Georgian and Hyundai Canada forge partnership to support Black and Indigenous automotive business students
April 9, 2021
Hyundai Canada is making a bold and powerful commitment to Georgian and the Automotive Business School of Canada (ABSC) by investing more than $250,000 over seven years to support Black and Indigenous automotive business students. This fall they will begin giving entrance awards to eligible students via the Hyundai Canada Entrance Award Suite.
The partnership aligns with Hyundai’s continued efforts to tackle underrepresentation of Black and Indigenous individuals in the automotive industry, and with Georgian’s ongoing work to seek out and welcome diversity across the college. This donation will fuel an innovative and critical initiative designed to grow the number of students in this demographic studying the automotive industry and who will later join the sector’s workforce.
The announcement was made by Don Romano, President and CEO, Hyundai Canada at a special event last evening. The event – Auto Connect: Opportunities for Black Youth – featured Romano as the keynote speaker, as well as Oumar Dicko, Chief Economist, Canadian Automobile Dealers Association and Joe Lauzon, Marketing Officer, ABSC. Joyce Tshiamala, District Customer Service Manager, Hyundai, moderated a panel of three industry professionals who represent different sectors of the industry.
“It is our duty as industry leaders to build a successful path for our future generations in the automotive industry. Our partnership with Georgian College is an important investment to help form an automotive business community that attracts a pool of talent reflective of Canada’s diversity,” said Don Romano, President and CEO of Hyundai Canada. “Facilitating ways to ensure equal opportunity and equitable representation in the industry is a collective effort, and we are very proud to be part of the solution with Georgian College.”
The Hyundai Canada Entrance Award Suite will offer $1,000 renewable entrance awards that will be given to each student who self-identifies as Black or of Indigenous ancestry and is accepted into the Automotive Business (co-op) diploma program or the Honours Bachelor of Business Administration (Automotive Management) (co-op) program. The $1,000 award is renewable for each year of their program.
The award will directly help increase the opportunity for Black and Indigenous students to access a quality education studying automotive business at Georgian.
“This partnership strongly aligns with Georgian’s continued efforts around diversity, equity and inclusion and will augment the good work we’re already doing and re-affirm our commitment about the type of organization we are striving to be,” said Dr. MaryLynn West-Moynes, President and CEO of Georgian College.
“It’s incredibly important to have awards for underrepresented groups and it’s wonderful to have corporate donors such as Hyundai Canada supporting our students in this way,” Dr. West-Moynes added.
Georgian recently announced it will create a Centre for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion to help identify and overcome systemic barriers that impede the career advancement, recruitment and retention of underrepresented and disadvantaged groups.
The partnership builds on past collaboration between Georgian and Hyundai that includes hiring co-op students, sponsoring and participating in the Georgian Auto Show, and funding other innovative scholarships for Georgian students, including the Hyundai Canada Diversity Scholarship and Women in Automotive Scholarship.
