Eliada Griffin-EL

Dr. Eliada Wosu Griffin-EL is an Associate Professor of Management at Robert Morris University's School of Business, where she teaches Entrepreneurship and Innovation, and International Business. She serves as the Director of RMU's Massey Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, purposed to promote interdisciplinary and innovative thinking and action across campus. Dr. Griffin-EL received her PhD in Global Political Economics and Masters in International Development from the University of Pittsburgh, and Bachelor Degree in Sociology from Yale University.

Having rich experience in creating ecosystems for entrepreneurial learning, Dr. Griffin-EL has led the development of signature co-curricular and academic programs for promoting the entrepreneurial mindset and student-led venture creation at Robert Morris University. She sphere heads high-profile community engagement with headlining organizations, such as with the Office of the Mayor of Pittsburgh; she oversees the design the construction of the new Massey Center space on RMU's campus; and she is the driver of the university's first credit-bearing certificate committed solely to entrepreneurship education. For her work she has recently been recognized as the New Pittsburgh Courier Fab 40 under 40 Honoree of 2018 and has honored several keynote speaking invitations.

Prior to RMU, Dr. Griffin-EL served as the Senior Lecturer of Social Entrepreneurship at the University of Cape Town's Graduate School of Business (GSB) in Cape Town, South Africa for more than 5 years. She was the Founding Academic Lead of the GSB's Bertha Center for Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Africa's first international center of excellence for social innovation practice, teaching, and research. Prof Griffin-EL has vast experience in designing academic programs that focus on innovation and entrepreneurship, such as the GSB's signature Social Innovation Lab. In relation to policy work, she served as Lead Academic on the Working Committee of the Social Entrepreneurship Policy and Strategy for the Western Cape Provincial Government.

As an economic sociologist, Dr. Griffin-EL's research explores how entrepreneurial networks enable innovative activity and venture creation for social change, paricularly within fragmented, developing, or hostile environments. Geographically, her work has focused on entrepreneurship within African emerging markets and more recently, in the Pittsburgh region. As an international scholar, her work includes leading an international research collaboration sponsored by the UK to explore the social entrepreneurial ecosystem of Kenya to serving as the Lead Academic of the UCT team for a global research project entitled Social Innovation: Drive for Change sponsored by the European Union. She has presented her work across Europe, Africa, and the United States, engaging in both policy work and producing academic publications, and is co-editor of the book, The Business of Social and Environmental Innovation: New Frontiers in Africa (Springer Publishers, 2015).

Prof. Griffin-EL has worked with many entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial start-ups during her time in South Africa, Europe, and now in the United States. She currently serves on the Board of Directors of the international social enterprise, Amandla Development (Cape Town, SA), on the Board of Directors of the Pittsburgh-based social entrepreneurial accelerator, New Sun Rising, and on the Advisory Board of the Regional Research and Innovation in Simulation Education (RISE) Center of the School of Nursing and Health Science at Robert Morris University.

Educational Background

• Ph.D., Public and International Affairs, University of Pittsburgh, 2010
• Master of International Development , University of Pittsburgh , 2004
• Bachelor of Arts, Sociology, Yale University, 2002