Faculty update

Lagos Business School appoints new Dean

Effective January 1, 2021, Professor Chris Ogbechie will become the new Dean of Lagos Business School. The appointment of the Professor of Strategic Management was made by the Governing council of PanAtlantic University and announced by the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Juan Elegido, on November 26, 2020. Ogbechie has decades of academic and corporate experience, with the latter derived from his work in executive capacities for local and multinational companies, and from his consulting work with African firms. He chairs the board of several private and public companies and advises several others. Ogbechie holds a first-class degree in mechanical engineering from Manchester University, an MBA from Manchester Business School, and a PhD in Business Administration from Brunel Business School in the United Kingdom. The incoming Dean of LBS, Professor Ogbechie, has been a member of LBS Management Board since March 2012, and has been associated with the school for over 20 years. He

Lagos Business School Dean, Enase Okonedo appointed to UN PRME Board

(PRME). The Principles for Responsible Management the profile of sustainability in schools around the world and equips today's business students with the understanding and Announcing the appointment at the PRME Annual one of them is an experienced and committed leader in the area of responsible management education. Board members are PRME supporters willing and able to advance PRME's vision, acting in a personal, honorary and unpaid capacity.” setting the strategic direction for the future of the initiative” alongside 14 others including the Associate-Director teaches strategy, sustainability and corporate governance at the School and is a visiting professor across Africa. Chris Ogbechie will take over from Enase Okonedo, who has been dean for 11 years. Under Okonedo's leadership, the School has grown to become a leading business school in Africa; achieving global accreditations from international accrediting bodies and consistently ranked amongst top providers of executive education by the Financial Times of London and The Economist magazine, amongst others. Okonedo who moves to become the Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Pan-Atlantic University effective January 1, 2021 is delighted to be handing over to Ogbechie. According to her, “I am pleased to be leaving the School in the capable hands of Professor Ogbechie, who has been part of decision making in the School for several years. His broad experience, strategic thinking and relationship-building skills, as well as his standing within the LBS and business community, will be valuable to further growth and development of the School,” Okonedo concluded.

In his reaction to his appointment, Professor Ogbechie said, “it is always an honour to serve, particularly at this time when businesses need support; I look forward to leading LBS into its next phase.” Lagos Business School is committed to developing

Lagos Business School Dean, Professor Enase Okonedo has been appointed to the Board of the Principles for Responsible Management Education Education is a United Nations-supported initiative that raises ability to deliver change tomorrow. Conference, Chair of the Board, Ilian Mihov said, “The Board members are all dedicated to the PRME Principles, and each As a member of the PRME Board, Okonedo will “contribute to responsible leaders, solving Africa's business problems. General for Education, UNESCO, Stefania Giannini; President, ISAE Brazilian Business School, Normal Arruda Filho; President, Cologne Business School, Germany, Lisa Fröhlich; CEO, Association of MBAs, Andrew Main Wilson; among others. Responding to the appointment, Okonedo said, “At a crucial time such as this, the importance of responsible leadership cannot be overemphasised. Business leaders are faced with tough decisions that can influence the sustainability of their organisations positively or otherwise, thus making responsible management education a necessity now more than ever. I am delighted to be able to serve on the UN PRME Board in a capacity that allows me to advance its mission to transform business and management education, as well as develop responsible leaders”. Lagos Business School's mission to develop responsible managers and business leaders is in line with that of the PRME. The School has been a signatory to the initiative since 2011 and has remained committed to the implementation of

LBS Faculty, Eugene Ohu wins $234,000 grant for Virtual Reality research

Dr Eugene Ohu, a faculty at Lagos Business School (LBS), has won a grant of $234,000 from Templeton World Charity Foundation, Inc (TWCF) to conduct a two-year virtual reality research. The research project titled “Teaching Children Empathy and Compassion through Virtual Reality Games” will explore the potentials of virtual reality (VR) for character development. The grant was awarded under TWCF's Global Innovations for Character Development (GICD) initiative. Dr Ohu runs a Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) Lab at Lagos Business School, where he explores the implications of the immersive, interactive and perspective-taking characteristics of technologies like computers, mobile devices and virtual reality (VR) for character development, learning, behaviour modification, wellbeing and productivity. The TWCF funded two-year intervention and research project seeks ways to grow the character traits of empathy and compassion in a diverse society like Nigeria, where there are multiple expressions of religious, cultural, social and economic identities. Targeting an initial group of teenagers, who make up more than 60 percent of Nigeria's population, the study hopes to explore the perspective-taking capabilities of VR to increase understanding for the identities of others different from ourselves. Speaking on the research project, Dr Ohu said “It will be an immersive virtual reality (VR) experience where teenagers take the perspectives of

Lagos Business School Dean, Enase Okonedo appointed to GMAC Board

Dean of Lagos Business School, Professor Enase Okonedo has joined the board of directors of the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC), a global association of leading graduate business schools. GMAC provides world-class research, professional development opportunities and assessments for the graduate management education industry, designed to advance the art and science of admissions. It owns and administers the Graduate Management Admission Test™ (GMAT™) exam, the most widely used graduate business school assessment, recognised by more than 7,000 creating solutions to the challenges that graduate management education faces on the continent. She said, “The global pandemic has placed new demands on individuals and industries, and business schools in Africa must deliver as it concerns the creation of educational ethnic groups different from theirs, to appreciate their identity and share in their sufferings. We also hope to train teachers at the study schools on the new VR teaching models, so as to incorporate them into the Civics and Social Studies curriculum of secondary schools” Immersive VR are computer-generated environments where users experience a digital version of the real world where they can interact with objects and other people. It offers an opportunity to create a more personalised and engaging experience for learners. Dr Ohu added, “Although VR is fun, my research collaborators and I have broader and more ambitious goals which should see a greater deployment of VR in teaching, learning and development at all stages of a person's life. I particularly want to see it deployed as a complementary learning resource in training at the Lagos Business School”. Virtual Reality is considered by many to be the biggest thing after the internet, and its use is predicted to increase in the coming years. It is therefore imperative that stakeholders in character development and education take steps to understand the benefits of VR, and beyond academics, to teaching cultural competencies in today's interconnected, global society.

Other collaborators in the project include Judith Okonkwo, founder of Imisi3D, an Extended Reality creation lab in Yaba, Lagos, and Prof. Karen , Schrier a digital games expert at

programmes worldwide. As the only African on the Board, Okonedo will contribute to Marist College, USA.

content that will prepare students for quality leadership and management. It is a great opportunity to serve at this time.” “We're excited to engage and collaborate with some of the brightest minds from regions in the world experiencing a renaissance in graduate management education, ” said Sangeet Chowfla, president and CEO of GMAC said about the new appointees. “We've witnessed multi-year periods of growth in emerging markets around the world, and it's likely that trend continues during and beyond COVID-19,” Chowfla continued. “Having diversity and global perspective on our board better enables GMAC to bring solutions and ideas to the marketplace that help address the unique challenges and opportunities associated with our industry.” Other newly appointed board members include Ranjan Banerjee, Dean, Professor of Marketing, S.P. Jain Institute of Management and Research; Soojin Kwon, Managing Director, Full-Time MBA Admissions and Program, Stephen M. Ross School of Business, University of Michigan; and Jay Nibbe, Global Vice Chair-Markets, Ernst & Young Global Ltd as an independent director. In a similar vein, Okonedo was also recently appointed to the Board of the United Nations Principles of Responsible Management Education (UN PRME). As one of GMAC's 229 member schools, Lagos Business School engages closely with other members of the Council to grow management talent in Nigeria and Africa.