas of specialization. You have access to the Discovery, Applied Research and Entrepreneurship (DARE) District and our entrepreneurship and innovation centre. Activities such as the AC Market, B-ME Grill and Wolves Den provide you with opportunities for hands-on, experiential learning. You will benefit from our partnership with Shopify, which provides free access to a world-class e-commerce platform to create and launch your business during the course of your studies.

Students also have the option to gain real-world experience through a paid co-operative education (co-op) work term (see Additional Information for more details). Please note that places in the co-op work term are subject to availability and academic eligibility. Please note admission to the co-op program does not guarantee a co-op placement.

Upon graduation, you are ready for a variety of career paths. You may start a business, manage an existing business, continue your education or find a career in:

• eCommerce
• marketing
• digital marketing
• visual merchandising
• store planning
• professional sales
• social media
• marketing research
• purchasing
• retail
• customer service and management

NOTE: Students complete Levels 01 and 02 in Year one, followed by a mandatory one-semester break, then complete Levels 03 and 04 in Year two. See Additional Information for details regarding program progression.

SUCCESS FACTORS

This program is well-suited for students who:

• Want to control their destiny and start a small-to-medium-sized business.
• Are interested in leveraging their entrepreneurial spirit to manage an existing business.
• Learn in an environment that encourages the generation of new ideas.
• Strive to become strategic thinkers and find better ways of doing things.
• Get the job done by being proactive.
• Are interested in being a part of a like-minded group of students and faculty that helps them achieve their goals.

Careers

Small and medium-sized businesses are the fastest growing sector of the economy, locally and internationally. Graduates are sought after in all industry sectors for their entrepreneurial spirit, creative and problem-solving skills and their ability to successfully adapt to constant change in the business world.

Most graduates have chosen to open their own business or take over their family business. Others are gainfully employed in a wide range of business activities including visual merchandising, store planning, sales (both business-to-business and business-to-consumer), sales promotion, marketing, social media, marketing research, purchasing, customer service and management. Opportunities may be available with domestic and international retailing, manufacturing, service and wholesaling firms, and in government departments and agencies.

Pathways

Please note: There may be more pathways available for this program than are listed here. Please use our Pathways search tool to see every option.

The graduate has reliably demonstrated the ability to:

1. Identify and discuss the impact of global issues on an organization`s business opportunities by using an environmental scan.
2. Apply principles of corporate sustainability, corporate social responsibility and ethics to support an organization`s business initiatives.
3. Use current concepts/systems and technologies to support an organization`s business initiatives.
4. Apply basic research skills to support business decision making.
5. Support the planning, implementation and monitoring of projects.
6. Perform work in compliance with relevant statutes, regulations and business practices.
7. Explain the role of the human resource function and its impact on an organization.
8. Use accounting and financial principles to support the operations of an organization.
9. Describe and apply marketing and sales concepts used to support the operations of an organization.
10. Outline principles of supply chain management and operations management.
11. Outline and assess the components of a business plan.
12. Develop strategies for ongoing personal and professional development to enhance work performance in the business field.
13. Develop strategies for the operation and management of entrepreneurial ventures and small business enterprises.
14. Propose effective management, team-building, and leadership techniques that encourage innovation in an entrepreneurial setting.
15. Create ecommerce-based business strategies appropriate to entrepreneurial ventures and small business enterprises.
16. Identify and apply discipline-specific practices that contribute to the local and global community through social responsibility, economic commitment and environmental stewardship.

Application Information

BUSINESS - MANAGEMENT AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP (CO-OP AND NON CO-OP VERSION)
Program Code 0242X01FWO

Applications to full-time day programs must be submitted with official transcripts showing completion of the academic admission requirements through:

ontariocolleges.ca
60 Corporate Court
Guelph, Ontario N1G 5J3
1-888-892-2228

Students currently enrolled in an Ontario secondary school should notify their Guidance Office prior to their online application at www.ontariocolleges.ca.

Applications for Fall Term and Winter Term admission received by February 1 will be given equal consideration. Applications received after February 1 will be processed on a first-come, first-served basis as long as places are available.

International applicants please visit this link for application process information: https://algonquincollege.force.com/myACint/.

For further information on the admissions process, contact:

Registrar`s Office
Algonquin College
1385 Woodroffe Ave
Ottawa, ON K2G 1V8
Telephone: 613-727-0002
Toll-free: 1-800-565-4723
TTY: 613-727-7766
Fax: 613-727-7632
Contact: https://www.algonquincollege.com/ro

Program Resources

CO-OP INFORMATION:
All applicants apply directly to the non-co-op version of this program through OntarioColleges.ca or our International Application Portal. Students may elect to participate in the co-op version, two terms prior to the first co-op work term, subject to availability and academic eligibility.

Co-operative education (Co-op) allows students to integrate their classroom learning with a real-world experience through paid work terms. Two academic terms prior to the cooperative education work term, students are required to actively participate in and successfully complete the self-directed co-op course, readiness activities and workshops.

Students must actively conduct a guided, self-directed job search and are responsible for securing approved program-related paid co-op
employment. Students compete for co-op positions alongside students from Algonquin College and other Canadian and international colleges and universities. Algonquin College`s Co-op Department provides assistance in developing co-op job opportunities and guides the overall process, but does not guarantee that a student will obtain employment in a co-op work term. Co-op students may be required to relocate to take part in the co-op employment opportunities available in their industry and must cover all associated expenses; e.g., travel, work permits, visa applications, accommodation and all other incurred expenses.

Co-op work terms are typically 14 weeks in duration and are completed during a term when students are not taking courses. For more information on your program`s co-op level(s), visit the courses tab on your program`s webpage.

International students enrolled in a co-op program are required by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) to have a valid Co-op/Internship Work Permit prior to commencing their work term. Without this document International students are not legally eligible to engage in work in Canada that is part of an academic program. The Co-op/Internship Work Permit does not authorize international students to work outside the requirements of their academic program.

For more information on co-op programs, the co-op work/study schedule, as well as general and program-specific co-op eligibility criteria, please visit www.algonquincollege.com/coop.

PROGRAM PROGRESSION:
There are three program intakes, and students may start in the Fall, Winter, or Spring semesters. Progression through the program is the same for all intakes, i.e., students complete Levels 01 and 02 (Year 1), followed by a mandatory one-semester break, and then Levels 03 and 04 (Year 2).