History
The Centre for Entrepreneurial Leaders traces its institutional origins back to 2002, when Dr. Richard Goossen began teaching as an Adjunct Professor at the Trinity Western University School of Business in Langley, BC (on the outskirts of Vancouver). As an entrepreneur, he applied his entrepreneurial and innovative orientation to the pursuit of educational opportunities and added activities for students.
The Entrepreneurial Leaders book series (originally the Christian Entrepreneur series) started as an assignment for fourth-year entrepreneurship students in the School of Business. Rick's approach was to integrate classroom teaching with practical experience by asking the students to conduct interviews with successful Christian entrepreneurs. A practicing entrepreneur himself, Rick strongly believed in the value of such an assignment.
Rick devised an interview questionnaire that covered general entrepreneurial questions as well as faith application questions. Entrepreneurs from throughout North America have been interviewed thus far, including well-known billionaires. Rick conducts some interviews and students do the others.
Rick then noticed that these insights on entrepreneurship and faith integration were making a difference beyond the TWU classroom. Business people and alumni expressed an interest in the lessons that could be learned from the featured entrepreneurs. As a result, a selection of the interviews was compiled and published in 2005 under the title, The Christian Entrepreneur: Insights from the Marketplace (Vol. 1).
To get the word out, Rick organized a "forum" as a way to address some of the topics raised in the book. The objective of the forum and the book was to focus on the challenges Christian entrepreneurs face in the marketplace. With the tremendous support and involvement of TWU entrepreneurship students, the event proved to be a huge success.
The 1st Annual Christian Entrepreneur Forum & Book Launch, held in late October 2005, drew a crowd of approximately 225 people. The event featured a presentation by Rick on "The Call of the Entrepreneur to the Marketplace" and a keynote presentation by Larry C. Farrell, an international expert on entrepreneurship.
One of the most memorable aspects of the evening was that the power went out due to a local storm exactly at the moment that the program was about to begin! However, in true entrepreneurial fashion, the event continued thanks to the help of a pen flashlight, candles, and a battery-powered laptop. In retrospect, it was undoubtedly the largest candlelight gathering in North America on behalf of the entrepreneurial spirit.
Buoyed by the success of the initial book and forum, plans for improvement and expansion continued. A second volume of The Christian Entrepreneur was compiled, with an excellent selection of interviews. In addition, a "2nd Annual Christian Entrepreneur Forum & Book Launch" was held on November 1st, 2006. The event was an even bigger success, drawing a packed house of 310 attendees. Each attendee received a complimentary copy of Vol. 2 of The Christian Entrepreneur, and the event included brief presentations on entrepreneurial leadership by an entrepreneurship student (Luke Krueger), one of the entrepreneurs interviewed (Ken Ewert of Remdal Painting & Restoration), and a leadership speaker and former NHL hockey player (Ryan Walter).
In 2007 the vision expanded. The third book and forum underwent a series of improvements in response to a growing audience, and the idea for The Centre for Entrepreneurial Leaders came into being. In addition, Rick published a trade book entitled Entrepreneurial Excellence (Career Press, October 2007) and another book entitled e-Preneur: >From Wall Street to Wiki succeeding as a Crowdpreneur in the New Virtual Marketplace (Career Press, May 2008) which are both available in bookstores and on Amazon.com
Click here purchase Entrepreneurial Excellence
Following the 3rd Annual Forum, which featured the release of Entrepreneurial Leaders (book three in the series), the Centre for Entrepreneurial Leaders was officially approved. For more information about the Centre's current initiatives and its vision for the future, visit the Mission and Upcoming Events pages.