Coraopolis Branch 26AB-B
Meet Eliada Griffin-EL Ph.D.
Eliada Griffin-EL Ph. D.
RMU Associate Professor
Educator of the Year Award
Dr. Eliada Wosu Griffin-EL is a tenured Associate Professor of Management at Robert Morris University’s Rockwell School of Business, where she teaches Entrepreneurship and Innovation and International Business. Dr. Griffin-EL is the Director of RMU’s Massey Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, which is a nationally-recognized center of excellence for entrepreneurship education, and the Founding Director of the premier Rockwell Fellowship in Entrepreneurship at RMU. Under her leadership, the growth of RMU’s entrepreneurship program was instrumental in securing the $18 million dollar gift from the S. Kent Rockwell Foundation - the biggest gift given to the University to date- the endowment of the entrepreneurship program, and the naming of the RMU’s Founding School, the Rockwell School of Business. In 2023, RMU’s Massey Center received national recognition as a Finalist for the Model Program of the Year for Excellence in Entrepreneurship Education by the United States Association of Small Business and Entrepreneurship (USASBE).
Prior to RMU, Dr. Griffin-EL served as 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 and as 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. Dr. Griffin-EL received her Ph.D. and Masters in International Development from the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, and Bachelor Degree in Sociology from Yale University.
Dr. Griffin-EL’s research uses an economic sociological lens to explore the engagement between the entrepreneur and his/her social structure that informs the venture creation process in hostile or emerging environments. She is intrigued by how the structure and content of entrepreneurial networks influence the start-up activity in African emerging markets and the Pittsburgh region, and the implications for regional entrepreneurial ecosystems. She has presented her work globally across Europe, Africa, and the United States, and is also co-editor of the book, The Business of Social and Environmental Innovation: New Frontiers in Africa (Springer Publishers, 2015).
She currently serves on the Boards of the international social enterprise, Amandla Development (Cape Town, SA), on the Pittsburgh-based social entrepreneurial accelerator, New Sun Rising, and the Pennsylvania Council for International Education. Dr. Griffin-EL is married to her wonderful husband, Dr. Nosakhere Griffin-EL. Together, they are co-founders of the regionally recognized social enterprise, The Young Dreamers’ Bookstore, which was a 2022 BNY Mellon UpPrize Social Innovation Challenge Semi-Finalist (among 70 total companies), and a 2023 Pittsburgh Pirates Batting for Small Business Award Winner (chosen of more than 100 applicants). Eliada and Nos are both the proud parents of two energetic and fun-loving boys, Nosakhere Jr. (age 10) and Onyemachi (age 8).