Michael is a Professor of Entrepreneurship and Head of Department for Public Leadership and Social Enterprise at Open University Business School. He previously served as Director of the Postgraduate Business Programmes (2018-2021). Prior to joining Open University in July 2013, he was part of the academic team that launched Coventry University London Campus in October 2010. His varied roles there included academic coordination of the BA Global business, BA Global marketing (top-ups) and leading the production and delivery of the MBA Oil and Gas Management Programme. Between 2007 and 2009 he held Associate Lecturer posts at Nottingham Trent and Sheffield Hallam universities. Michael studied in Cameroon (BSc Economics), Sweden (MSc Economics, MA Leadership in International Management and MA in Science, Technology and Society) before completing a PhD at the University of Nottingham.
Professional memberships
Michael’s research advances entrepreneurial practice in disadvantaged communities/groups. His work has advanced the understanding that while highly embedded entrepreneurs and managers can easily access resources and win legitimacy resulting in improved practice, they can also become locked into established systems that constrain their decision-making. Empirical case studies uncover how addressing the lock-in effects enables the development of enterprises and thereby positively impact local communities/groups.
His most recent publications include women as vectors of social entrepreneurship, informal microfinance institutions and development-led tourism entrepreneurship, digital entrepreneurship and impact investing in Africa. Michael also has a long-standing interest in the study of how global partnerships and initiatives shape local practices in Sub-Saharan African, including globally-backed policies and initiatives in healthcare, tourism development, and petroleum local content development. His work has been published in leading journals such as Journal of Small Business Management, Management and Organization Review, Tourism Management, Annals of Tourism Research, Social Science & Medicine, Health Policy & Planning, Energy Policy, Strategic Change and Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development
FUNDED PROJECTS
Accelerating Entrepreneurship Support in Universities in Kenya - £170,000.
Project Team: Dr Michael Ngoasong (Principal Investigator), Professor Abel Kinoti Meru (Technical Lead for Kenya, Riara University), Vincent Odhiambo (Ashoka East Africa, Ecosystem Partner), Dr Nicholas Ozor (Africa Technology Policy Studies Network, Kenya), Dr Isidora Kourti (Co-Investigator), Dr Aqueel Wahga (Co-Investigator). Brief Description: Use of action research to design and pilot a virtual accelerator as a digital hub for curriculum adaptation that reinforces entrepreneurship education in universities in Kenya. The partnership co-designed and pilot-run a virtual start-up accelerator, a hub for accelerating student start-up businesses and a blended learning programme feeding teaching materials into the university’s undergraduate entrepreneurship programme. The accelerator will impact this cohort of student start-ups who will be able to either gain direct employment or empowered to access and act on available resources to successfully establish, manage and grow social and commercial enterprises in their home environment. Funder: British Council, through the inaugural Innovation for African Universities Programme. Duration: October 2021 – January 2024.
This partnership is being funded through three competitive phases: (1) partnership funding (£15,000), (2a) partnership implementation (£85,000), (2b) Community building grant (£20,000) and (3) Consolidation grant (£50,000)
Consult the AESU partnership page to learn more.
UN Women Second Chance Education and Vocational Learning (SCE) Programme - £400,000
The Open University received funding from UN Women, the United Nations entity for gender equality and the empowerment of women, to be its content development partner. This is as part of the Second Chance Education and Vocational Learning (SCE) Programme which aims to develop context-specific, affordable and scalable learning and employment pathways for empowering the world’s most disadvantaged women and young women. This was to apply a participatory approach to course development by producing, and supporting the production of, high-quality courses adapted to women from beneficiary communities. Considering Covid-19 travel restrictions the entire project has been led by the OU remotely between September 2020 and December 2021. A collection page on OpenLearn Create collates the courses under Second Chance Education programme.
The OU’s project team consisted of Academic Lead Dr Michael Ngoasong, OU Business School colleagues Professor Liz Daniel and Professor Jo Brewis, the International Development Office (IDO) and Learner and Discovery Services (LDS), is collaborating with the Cobra Collective. This project combines subject matter expertise in extensive Business School course production and the University’s international development work. It is also leveraging expertise of the OU-led Gender, Entrepreneurship and Social Policy Institute (GESPi) which drives innovative, interdisciplinary research in gender, entrepreneurship and social policy.
