Occupier Professor, Dr. Mike Adenuga (Jnr) Professorial Chair in Entrepreneurial Studies

Professor of Entrepreneurship Hub Innovation and Strategic Management

Director, Entrepreneurship & Skills Development Centre (ESDC)

Director, ARUA CoE for Unemployment & Skills Development

Professor Sunday Abayomi Adebisi was a trailblazer in his university’s day, and graduated with the prestigious FIRST-CLASS HONOURS DIVISION and ranked as the overall best-graduated student of class 2001 in his Department as well as the Faculty and the 2^nd Overall Best Graduating Student in the then University of Ado Ekiti, Nigeria. Professor Adebisi was recalled back as a mark of honour into his Department after his NYSC in Federal Polytechnic, Damaturu, Yobe State to kick-start his career as an Academic (Graduate Assistant); a clarion call he honoured, rather than taking up a job in the then young Zenith Bank and other new generation banks who were chasing him.

Professor Adebisi proceeded to the University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Nigeria to obtain his Master of Science Degree (M.Sc.) in Business Administration and also ranked as the overall best of his set, which automatically earned him a Ph.D. Admission into the same Department. He finished his Doctoral program in flying colours and the Department jointly nominated his thesis for a National Best Ph.D. Thesis Award to compete with other universities in Nigeria in 2010.

Professor Adebisi rose through the ranks from a Graduate Assistant in a career path of more than 20 years, that spanned three universities (University of Ado Ekiti, Lagos State University Ojo, and University of Lagos) to the present status of becoming a double Professor as the Chair-Professor of Dr. Mike Adenuga (Jnr) Professorial Chair of Entrepreneurial Studies and Professor of Entrepreneurship Hub and Strategic Management in the Department of Business Administration, University of Lagos.

Professor Adebisi has to his credit, more than 50 journal articles in revered academic journals across the world , and his research interests include; Entrepreneurship Hub Management, Innovation and Startup Enablement, Sustainable Strategic Management and Comparative Strategy as well as International Entrepreneurship. He was also the Lead Researcher (Rocket Data Star) of the Regional Entrepreneurship Accelerated Program (REAP); an Entrepreneurship programme that the University of Lagos conducted in partnership with MIT, United States of America. 

 

Professor Adebisi has won numerous awards on his academic pathways, among such awards include;  

l Visiting Fellowship Scholarship to the Soochow University China in 2013 which was fully funded by the Chinese Government where he spent 4 months conducting research on China and Nigeria in a 30-year economy race;

l The Best Full Paper in Performance Management Award in 2014 World Conference of the British Academy of Management (BAM) with the output of research he did while on his visiting  scholarship in Soochow University, China;

l Winning in the interview that got him on a Research Training Leave as the Project Manager and Research Advisor of the $500,000 Commercial Pilot of M(E)thanol Clean Cookstoves Project of the Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCo) in Lagos, Nigeria between 2014-2016, the first of its kind project in West Africa sub-region; 

l Won the Award of the EFMD 2016 Best African Case in Berlin, Germany with his Ph.D. Student (Dr. Adeniyi Olarewaju), demonstrating a successful academic mentorship.

l Winning the hosting right of the African Research Universities Alliance (ARUA) Centre of Excellence for Unemployment and Skills Development (ARUA, CoE-USD) to make the University of Lagos become the Leader and Hub in Africa for research in Sustainable Entrepreneurship, Skills Development and Youth Unemployment in 2018 and he became the Director of this Centre of Excellence (ARUA, CoE-USD).

l Winning the UKRI-GCRF ARUA Capacity Building Grant of 600,000 British Pounds to fund projects across the African Continent titled: Partnership, Research and Capacity Building for Youth Unemployment Solutions in Africa (PRAC 4 YUSA);

l Becoming the First Occupier Professor of the Dr. Mike Adenuga (Jnr.) Professorial Chair in Entrepreneurial Studies in 2021; and

l  Won the First Distinguished Visiting Professorship Fellowship to the John Pappajohn Entrepreneurship Centre, Tippie College of Business, University of Iowa, United States in October 2022.

 

Professor Adebisi has led the development of the University of Lagos Campus Entrepreneurship Ecosystem that is being replicated today in many Nigerian Universities. He has been responsible for facilitating more than 40 different life-changing and startup creation projects for the University of Lagos. Among these are the few below:  

Professor Adebisi has been leveraging his entrepreneurship knowledge in designing most strategies that support the enterprise orientations of the University of Lagos on all fronts. He has been very instrumental to the  development of the UNILAG 25 years Strategic Plan, the UNILAG Business School Business Plan; the JUPEB Business Plan; the Creation of the UNILAG Micro-Finance Bank; and the Rejuvenation of many University's ailing enterprises (Water, Pharmacy, Press and Guest Houses) under the Administration of the then 12^th Vice Chancellor of our great University, Professor Oluwatoyin Ogundipe, and all of these enterprises have been doing very well without any exception as at today.   

Professor Adebisi’ passion is to ensure that Africa replicates the Silicon Valley of America to engender sporadic innovation and entrepreneurship development for poverty eradication and economic self-sufficiency for Africa. He is poised to make African youths gainfully engaged and productive, by developing a changed mindset that is not ready to work for anyone nor queuing for unavailable jobs but creating many business Start-ups right from Campus and grow them into decent jobs of now and the future. He is very dedicated to creating business empires that will make Nigeria and African countries to be globally competitive. This passion of his has made him drive aggressive collaborations with the private sector and meaningful entrepreneurs to support the realisation of this dream for his University, Nigeria, and Africa. He is a member of many Professional and Academic bodies: Academy of International Business (AIB) USA; Strategic Management Society (SMS) USA; British Academy of Management (U.K.); The Academy of Management, Nigeria (TAMN); Nigerian Society for Financial Research (NSFR); Nigerian Institute of Management (NIM Chartered); and National Institute of Marketing of Nigeria (NIMN).