Dr Saurabh Lall
- Senior Lecturer in International Business (Management)
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8130-5137Biography
Saurabh Lall is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Glasgow’s Adam Smith Business School. His research agenda focuses on entrepreneurship and society and follows two broad tracks: entrepreneurship in developing and emerging economies; and social entrepreneurship (including related concepts such as impact investing and venture philanthropy). His research includes issues of equity, diversity, and inclusion by focusing on traditionally overlooked entrepreneurs, underdeveloped regions and countries, and challenging institutional environments. He works closely with practitioner organizations to systematically collect data and test interventions to stimulate entrepreneurial growth. Saurabh was previously on the faculty of the University of Oregon’s School of Planning, Public Policy and Management. Prior to that, he was Research Director of the Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs (ANDE) at the Aspen Institute, where he co-founded the Global Accelerator Learning Initiative. This unique public-private partnership has aggregated data from over 23,000 ventures that applied to over 370 accelerator programs around the world.
Saurabh is co-author of the book Observing Acceleration: Uncovering the Effects of Accelerators on Impact-Oriented Entrepreneurs and has also published research in journals like World Development, Business & Society, Small Business Economics, Public Administration Review, Public Management Review, British Journal of Management, and Voluntas. He serves as Associate Editor for Social Enterprise Journal and is on the editorial board of Public Administration Review and Voluntas. His research has been covered in Forbes and TechCrunch.
Saurabh received his PhD in Public Policy and Administration from the George Washington University's (GWU) Trachtenberg School of Public Policy and Public Administration in 2015. Originally from Mumbai, Saurabh has a bachelor’s degree in electronics engineering from the University of Mumbai.
Research interests
Saurabh is a member of the School's International Business and Enterprise research cluster.
Areas of expertise:
- Entrepreneurship in emerging markets
- Comparative international entrepreneurship
- Social Entrepreneurship and Impact Investing
- Accelerators
- Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in Entrepreneurship
Grants
- 2020 - £67,000 (US$84,000) for conducting a randomized-controlled trial implemented in collaboration with the World Bank Gender Innovation Lab, International Finance Corporation, and Village Capital on accelerating investment into women-led startups from the International Growth Centre (London School of Economics & University of Oxford, financed by the UK Department for International Development) (co-Principal Investigator, with Amisha Miller, PhD Candidate at Boston University).
- 2018 - £169,000 (US$201,359) for conducting a randomized-controlled trial on access to entrepreneurial mentorship from the Innovation Growth Lab (IGL) Grants Programme (NESTA, The Argidius Foundation, The Kauffman Foundation) (Principal Investigator).
- 2015 - £1.92 million (US$2.3 million) to study the effectiveness of impact accelerators, funded by the Argidius Foundation, Doen Foundation, Kauffman Foundation, Lemelson Foundation, Omidyar Networks, and USAID (www.galidata.org) (co-Principal Investigator, with Peter Roberts at Emory University).
Supervision
Saurabh welcomes applications from promising PhD students on the following topics. Applicants should have some training in econometric methods and software, and an interest in quantitative research.
- Social entrepreneurship
- Accelerators and innovation
- Entrepreneurship in emerging markets
- Entrepreneurship and gender
- Entrepreneurial Resource Constraints in Emerging Economies
- Gender and Access to Equity Finance
- Entrepreneurial Resource Constraints in Emerging Economies
Professional activities & recognition
Prizes, awards & distinctions
- 2022: Best Paper Award (Business & Society Journal)
- 2022: Responsible Research in Management Award (Academy of Management)
- 2021: Best Paper Award (Academy of Management Entrepreneurship Division)
Grant committees & research advisory boards
- 2017 - 2021: The Kauffman Foundation, Evaluation Advisory Committee
- 2020: MicroMentor, Advisory Board
Editorial boards
- 2020: Social Enterprise Journal
- 2021: Voluntas: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations
- 2023: Public Administration Review
Selected international presentations
- 2022: London School of Economics - Colloquium on the Multi-dimensional Impacts of Business Accelerators (London)
- 2019: The Omidyar Network - Presentation on "Observing Acceleration" (Bengaluru, India)
- 2016: Global Entrepreneurship Congress (Medellin)
Additional information
Media coverage
- Forbes (2024), "Consistent Questions from Investors Minimize Gender Bias"
- Forbes (2019), “Social Impact Accelerators Drive Revenue Growth Among Just a Small Portion of Ventures.”
External knowledge exchange activities
- Evaluation Advisor, Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative - Inclusive Entrepreneurship Program
- Member, The Kauffman Foundation Evaluation Advisory Committee (2017 - 2021)
- Research network member, Innovation Growth Lab
- Advisory Board Member, MicroMentor Program, Mercy Corps
- Academic Working Group Member, United Nations Development Programme Impact Measurement and Management
Saurabh looks forward to developing partnerships with organisations working in the fields of entrepreneurship, innovation, and impact investing.