INCUBATE: Engineering Capacity Building in Cameroon through the Creation of a Business Incubator for Engineering Prototyping and Commercialisation - £140,000
Team: Nicholas Church (PI – Institut Saint Jean, Cameroon), Dr Michael Ngoasong (Co-I – Open University), Dr Nishanth Sasthry (Co-I – Kings College London), Lisa Mynheer (C-I – Luminno Ltd). Project Summary: The project will design and implement Fab lab through a hub and spoke university-industry model. The aim is to increase entrepreneurial capacity and competencies in Cameroon, through co-producing and supporting the delivery of high quality, locally relevant engineering entrepreneurship education to engineering students. It would also impact cohorts of engineering graduates who will be able to either gain direct employment or empowered to access and act on available resources to successfully establish, manage and grow social and commercial technology enterprises in their home environment. Funder: Royal Academy of Engineering - Higher Education Partnership in sub-Saharan Africa Duration: November 2018 - April 2021. At the start of implementation the partners rebranded the project and created a dedicated webpage: Supporting University Curriculum & Creativity in Entrepreneurship Development (SUCCEED).
Women as Vectors of Social Entrepreneurship in Hospitality & Tourism - £10,000
Team: Dr Albert Kimbu (PI - University of Surrey) & Dr Michael Ngoasong (CI - Open University). Aims: The project explores the nature, motivations and extent to which female entrepreneurs in hospitality and tourism related sectors use their businesses as platforms for engagement in various forms of social entrepreneurship leading to value (co)creation, economic and community development in emerging tourism destinations of sub-Saharan Africa such as Cameroon. The finding reveals the circumstances under which women owner-managers of small hospitality and tourism first can be considered and supported to be social entrepreneurs. Another output that draws from this research, published in the Journal of Small Business Management, uncovers how the growth aspirations of women entrepreneurs are evident in the growth development path of their businesses and how policy can redress the slow growth process of women-owned businesses. Funding: British Academy/Leverhulme SRG. Duration: May 2014 - October 2015
PhD SUPERVISION:
Ongoing supervision
Suzzie Aidoo, on interlinkages between gender, entrepreneurial orientation and performance of SMEs in Ghana
Completed PhDs
Michael has more than 14 years’ experience of teaching and learning in higher education. His currently and mainly involved in teaching management duties as Director of Teaching, Masters and MBA programmes for Open University Business School. Prior to this, he was a member of the team that produced the undergraduate degree specialism Innovation and Enterprise, where he was Module Team Chair of B327 Creating Futures: Sustainable Enterprise and Innovation, a 30 point module. He was also a member of Module Team Member of B205 Exploring Innovation and Entrepreneurship, a new 60 point module currently in production (first presentation October 2016). He has Chaired the presentation of B325 Managing across Organisational and Cultural Boundaries and has served as a member of B847 Management Beyond the Mainstream (MBA elective).
Michael served as external examiner for business and management modules within Contemporary Chinese Studies, at the University of Nottingham Business School.
Michael is the subject matter expert (Track Chair) in Entrepreneurship and International Marketing for the Academy of International Business Sub-Saharan Africa Chapter (2019-2021). He has co-organized a half day academic workshop at School of Hospitality and Tourism, University of Surrey (24 September 2015) and a practitioner workshop at American Language Centre in Douala, Cameroon (7 September 2015). As part of a developing research agenda (with Rob Paton, Alex Korda and Albert Kimbu) on impact investing in African countries Michael co-organised a Roundtable Discussion at Strathmore Business School in Nairobi, Kenya (July 2014) on the policy implications of impact investing in Kenya. This research has also been presented at the International Development Seminar Series, IKD-OU. (15 October 2014) and featured as Guest Editorial, International Development @ The Open University monthly newsletter (February 2015). Michael has been an academic adviser on the Open University Entrepreneurship Competition and sits on the judging panel.
Gender, Entrepreneurship and Social Policy Institute (GESPi)
I co-founded GESPi in October 2019 as a collaboration between Open University Business School and the School of Hospitality and Tourism (University of Surrey) to drive innovative, interdisciplinary research in gender, entrepreneurship and social policy across Africa. Go to the GESPi website for more information.
New Series on Women's Entrepreneurial Journeys in Africa
I am guest editing a new series of articles on the human stories of women's entrepreneurship in Africa. The series is a collaboration between The Open University and the social and political website openDemocracy and showcases new African women’s voices and challenges societal expectations of women’s entrepreneurial journeys on the continent.
openDemocracy has a global readership and the series, which features interviews with women in a wide variety of entrepreneurial roles, is hosted on a dedicated, curated page on its website.
