Personal Statement
I am a Senior Lecturer in Entrepreneurship at the University of Liverpool Brett Centre for Entrepreneurship. My interest in entrepreneurship stems from both my PhD where I examined the social entrepreneurial intentions of those in ‘later working life’, together with my practical experience as an ‘entrepreneur’ founding businesses both in the UK and overseas. My research interests include entrepreneurship education, entrepreneurship and small firms, looking at the interplay between the people involved (i.e. founders/entrepreneurs) and their environments. Most of my research uses qualitative approaches, which often involves being immersed with founders/entrepreneurs to examine their entrepreneurial reality and motivation for starting a business.

I have a strong track record of leading and teaching entrepreneurship modules to both undergraduate and postgraduate students from a range of disciplines. These include becoming entrepreneurial, business modelling and innovation, corporate entrepreneurship, entrepreneurship in the digital economy, business venture creation, business planning, social entrepreneurship, and entrepreneurship and digital transformation. I have also supervised over 200 Master and MBA projects ensuring students develop both research and entrepreneurial skills that can support their future career ambitions.

I have also been awarded the Scholarship Award at the University of Liverpool Management School as a recognition for leading and nurturing a multidisciplinary entrepreneurship education across the University.

My passion for Entrepreneurship is fuelled by working with real-life start-ups, and developing extensive networks of founders and investors that support students’ exposure to the realities and myths surrounding entrepreneurialism.

I began my career in academia following a variety of senior roles in not-for-profit and corporate sectors where I managed a portfolio of SMEs/investors and philanthropists. This experience ensures that the teaching I pursue is relevant to students’ experiences and career ambitions.

My research reflects the breadth of interest I hold in the field of entrepreneurship/social entrepreneurship. I have publications in high ranking journals, and I have also published book chapters linked to qualitative research and reflexivity. I have been awarded the Innovation in Teaching Prize at the European Conference on Research Methods (ECRM – 2018 and 2022) and have mentored and incubated a number of students’ start-ups, taking a great pride in this role by seeing students develop their business opportunities from the ground up.

My passion for both teaching and researching entrepreneurship is ongoing. I believe that students regardless of their background and disciplines can benefit from developing their entrepreneurial mindset and skills so they can leverage these either as ‘entrepreneurs’ or within the corporate environment.

I am always keen to helps students/start-ups with their business ideas/business models, so please contact me if you need any support.

Research Overview
Social Entrepreneurial intentions in later working life

My interest in social entrepreneurial intentions in later working life spans the understanding of the motivations of those over50s in starting a social enterprise, the specific factors that led to their decision in becoming social entrepreneurs, and the unique role their age plays in shaping their social entrepreneurial intentions. Although the field of social enterprise is theoretically developed, much of this research has focused on the intentions of those in younger age/students. The focus of my research is therefore to understand, from a micro-perspective, how the over-50s social entrepreneurs understand age as an antecedent to their social entrepreneurial intentions.

Much of my research is primarily qualitative, examining the personal perspectives and the ‘world views’ of those who are experiencing the social entrepreneurial process, and the extent to which age influences their social entrepreneurial intentions. This formed the basis of my doctoral studies as well as my recent publication (2022) in a highly ranked journal: International Small Business Journal - ‘Starting up, not slowing down: Social entrepreneurial intentions in later working-life’ https://doi.org/10.1177/02662426221093570

Enterprise and Entrepreneurship education

Understanding how enterprise and entrepreneurship education influence students’ entrepreneurial intentions and new business venture creation is a growing area of interest. These span from examining teaching & learning pedagogies such the use of case studies, business plan creation, problem-solution and product-market fit frameworks, role plays, and simulations, all of which nurture students’ entrepreneurial mindsets. This also include programme and curriculum development across undergraduate and postgraduate levels, focusing on enhancing students’ entrepreneurial skills, attributes, behaviours and actions.

My work in this area focuses on examining how the development of cross-disciplinary and multidisciplinary entrepreneurship education to enable students, regardless of their discipline, develop the necessary competencies and mindsets to create value in a range of contexts: as entrepreneurs or corporate intrapreneurs inside organisations.

I have presented, together with my co-authors, a range of conference papers on the role of entrepreneurship education on shaping students' entrepreneurial intentions. To date, I have presented papers on 'Entrepreneurial self-assessment tools: A structured literature review' (BAM Conference, 2024), 'Developing play-based interventions for team work competence in entrepreneurship education' (3E Conference, 2024); 'Nurturing entrepreneurship education - towards a multidisciplinary model using stakeholder theory' (3E Conference, 2023); and 'Peer to peer feedback - towards enhancing students' entrepreneurial performance (Chartered Association of Business Schools LTSE, 2023).

I have also led and facilitated professional development workshops, including a workshop at Surrey Institute of Education (2022) on ‘making learning & teaching relevant with case studies’ to support entrepreneurship educators incorporate case studies as a learning pedagogy in the classroom and to support their students' understanding of the interplay between practice and theory. I have also led and facilitated a workshop at the Surrey ExciTes Excellence in Teaching Symposium (2022) on ‘integrating storytelling and photo-elicitation pedagogies’ to engage students with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in business contexts.

I am currently in the process of developing peer-reviewed teaching & learning case studies that can be used by teachers in the classroom, to develop students’ enterprising skills and employability in a range of contexts, whether building their start up from the ground up or acting as ‘intrapreneurs’ within existing organisations (including not for profit, public sector, and social enterprise), adding significant social, cultural, and economic value to society.

Qualitative Research

My interest in qualitative research is extensive and this stemmed from my doctoral studies in which I have adopted a qualitative approach to explore the subjective realities and experiences of later working life social entrepreneurs during the social entrepreneurial process.

In 2022, I won the second Prize in Innovation in Teaching and Research Methodology Excellence Award (ECRM) on my co-authored paper (Prof Mark Saunders): ‘Integrating reflexivity in qualitative research practice: towards a double helix’, in Remenyi, D (ed). Innovation in the Teaching of Research Methodology Excellence Awards: An Anthology of Case Histories. Reading: Academic Conferences International Ltd, pp. 23-34. In 2018, I co-authored a paper with Prof Mark Saunders ‘An integrative approach to teaching research methodology to large groups’ and won the first Prize in Innovation in Teaching and Research Methodology Excellence Award at the European Conference on Research Methodologies (ECRM), in Remenyi, D. (Ed) Innovation in Teaching of Research Methodology Excellence Awards: An Anthology of Case Histories. Reading: Academic Conferences and Publishing International Ltd, pp. 33-46.

In 2021, in collaboration with Birmingham Business School, I led virtual seminars for doctoral students on Advanced Qualitative Interviewing techniques and reflexivity in qualitative research. In 2018, I led a master class on ‘sample selection and interviewing’ for doctoral students at Anglia Rusken University.

Besides, I have contributed to several book chapters on qualitative research, including:

Dejbali, Z and Saunders, MNK (2020) ‘My viva voce examination: a rollercoaster’, in Townsend, K, Saunders MNK, Louden, R and Morrison E, How to keep you doctorate on track: insights from when things go wrong. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, pp. 356-364.

Djebali, Z and Saunders, MNK (2019) ‘Starting up not slowing down: social entrepreneurs in an ageing society, in Saunders, MNK, Lewis, P. and Thornhill, A (ed). Research Methods for Business Students (8th ed). Harlow: Pearson, pp. 332-334.