Dr Tolu Olarewaju
- Title
- Lecturer in Management
- Location
- Smart Innovation Hub UG0.18
- Contact me
- Phone
- +44 (0) 1782 733624
- t.olarewaju@keele.ac.uk
Biography
Tolu started his first business while studying for a BSc (Hons) in Economics at Babcock University. Upon graduation, he joined Zenith Bank Plc and came 1st Place during the National Trainee Orientation Programme of the bank where he also got the award for most outstanding team player. He left Zenith Bank in 2009 to pursue his MSc studies in International Economics at the University of Birmingham where he was a founding society president for the Hip hop society and student representative. Tolu has a PhD from Aston Business School, Aston University, where he served as a Sessional Lecturer and Research Assistant, and in several capacities to enhance the student learning experience with the Students Union. Tolu was a lecturer at Staffordshire University from 2016 to 2021, where he was the Course leader for the MSc International Business Management, Foundation of Arts & Business Management and BA (Hons) Business Management (Top Up) programs, and was awarded a Teaching Excellence Fellowship in 2018.
Tolu is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. He has eclectic research interests; you can see more in the research and scholarship section.
Tolu is a Co-Director of Recruitment at Keele Business School where he is also a Business Enterprise Fellow and a Co-Research Cluster Lead for the People Organisations Enterprise and Technology (POET) research cluster.
Research and scholarship
Tolu’s present research interests revolve around institutional voids and transaction costs in international business, the economics of entrepreneurship, internationalisation of SMEs, government budgetary transparency, and areas encompassing regional, social, labour and general economics. He is particularly interested in research that might have policy implications as well as areas incorporating poverty reduction. He publishes in the top journals in these fields and contributed to the Encyclopedia of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
Tolu is the principal investigator of a British Academy grant investigating the specific challenges that Black Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) business owners faced during the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdowns, the strategies that they used to keep their businesses afloat, and how they engaged with financial and regional support. He can be contacted if you are a business owner willing to take part in his research area.
Tolu is a member of both the UKRI Early Career Research Forum and the British Academy Early Career Researcher Network.
Tolu is interested in supervising PhDs in the areas of: The Economics of Entrepreneurship; Ethnic, Migrant or Gender Entrepreneurship; Transaction Costs and Institutional Voids in International Business; Hybrid Organisational Forms to Aid Business Internationalisation of SMEs; The Use of Information Technology in Business; and Government Transparency.
Tolu writes for The Conversation - view Tolu's work here.
You can also find Tolu on Researchgate.
Teaching
Tolu currently lectures on a range of topics primarily focused on the areas of international business management, commerce and business strategy. Some modules are: MAN-20084 Managing in the Multinational Corporation, MAN-10023 Introduction to International Business, MAN-10026 Multinational Enterprise Business Perspective, and MAN40116 International Strategic Management.
Selected Publications
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How Ethnic Minority SME Owners in the UK Can Create Value Amid Informal Institutional Voids. Journal of Creating Value.
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2023. A Comprehensive Model for Developing SME Net Zero Capability Incorporating Grey Literature. Sustainability, 4459, vol. 15(5). doi> link> full text>
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2022. Generalised Trust and Relation Centrism for Corruption as Perceived by Firms. Academy of Management Proceedings. Academy of Management. doi> link> full text>
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Ethnic Minority Entrepreneurship in Times Like These: Perceived Selective Incivility and Relational Trust for BAME SMEs during the COVID-19 Pandemic. AOM Annual Meeting Proceedings. AOM Journals. doi> link> full text>
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2022. Perceived Selective Incivility and Relational Trust for BAME SMEs during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Academy of Management Proceedings, vol. 2022(1). doi> link> full text>
Full Publications Listshow
Journal Articles
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How Ethnic Minority SME Owners in the UK Can Create Value Amid Informal Institutional Voids. Journal of Creating Value.
-
2023. A Comprehensive Model for Developing SME Net Zero Capability Incorporating Grey Literature. Sustainability, 4459, vol. 15(5). doi> link> full text>
-
2022. Perceived Selective Incivility and Relational Trust for BAME SMEs during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Academy of Management Proceedings, vol. 2022(1). doi> link> full text>
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2023. Barriers to accessing assistive technology in Africa. Assist Technol, 116-117, vol. 35(1). link> doi> full text>
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2021. Smart city research: A holistic and state-of-the-art literature review. Cities, Article 103406, vol. 119. doi> link> full text>
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2021. E‐transparency and government budgetary corruption: A social marketing and transformation case from Nigeria. The Electronic Journal of Information Systems in Developing Countries, vol. 87(3). doi> link> full text>
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2020. New venture evolution of migrants under institutional voids: Lessons from Shonga Farms in Nigeria. INTERNATIONAL SMALL BUSINESS JOURNAL-RESEARCHING ENTREPRENEURSHIP, 404-423, vol. 38(5). link> doi> full text>
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2019. The returns to occupations: The role of minimum wage and gender in Nigeria. World Development Perspectives, 75-86, vol. 13. doi>
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2019. Can Equalizing Educational Endowments Between Men and Women Create More Female Self-employed Value in Nigeria?. Journal of Creating Value, 68-83, vol. 5(1). doi>
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2018. Organising household consumption and occupational proportions. International Journal of Organizational Analysis, 748-772, vol. 26(4). doi>
Chapters
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How Hybrid Learning Can Enhance the Student Experience and Teaching Outcomes in the Wake of COVID-19: A Case Study of a Business School in the United Kingdom. In Eurasian Studies in Business and Economics book series. (vol. EBES, volume 22). Springer, Cham. link> doi> link> full text>
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2020. Ethnic Poverty: Causes, Implications, and Solutions. In Encyclopedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Springer International Publishing. doi>
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2020. Gender Inequality and Female Entrepreneurship in Developing Countries. In Encyclopedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Springer International Publishing. doi>
Other
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2022. Generalised Trust and Relation Centrism for Corruption as Perceived by Firms. Academy of Management Proceedings. Academy of Management. doi> link> full text>
-
Ethnic Minority Entrepreneurship in Times Like These: Perceived Selective Incivility and Relational Trust for BAME SMEs during the COVID-19 Pandemic. AOM Annual Meeting Proceedings. AOM Journals. doi> link> full text>
-
Trust and Bricolage for BAME SME Owners during the COVID-19 Pandemic.
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Generalised Trust and Relation Centrism for Corruption as Perceived by Firms: Evidence from Low- and Middle-Income Countries.
Collaborations and grants awards
British Academy Grant (COV19\200561) - The Impact of COVID-19 on BAME Owned Businesses in the UK (Principal Investigator): £9,448.50; International Council for Small Business Funding: $1,000.
Keele Business School
Denise Coates Foundation Building
Keele University
Staffordshire
ST5 5AA
Tel: +44 (0) 1782 733430
Undergraduate enquiries:
Tel: +44 (0) 1782 733430
Email: kbs.ug@keele.ac.uk
Postgraduate enquiries:
Tel: +44 (0) 1782 733430
Email: kbs.pg@keele.ac.uk