The series will draw on the work of the recently-established Gender, Entrepreneurship and Social Policy Institute (GESPi), a collaboration between the OU, the University of Surrey and others in the UK, Europe and Africa.
University of Management and Technology (UNIMTECH) Sierra Leone
Between 2012 and 2014, I was invited to serve as external adviser to the then Institute of Advanced Management and Technology (IAMTECH). Together with Professor Paul Kamara (CEO) and Dr Mrs Abie Kamara (Principal), we established a framework for producing Higher National Diplomas in Mining and Petroleum Engineering, curriculum reinforcements in Business and Management and the transition from being affiliated to the local Njala University to becoming a fully autonomous university. Returning in November 2019, I saw an institution that had just received full university status, with six campuses across the country (Freetown, Bo, Makeni, Kono, Kambia and Lunsar) and a rented venue in YWCA delivering courses to students who cannot afford the cost of living and studying in Freetown. We have now started the next phase on this journey. We need help with strengthening university governance, capacity building for academic and support staff, and welcoming professors from abroad for seminars. Having secured full university status and developing the curriculum and minimum staff capacity, we now need to help this university to spread its wings and make its own way as a wonderful new university that will empower both the people and the economy.
University of Johannesburg, South Africa
I am a Senior Research Associate in the School of Tourism and Hospitality (STH)
A framework for gender influences on sustainable business models in women’s tourism entrepreneurship: doing and re-doing gender (2023)
Kutlu, Gizem and Ngoasong, Michael Z.
Journal of Sustainable Tourism ((Early access))
Curriculum Adaptation for Blended Learning in Resource-Scarce Contexts (2022)
Ngoasong, Michael Zisuh
Journal of Management Education, 46(4) (pp. 622-655)
The role of governance in enabling the pursuit of dual mission in bank-based impact investing (2022)
Lamptey, Richmond Odartey and Ngoasong, Michael Zisuh
Entrepreneurship & Regional Development ((Early access))
The Role of MNE Subsidiaries in the Practice of Global Business Models in Transforming Economies (2021-05)
Ngoasong, Michael Zisuh; Wang, Jinmin; Amdam, Rolv Petter and Bjarnar, Ove
Management and Organization Review, 17(2) (pp. 254-281)
Guanxi influences on women intrapreneurship (2020-12)
Zhang, Carol X.; Kimbu, Albert N.; Lin, Pearl and Ngoasong, Michael
Tourism Management, 81, Article 104137
Why Hurry? The Slow Process of High Growth in Women-Owned Businesses in a Resource-Scarce Context (2019-01-31)
Ngoasong, Michael Zisuh and Kimbu, Albert Nsom
Journal of Small Business Management, 57(1) (pp. 40-58)
Collaborative Networks for Sustainable Human Capital Management in Women’s Tourism Entrepreneurship: The role of tourism policy (2019)
Kimbu, Albert Nsom; Ngoasong, Michael Zisuh; Adeola, Ogechi and Afenyo-Agbe, Ewoenam
Tourism Planning and Development, 16(2) (pp. 161-178)
Digital entrepreneurship in a resource-scarce context: A focus on entrepreneurial digital competencies (2018-06-18)
Ngoasong, Michael Zisuh
Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development, 25(3) (pp. 483-500)
Emerging digital business models in developing economies: The case of Cameroon (2018-03-26)
Boojihawon, Dev Kumar and Ngoasong, Zisuh Michael
Strategic Change: Briefings in Entrepreneurial Finance, 27(2) (pp. 129-137)
Women as Vectors of Social Entrepreneurship (2016-09-30)
Kimbu, Albert Nsom and Ngoasong, Michael Zisuh
Annals of Tourism Research, 60 (pp. 63-79)
Informal microfinance institutions and development-led tourism entrepreneurship (2016-02-01)
Ngoasong, Michael Z. and Kimbu, Albert N.
Tourism Management, 52 (pp. 430-439)
How international oil and gas companies respond to local content policies in petroleum-producing developing countries: a narrative enquiry (2014-10)
Ngoasong, Michael Zisuh
Energy Policy, 73 (471- 479)
Personal view: Empowering rural women’s health - what’s going wrong with the strategies? (2014-09)
Sambala, E. and Ngoasong, Michael
Malawi Medical Journal, 26(3) (pp. 93-96)
Centralized decentralization of tourism development: a network perspective (2013-01)
Kimbu, Albert N. and Ngoasong, Michael Z.
Annals of Tourism Research, 40 (pp. 235-259)
The internationalisation process of Chinese SMEs: does globalising wholesale markets play a role? (2012-05)
Wang, Jinmin and Ngoasong, Michael Z.
