Dr Beldina Owalla
PhD in Business Administration (Entrepreneurship)
Senior Lecturer in Business and Management
Oxford Brookes Business School
Role
Beldina is a Senior Lecturer in Business and Management at Oxford Brookes University. She holds a PhD in Business Administration from the Stockholm School of Economics, Sweden. Her research falls under the broad theme of inclusive entrepreneurship, and adopts an intersectional perspective in understanding the impact of gender and culture on entrepreneurship and innovation activities in different geographical contexts. She has worked on various research projects focused on women’s entrepreneurial identities, diversity and inclusion in business innovation, SME productivity, and community business growth strategies, social deprivation, women business leaders and entrepreneurial ecosystems. Prior to joining academia, Beldina worked with the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation where she was involved in the financial and operational management of various donor-funded projects
Teaching and supervision
Courses
Modules taught
- Business at the Cutting Edge
- Business Ethics
- Organisational Behaviour & Management
- Family business, Innovation & Sustainability
- Dissertation in Business & Management
- Placement & Placement Learning
Supervision
Research
My research falls under the broad theme of inclusive entrepreneurship and focuses on understanding how under-represented groups can better access resources within entrepreneurial ecosystems. I adopt an intersectional perspective in my analyses and areas of interest include Women's entrepreneurship, Entrepreneurship education, Business & Social innovation, Entrepreneurial leadership, Venture finance and SME growth
Research impact
Research projects
- 2023 Co-investigator - Who are the innovators? Phase II extension – funded by Innovate UK-UKRI and undertaken by Innovation Caucus / Extend Ventures, £130,000 (April 2022 – March 2023)
- 2023 Co-investigator - AWE: Accelerating Women's Enterprise – extension funded by the European Union’s Interreg Programme, £211,651 (April 2022 – June 2023)
- 2022 Principle Investigator - Identifying leadership and management content for the University of Portsmouth medical degree - funded by the Faculty of Health and Science, University of Portsmouth, £5,466 (February – June 2022)
- 2020 Core research team – Understanding the Funding and Investment of Diverse Innovators in the UK: A Market Analysis - funded by Innovate UK-UKRI and undertaken by Innovation Caucus / Extend Ventures, £101,505 (Sept 2020 – Nov 2021)
- 2019 Core research team - Diversity & Inclusion in Business Innovation, funded by Innovate UK-UKRI and undertaken by Innovation Caucus (Nov 2018 – Sept 2019)
Centres and institutes
Projects as Principal Investigator, or Lead Academic if project is led by another Institution
- Contextualizing SME innovation: Understanding the influence of individual actors, institutions and socio-economic conditions (01/01/2025 - 30/06/2026), funded by: British Academy
- Understanding the impact of Covid-19 pandemic on the career life cycle of women and ethnic minority researchers in academia (02/01/2024 - 31/12/2024), funded by: Economic & Social Research Council (ESRC), funding amount received by Brookes: £65,982
Publications
Professional information
Memberships of professional bodies
- Academy of Management
- British Academy of Management
Other activities:
- Co-Chair - Global Women’s Entrepreneurship Policy (GWEP) network
- Editorial review board member – International Journal for Gender and Entrepreneurship
- Editorial board member - Journal of Business Leadership and Management
- AOM Global Ambassadors Committee member, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (2020-2022)
- UKRI Talent Peer Review College (PRC) member
- UKRI Early Career Researcher forum member
Conferences
- British Academy of Management 2024 Conference, Nottingham, UK September 2024
- Academy of Management 2024, Chicago, USA, August 2024
- Gender Work and Organization 2023 Conference, Cape Town, South Africa, June 2023
- 15th Annual International Business Conference, Cape town, South Africa, September 2022
- 2nd Organization Theory Winter Workshop, Online, February 2022
Other presentations:
- Owalla, B. (2023) Session Chair: WEI Forward / GWEP Women policy roundtable session - Sub-Saharan African Women Entrepreneurs: Thriving in the Covid-19 Pandemic, 21st February 2023
- Owalla, B. (2022) Keynote on “Gender, Diversity and Innovation: Why inclusivity matters” at the WEI Forward-GWEP collaborative Women's Entrepreneurship Policy Roundtable series, 21st May 2022
- Lawton Smith, H. and Owalla, B. (2021) “Addressing regional inequalities in innovation opportunities for BAME entrepreneurs” Centre for Innovation Management Research (CIMR) workshop on Diversity and Entrepreneurship, Birkbeck University of London, March 2021
- Owalla, B. (2020), “Supporting Diversity and Inclusion in innovation”, Academic Health Science Network (AHSN) Diversity Oversight Group webinar series, December 2020
- Owalla, B. (2020), “Supporting Diversity and Inclusion in innovation”, Innovation Policy and Practice - Supporting Diversity and Inclusion in Innovation: a consultation on action for the West Midlands, November 2020
- Owalla, B (2019), “Supporting Diversity and Inclusion in Innovation”, CREME 23rd Annual Ethnic Minority Business Conference, Birmingham, November 2019.
- Owalla, B. (2019) “Briefing Note 2: Exploring the potential of BAME innovators” Advisory Group Workshop on increasing Diversity & Inclusion in Innovation, London, January 2019