It's just a small bottle of greenish, shimmering liquid, but in Africa, there are families for whom this detergent represents a better life. Some years ago, Prof. Dr Rebecca Namatovu-Dawa made this possible for people living in poverty in Uganda. As a doctoral scholarship holder, she has been helping them to set up businesses since 2006. She brought the bottle with her to the interview for the visiting scholars program because it symbolises the way she has helped to develop financial security out of extreme poverty. ‘At that time, we hadn't expected the project to be such a great success,’ Namatovu-Dawa recalls.
Today, as a professor, she conducts research at the interface between entrepreneurship and development. ‘I also study how resource scarcity and institutional inefficiency influence company behaviour,’ explains the scholar, who works at the Copenhagen Business School.
In 2006, while she was working at Makerere University Business School in Uganda, she met Prof. Dr Michael Gielnik there. The professor of psychology, specialising in entrepreneurship, at the School of Management and Technology is now her academic partner in the Leuphana Visiting Scholars Program. He recalls: ‘I was just starting my doctorate back then. Rebecca and I worked together on a project in which we delivered training for start-ups.’ Today, his research includes the psychological factors that determine success in the start-up process.
This thematic overlap forms the basis for the research project Rebecca Namatovu-Dawa is working on during her six months at Leuphana: ‘Gender and Inequality as a Topic for Entrepreneurs’. ‘My goal is to raise awareness of the importance of gender and the reasons for inequality in society,’ explains Namatovu-Dawa, who is also teaching during her stay at Leuphana: ‘I bring a very critical perspective to teaching. In doing so, I want to help students become more reflective about what we know – or think we know – about entrepreneurship.’ She adds: ‘I talk to them about how gender or inequality are discussed and also how they are not addressed. My goal is for students to gain insight into what I call “hidden figures in society”.’
She works closely with Michael Gielnik, who says: ‘From our long collaboration, I know that we complement each other very well. We developed the training courses for setting up a business together.’ Both have a keen interest in the psychological aspects of entrepreneurship. ‘Rebecca has a stronger focus on gender issues in the founding of micro-enterprises and how these relate to finance and business administration. My focus is more on questions of motivation and cognition,’ explains Gielnik. Both visited each other at their universities on several occasions and exchanged ideas about their research until he invited her to come to Leuphana through the visiting scholars program. The six-month stay of Rebecca Namatovu-Dawa is particularly useful for intensive exchange on research and for developing further projects that will extend beyond the stay – the two want to further expand start-up training for people in Africa.
‘Leuphana benefits greatly from Rebecca's expertise in teaching and research. For example, students gain deep insights into Rebecca's findings on the connection between gender and diversity and entrepreneurship, particularly in the Global South,’ emphasises Michael Gielnik. He adds: ‘We have established collaborations with other researchers here at Leuphana. Rebecca's insights have been an eye-opener for us in terms of development, cooperation and success in the Global South. And her expertise has also highlighted why some project ideas might fail.’
Rebecca Namatovu-Dawa has gained expertise not only from her research, but also from practical work. For example, she is a board member and founder of the Street Business School (SBS). The aim of this social enterprise is to end extreme poverty by empowering women as entrepreneurs. SBS provides them with the knowledge to successfully start micro-businesses. The program is tailored to the local situation and is also aimed at people with little formal education. In addition, it includes important components designed to build self-confidence.
‘I come from Uganda, where there is a very patriarchal society. The hard work that women do there often goes unnoticed. There is massive gender inequality. I am motivated by research into how we can change the structures, but also the laws, to achieve more equality.’ She feels very valued for her work at Leuphana. ‘Both the researchers and the students show me that my research methods are very exciting for them and help them in their work,’ says Rebecca Namatovu-Dawa.