Strategic Change: Briefings in Entrepreneurial Finance, 21(3-4) (pp. 143-157)
Transcalar networks for policy transfer and implementation: the case of global health policies for malaria and HIV/AIDS in Cameroon (2011)
Ngoasong, Michael Zisuh
Health Policy and Planning, 26(1) (pp. 63-72)
Understanding the developing role of global health partnerships on access to medication: an STS perspective (2010-02)
Ngoasong, Michael Zisuh
Bulletin of Science, Technology & Society, 30(1) (pp. 33-42)
The emergence of global health partnerships as facilitators of access to medication in Africa: A narrative policy analysis (2009-03)
Ngoasong, Michael Zisuh
Social Science & Medicine, 68(5) (pp. 949-956)
Does innovation matter for economic development? An empirical study of small and medium-sized enterprises in the city of Kumba – Cameroon (2007)
Ngoasong, Michael Zisuh
Studia Universitatis Babes-Bolyai: Negotia, 52(1) (pp. 91-110)
Determinants of personal resilience in the workplace: nurse prescribing in an African work context
Ngoasong, Michael Z. and Groves, Winnifred N.
Human Resource Development International, 19(3) (pp. 229-244)
Women’s Entrepreneurial Journeys in Sub-Saharan Africa (2023-09-15)
Ngoasong, Michael Zush
Elgar Impact of Entrepreneurship Research series
ISBN : 978 1 80088 585 1 | Publisher : Edward Elgar
Determinants of Tourism Micro-entrepreneurship: A Focus on Street Vendors in Urban Tourist Centres of Sierra Leone and Morocco (2021-05-06)
Ngoasong, M. Z. and Jafari, Asma
In: Ngoasong, M. Z.; Adeola, O.; Kimbu, A. N. and Hinson, R. E. eds. New Frontiers in Hospitality and Tourism Management in Africa (pp. 157-172)
ISBN : 978-3-030-70170-3 | Publisher : Springer International Publishing
Gender Lens Investing in the African Context (2021-02-21)
Ngoasong, Michael and Lamptey, Richmond
In: Sarmento, Elsa De Morais and Herman, R. Paul eds. Global Handbook of Impact Investing: Solving Global Problems Via Smarter Capital Markets Towards A More Sustainable Society (pp. 273-302)
ISBN : 978-1-119-69064-1 | Publisher : John Wiley & Sons, Inc. | Published : Hoboken
Buen Vivir as an Innovative Development Model (2019-07-10)
Morales, Andrés; Spear, Roger; Ngoasong, Michael and Sacchetti, Silvia
In: Banerjee, Swati; Carney, Stephen and Hulgard, Lars eds. People-Centered Social Innovation: Global Perspectives on an Emerging Paradigm
ISBN : 9781351121026 | Publisher : Routledge | Published : New York
The Gender Question and Family Entrepreneurship Research (2018)
Adeola, Ogechi; Ngoasong, Michael Zisuh and Evans, Olaniyi
In: Ratten, Vanessa; Braga, Vitor and Marques, Carla Susana eds. Knowledge, Learning and Innovation: Research Insights on Cross-Sector Collaborations. Contributions to Management Science (pp. 159-176)
ISBN : 978-3-319-59281-7 | Publisher : Springer
Using complex behavioral simulations to enrich students' learning experiences on a conventional MBA (2015)
Ngoasong, Michael and O'Neill, Donal
In: Taras, Vas and Gonzalez-Perez, Maria, P. eds. The Palgrave Handbook of Experiential Learning In International Business (pp. 680-697)
ISBN : 9781137467706 | Publisher : Palgrave Macmillan | Published : Houndmills
New Frontiers in Hospitality and Tourism Management in Africa (2021-05-09)
Ngoasong, Michael Z.; Adeola, Ogechi; Kimbu, Albert N. and Hinson, Robert E. eds.
