By Geoff Smith (@GeoffSmithLNN on Twitter) and Lara Fominoff @LaraFominoff on Twitter

UPDATED: U of L launches Dhillon School of Business with $10 million donation

Mar 14, 2018 | 9:13 AM

LETHBRIDGE – The largest gift in the history of the University of Lethbridge will result in the transformation of the school’s Faculty of Management.

Navjeet (Bob) Dhillon announced a gift of $10 million at a breakfast in Calgary Wednesday, Mar. 14. The donation will result in the renaming of the Faculty of Management to the Dhillon School of Business, with campuses in Lethbridge and Calgary.

The school will have an increased focus on finance and business innovation, entrepreneurism, and internationalization, according to a news release. It cites examples such as blockchain, cryptocurrencies, artificial intelligence, and robotics. The two campuses will offer hands-on training to integrate theory and research into practice.

Dhillon, a first-generation Sikh immigrant, began his business empire with the purchase and renovation of a pair of homes in Calgary. That led to the growth and development of his company, Mainstreet Equity Corp., into a portfolio of more than 11,000 rental apartments, and assets worth $1.63 billion. 

He travelled to Lethbridge Wednesday afternoon, and in front of a crowd of about 100 students and faculty, he told them it was his vision that it become the ‘number one college town’ in Canada.

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“First generation immigrant. Canada has given me whatever I’ve got. And if I give a little bit of it back, it’s great. Now in terms of why, where? Lethbridge is a dynamic place. The money would really make an impact here. It would transform the university, the business school to the next level.”

As a first generation immigrant, Dhillon told students that he’s always been an entrepreneur, and he encouraged students to not only get an education, but to keep going in the face of uncertainty.

“Obviously as you get an education and experience you take more calculated risks, and less and less silly risks. But the first step is if you’re not going to take action- analysis paralysis will kill any business model or any business idea…and that’s the only message I have. Sometimes you have to take risks.”

University President Michael Mahon said the university had been working with Dhillon for the last several years, developing a connection.

“I contacted him and started a conversation with him that in many ways, was a cold call. And we started a conversation that lasted four years that was really about: was there a fit between Bob Dhillon, the University of Lethbridge, the City of Lethbridge? And after four years we decided that it was a good fit. The more I got to know Bob and his background and his career, the more I saw a great fit with the university.

Because Bob really was about starting from nothing and building into a multi-billion dollar organization. And similarly the University of Lethbridge started 51-years ago as nothing. Didn’t have a campus didn’t have even a side of the river, and so I think our trajectories really fit with each other.”

Dhillon also reminded the students that nothing comes easily, even as some of them asked him ‘how can I get rich?’

“The day I went public with my assets was the day the real estate index crashed…Everything possible that could have gone wrong in my life, went wrong. But, you know what the secret is? Never give up. You just brush off, keep moving forward. And if you keep doing this, you’re going to make it.”