Prof. Dr. Jürgen Bode is Vice President (Deputy Vice Chancellor) of International Affairs and Diversity since 2015, at Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Sciences, Germany, and Professor for International Management. In addition, he holds a position as Director/CEO of the BRS Institute of International Studies. Prof. Bode is leader of numerous academic projects especially in China and Africa (“German-African Partnership Platform for the Development of Entrepreneurship and Small/Medium Enterprises” which is carried out in partnership with the University of Cape Coast, Ghana, and the University of Nairobi, Kenya, under a grant from the German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD). He is further programme head of the “2+2” study programme “B.A. Business Administration” in cooperation with the Hunan University, Changsha, China.

Prof. Bode has been an Associate Professor at Tsinghua University, Beijing, China, and Professor at the International School of Management (ISM), Dortmund, Germany. He gained management experience as a senior project manager at Deutsche Post/DHL group where he was leading international business development and strategy projects. His current research and working areas include entrepreneurship in developing countries, international marketing, and international management.

He has obtained a master’s degree in management and industrial engineering (TU Darmstadt, with studies at Ecole Supérieure des Sciences Economiques et Commerciales ESSEC), a Ph.D. in management (University of Cologne), and a post-doctoral degree in automation science (Tsinghua University). Prof. Bode holds the prestigious “Friendship Award of the People’s Republic of China”.

Prof (Mrs.) Rosemond Boohene is a Professor of Enterprise Development at the Centre for Entrepreneurship and Small Enterprise Development, University of Cape Coast. She was the former; Head of Department of Management Studies, Vice Dean of the School of Business, Dean for International Education, University of Cape Coast and Visiting Professor at the Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Sciences, Germany. Prof. Boohene has served as a reviewer and presented at conferences and published articles and book chapters in both local and international journals. She has 23 years’ experience in enterprise development and higher education management and has managed projects for the EXIM Bank Ghana, Rainforest Alliance, Association of African Universities, European Union (EU), the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and the United Nations Office of Programmes and Services (UNOPS) on Small and Medium Sized Enterprises Development and Entrepreneurship. She also led a team to establish the Centre for Entrepreneurship and Small Enterprise Development, the University of Cape Coast Business incubator and the rolling out of a University wide entrepreneurship course which aimed at developing the entrepreneurial mindsets and skills of students, graduates and the community.

Dr Daniel Agyapong is a Senior Lecturer in Finance and Entrepreneurship at the School of Business, University of Cape Coast. He is also a youth and micro, small and medium enterprise development consultant. He is a team member of the project Graduate Enterprise Development Initiative that is financed by the government of Ghana; and a UNDP/UNEP project dubbed Switch Africa Green. He holds a PhD in Finance from the Open University Malaysia, MPhil in Business Administration (Finance) from the University of Ghana, Legon; Postgraduate Diploma in Entrepreneurship and Bachelor of Management Studies from the University of Cape Coast, Ghana. He is an Associate Member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing (UK) with Professional Postgraduate Diploma in Marketing. Moreover and a Licentiate Member, International Professional Managers Association (UK) with a Postgraduate Diploma in Management.

Oghenekome Umuerri is a Project Manager and a research fellow at the Hochschule Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Science. He leads a transdisciplinary research and transfer project between the Hochschule Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Sciences, the University of Cape Coast Ghana and partners in the consumer goods and food processing industries in Europe and Ghana.

Previously, he analyzed high potential start-up investments in Sub-Sahara Africa as an external consultant for the Up-Scaling Program of Deutsche Investitions- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft (DEG) and was Business Unit Leader, Client Services East and West Africa at GfK S.E., where he focused on helping companies understand their customers better through consumer experience research.

Educated in Germany and Nigeria, he holds a master’s degree in economics from the University of Hohenheim. Currently, he is a PhD candidate at Jacobs University Bremen and his research focus is entrepreneurship and SME development in Africa.