Tourism, Hospitality & Event Management
ISBN : 978-3-030-70170-3 | Publisher : Springer International Publishing
A model of impact investing with a gender lens: perspectives from Africa-based fund managers (2020)
Ngoasong, Michael and Lamptey, Richmond
In : Africa Academy of Management (AFAM) 5th Biennial Conference: globalization, pan-Africanism, and the African business climate (8-11 Jan 2020, Lagos Business School, Lagos, Nigeria)
All Credit To Women? Impact Investing With A Gender Lens At The Base Of The Pyramid (2019-06-05)
Ngoasong, Michael
In : Catalizing new models of innovation for financing women's entrepreneurship (2-4 Jun 2019, Babson College, Wellesley, MA, USA)
Business incubators and development-led entrepreneurship: a focus on entrepreneurial path-creation (2018-09-07)
Ngoasong, Michael; Njinyah, Sam and Lamptey, Richmond
In : ISBE Annual Conference 2018 (7-8 Nov 2018, Birmingham)
Collaborative Learning Networks for Empowering Women Entrepreneurs in African Countries (2018-08-31)
Ngoasong, Michael; Kimbu, Albert and Daniel, Elizabeth
In : Women’s Entrepreneurship and Culture (31 Jul - 3 Aug, Bangkok, Thailand)
Entrepreneurial Innovations in Small and Medium-Sized Hotels: Does Industry Context Play a Role? (2017-06)
Ngoasong, Michael Z.; Kimbu, Albert N. and Adeola, Ogechi
In : Critical Tourism Studies VII Conference (25-29 Jun 2017, Palma de Mallorca, Spain) (pp. 128-129)
The Nature of Emerging Digital Business Models in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Study of Cameroonian Cases (2016-11)
Ngoasong, Michael and Boojihawon, Dev Kumar
In : 5th International Conference on Business Servitization (23-25 Nov 2016, University of Granada, Spain) (pp. 141-146)
Inclusive business models? How SMEs are developing inclusive value chains and combating social exclusion in bottom-of-the-pyramid markets (2016)
Ngoasong, Michael Zisuh
In : 3rd Biennial Conference of the Africa Academy of Management (5-10 Jan 2016, Strathmore Business School, Strathmore University, Nairobi, Kenya) (pp. 58-69)
Women as social entrepreneurs in the hospitality and tourism industry: Does empowerment play a role? (2015-06)
Kimbu, Albert N. and Ngoasong, Michael
In : 5th Critical Tourism Studies Conference (26-30 Jun 2015, Opatija, Croatia)
Digital Entrepreneurship in Emerging Economies: The role of ICTs and local context (2015-04-18)
Ngoasong, Michael Zisuh
In : 42nd AIB-UKI Conference (16-18 Apr 2015, Manchester Metropolitan University, UK)
A conceptualization to investigate the direct and indirect impacts of government policy on the performance of SME cocoa exporter in African economies (2014-06)
Njinyah, Sam and Ngoasong, Michael
In : Academy of International Business Annual Meeting (23-26 Jun 2014, Vancouver, Canada)
The role of global 'models' in shaping policy practices on access to medication: a case study of the national HIV/AIDS programme in Cameroon (2009-10)
Ngoasong, Michael Zisuh
In : Society for Social Studies of Science Annual Meeting (28‐31 Oct 2009, Washington DC, USA)
Access to medication for HIV/AIDS and malaria in Cameroon: illustrating the social construction of healthcare markets (2008-08)
Ngoasong, Michael Zisuh
In : 2008 4S Annual Meeting (20-23 Aug 2008, Rotterdam, The Netherlands) (p 470)
Knowledge management in project-base organizations: the interplay of time orientations and knowledge interventions (2007)
Ngoasong, Michael Zisuh and Manfredi, Filippo
In : EBRF 2007: Research Forum to Understand Business in Knowledge Society (25-27 Sep 2007, Jyväskylä, Finland)
University-led ecosystems for sustained innovation and entrepreneurship development in Kenya (2022-10-03)
Ngoasong, Michael / Z; Ozor, Nicholas; Gateru, Robert; Wahga, Aqueel; Kourti, Isidora and Muhatiah, Wentland
African Technology Policy Studies Network (ATPS)
Rethinking a new transition finance paradigm for addressing the climate crisis in Africa (2021-10-14)
Ngoasong, Michael / Z
Climate Compatible Growth Programme, United Kingdom.
To support Africa’s women entrepreneurs, investors must understand them (2020-06-29)
Ngoasong, Michael
openDemocracy
Why Africa’s women entrepreneurs struggle to grow – and how to help (2019-01-08)
Kimbu, Albert N. and Ngoasong, Michael Z
The Conversation
Impact Investing and Inclusive Business Development in Africa: A research agenda (2015-01)
Ngoasong, Michael; Paton, Rob and Korda, Alex
The Open University, Milton Keynes.
The role of foreign direct investments on export performance in Cameroon (2005-12-15)
Ngoasong, Michael
Centre for International Relations, Arlington, U.S.A..