Hall Family Foundation donates $10 million to Okanagan College

Okanagan College has received a historic $10-million donation from the Hall Family Foundation, the largest gift in the colleges history and the largest ever made to a public college in British Columbia.

The donation will establish the Hall School of Business and Entrepreneurship at Okanagan College.

The Hall family has a long history of entrepreneurship in the Okanagan. Ed Hall, co-founder of Canadian Adult Communities and Regency Retirement Resorts, said the gift is meant to help expand business education and support future entrepreneurs.

The donation includes funding for the Hall Entrepreneurship Incubator, which will be based in the new Centre for Food, Wine and Tourism on the Kelowna campus, with hubs at each Okanagan College campus. The gift will also support seed funding for students and local entrepreneurs, program development, and access to entrepreneurs in residence and industry experts.

The donation is likely to strengthen applied business education and support economic growth across the region.

College officials say the new school places Okanagan College among a select group of Canadian post-secondary institutions with named business schools.