Rick Colbourne
Associate Professor, Indigenous Leadership and Management
- BA (Mount Allison University), MBA (Simon Fraser University), PhD Management (University of Cambridge)
- 6023 Nicol, Carleton University
- 1125 Colonel By Drive, Ottawa, ON, K1S 5B6
- rick.colbourne@carleton.ca
- 613-520-2600 ext 6601
Dr. Rick Colbourne (Algonquin Anishinaabe member of the Mattawa/North Bay Algonquin First Nation) is Associate Professor, Indigenous Leadership and Management.
Dr. Colbourne joined Carleton University’s Sprott School of Business to contribute back to Algonquin communities in Ontario and Quebec through building collaborative and mutually beneficial relationships with Indigenous peoples, communities, and organizations. He focuses on Indigenous entrepreneurship and economic development, Indigenous governance and leadership, hybrid venture creation and entrepreneurial ecosystems. Indigenous entrepreneurship and economic development are more successful when the rights of Indigenous peoples are addressed and when these initiatives are led by or engage Indigenous communities.
Dr. Colbourne works to promote the acceptance and legitimization of Indigenous world views, ways of knowing and ways of being through co-creating and co-generating Indigenous-led, community-based participatory action research that contributes to community sovereignty, self-determination and socioeconomic health and well-being. He explores critical questions about bridging Indigenous ways of knowing and ways of being with western perspectives using Two-Eyed Seeing as a way to contextualize research methodologies in an ethical space of engagement.
He is an award-winning educator and Fulbright Fellow (Visiting Research Chair in Indigenous Entrepreneurship), who has taught at universities in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom and Europe. He teaches entrepreneurship (international, Indigenous, social), ethics, research methods, strategy, leadership, and management on Indigenous and non-Indigenous undergraduate, MBA and Executive Education programs. He is a recipient of the University of Northern British Columbia’s University Achievement Award for Teaching; the Government of Canada’s Deputy Minister’s Recognition Award for Collaboration and Partnerships (AANDC); Canadian Council for Learning’s Award for Excellence in Learning (Learning Strategies Group); and the University of Westminster’s Award for Excellence in Teaching and Learning.
Current Projects
- Mobilizing for Socioeconomic Well-Being: Exploring Spaces for Indigenous Engagement within the Economy
- Multimedia storytelling with Indigenous youth and post-secondary students: Youth co-creation of a vision for sustainable development as a strategy toward reconciliation (with Kim Matheson)
- Mapping Indigenous Economic Venture Responses to the Covid-19 Crisis
- Rebuilding Dispersed Indigenous Communities: Creating a Joint Urban Reserve (with Kim Matheson)
- BC First Nation Housing Shortfall Assessment
- Indigenous Works and Sprott School of Business: Collaboration for Reconciliation in Action (with Kelly Lendsay and Craig Hall, Indigenous Works)
- Advancing Intersectional Analyses of Entrepreneurship: A critical exploration of entrepreneurial activity in Canada and the United Kingdom (with Vadim Grinevich, University of Wolverhampton)
- Two-Eyed Seeing, Grand Challenges and Wicked Problems: Indigenous-led Responses to the Neoliberal Restructuring of Cities and Urban Centres (with Peter Moroz, University of Regina)
Recent Publications
Colbourne, R., Henriques, I, Peredo, I. & Schneider, B. (2021) Indigenous Enterprise. Oxford Bibliographies [Online], Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University.
Colbourne, R. (2021) Indigenous Entrepreneurship. In T. Cooney (Ed.), The Palgrave Handbook on Minority Entrepreneurship. London, United Kingdom: Palgrave Macmillan.
Colbourne, R., & Anderson, R. (2020). Indigenous Wellbeing and Enterprise: Self-Determination and Sustainable Economic Development. London, United Kingdom: Routledge.
Henriques, I., Colbourne, R., Peredo, A. M., & Anderson, R. (2020). Relational and Social Aspects of Indigenous Entrepreneurship: The Hupacasath Case. In R. Colbourne & R. Anderson (Eds.), Indigenous Wellbeing and Enterprise: Self-Determination and Sustainable Economic Development. London, United Kingdom: Routledge.
Mika, J. P., Colbourne, R., & Almeida, S. (2020). Responsible Management: An Indigenous Perspective. In O. Laasch, R. Suddaby, E. Freeman, & D. Jamali (Eds.), The Research Handbook of Responsible Management. Cheltenham, United Kingdom: Edward Elgar.
Colbourne, R., Moroz, P., Lendsay, K., Hall, C., & Anderson, R. (2019). Indigenous Works and Two Eyed Seeing: Mapping the Case for Indigenous-led Research. Qualitative Research in Organizations and Management (Special Issue: Indigenous Knowledge, Priorities and Processes in Qualitative Research).
Colbourne, R., & Anderson, R. (2019). Economic Wellbeing of the Indigenous People in the Asia Pacific Region: The Role of Entrepreneurship in Sustainable Development. In C. Fleming, M. Manning, & A. Miller (Eds.), Routledge Handbook of Indigenous Wellbeing (pp. 184-193). London, United Kingdom: Routledge Publishing.
Colbourne, R. (2017). Indigenous Entrepreneurship and Hybrid Ventures. In A. Corbett & J. Katz (Eds.), Perspectives and Approaches to Blended Value Entrepreneurship: Advances in Entrepreneurship, Firm Emergence and Growth (Vol. 19). Bingley, United Kingdom: Emerald Publishing.
Colbourne, R. (2017). An understanding of Native American entrepreneurship. Small Enterprise Research, 24(1), 49-61. doi:10.1080/13215906.2017.1289856
Dr. Colbourne is currently accepting Indigenous PhD/MSc students.