Prof. Lawrence Ogechukwu Obokoh
Prof Lawrence Ogechukwu Obokoh (PhD, MBA, FCA) is a Director of MBA programmes, Professor of Finance and Small Business Development, a Chartered Accountant and Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN). He obtained his PhD from University of Wales, Aberystwyth (now Aberystwyth University), United Kingdom and his MBA with Cum laude from Obafemi Awolowo University, Nigeria where he started his academic career as a Graduate Assistant and rose to the rank of a full Professor.
Prof Obokoh joins the University of Johannesburg as Associate Professor and the Director of the MBA programme at the JBS. His illustrious career spans over 25 years in capacity development, social researcher, and a management consultant, occupying senior and executive positions. He is also a visiting research fellow at the Africa Polling Institute (API), and is an expert evaluator/reviewer for the National Research Foundation (NRF) and for international Journals such as Acta Commercii, Journal of Economics and Behavioural Studies etc. He serves as a member in Boards, such as the editorial advisory board of the ICAN Journal of Accounting and Finance, Editorial board of the Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria (CITN).
Prof Obokoh has published widely in international Journals, contributed to book chapters and presented academic papers at international conferences. Prior to his current appointment at the JBS, he spent over 6 years at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT), Western Cape, as Professor and the Head of Department of Cost and Management Accounting, where he turned the Department to a force to be reckoned with both nationally and internationally in terms of graduate throughput and research. Under his headship, the Department of Cost and Management Accounting witnessed unprecedented growth and development in terms of research output, increased number of postgraduate outputs due to peer review mechanism, supervisor mentorship programme set up by him besides securing funding to support deserving postgraduate students. The Department was also one of the best performing departments in the Faculty of Business and Management Sciences at CPUT for 4 consecutive years in terms of undergraduate pass rates, students’ retention and postgraduate throughput. He was a former Professor and coordinator of the MBA programmes at the Department of Management & Accounting, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria.
He has held various faculty positions such as: Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at the Department of Business Management, University of Johannesburg; Senior Lecturer with the Spectrum College in London, UK; and a Resource Fellow at the West African College of Surgeons on the Health Management and Ethics capacity development programme for Surgeons and delivered lecturer as a Guest lecturer by invitation at the School of Business, Stockton University, United States of America.
Professor Obokoh’s areas of interest includes government economic policy, corporate governance and small and medium sized enterprises development and financial management. He has supervised and examined both at the masters and PhD levels.
Professor Obokoh is a recipient of several research grants and in 2022, he successfully led a team of researchers to develop a skills demand forecast model to analyse employment trends in the services sector in South Africa for Services SETA. He is actively involved in community engagement and capacity development activities for the youths for a better tomorrow.
He has received numerous awards and distinctions, among which are the Vincent Aghemume Prize for the Best MBA Student with a Distinction (Cum laude); Young Achiever’s award Obafemi Awolowo University; the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency Grant award for the 56th Annual International Council for Small Business (ICSB) World Conference in Stockholm Sweden; Best Paper Award Nominee International Academy of Business and Economics (IABE) conference Las Vegas United States of America; School of Management and Business Travel Bursary to attend International Academy of Business and Economics conference, Las Vegas United States of America, in recognition of his outstanding PhD Thesis; Institute for Small Business and Entrepreneurship (ISBE) grants for Stewards, at the ISBE 2008 conference in Belfast; General Research Prize for the Best Essay Submitted for ‘Writing Research Proposals and Grant Applications’, at the University of Wales, United Kingdom; National Youth Service Corps Award Certificate for Exemplary Leadership of the NYSC Federal Road Safety Club Lagos State and others.
