By Diana Meso

She wears many hats, but her most defining role is serving as a pillar of transformative teaching and learning. Meet Prof. Caren Ouma, a seasoned scholar and practitioner with a PhD in Organizational Development and Transformation from Cebu University, Philippines, a Master of Business Administration (MBA), and a Bachelor of Commerce (B.Com) from the University of Nairobi.

With over 30 years of teaching, research, and professional experience across Africa and being affiliated with over eight professional bodies, Prof. Ouma has extensive knowledge and expertise in strategic planning, curriculum design, program review, and capacity building. She has published 64 peer-reviewed journal articles, four books, one case study, and 33 learning modules, and has presented at national and international conferences. Additionally, she has supervised 20 PhD dissertations and over 200 graduate students’ projects as well as served as an external examiner for multiple universities and leading research organizations across East Africa.

Prof. Ouma serves as a Professor of Leadership and Management within the Chandaria School of Business (CSOB) at United States International University-Africa (USIU-Africa). She is redefining teaching by blending classroom learning with industry and real-world problem solving. Through this, her students analyze current real organizational challenges and develop strategies backed by relevant theories and best practices. The students then present solutions to the company’s top leadership to implement so that they can realize enhanced performance. In the past semesters, organizations such as Kenya Revenue Authority, Safaricom PLC, Nairobi Hospital, Kenya Power and Lighting Company, and Nation Media Group, among others have had their top leadership visit the campus during weeks 12 and 13 where students present strategies to solve leadership and ethics problems facing them and have incorporated the recommended strategies in their organizations.

Moreover, she has contributed to developing several programs within the Chandaria School of Business, including the Doctor of Business Administration (DBA), Online MBA, Bachelor of Global Leadership and Governance, and Bachelor of Agribusiness Management (ongoing). She has also been involved in creating the Master of Science in Sustainable Development and Social Entrepreneurship, specifically developing the course on Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Management (ongoing).

For her, leadership isn’t just a role but a way of life, she has served in many leadership and advisory positions including; Chair of CSOB Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) Membership and Accreditation Journey, Chair of the University Faculty Promotions, Retention, and Evaluation Committee, Chair of CSOB Promotion Committee, Chair of the Doctorate in Business Administration (DBA) Program Leadership Concentration, Chair of Staff- Faculty Relation Committee, Vice Chair USIU-Africa Faculty Council, a USIU-Africa Sacco board member, among others.

She has contributed to securing major grants and consultancies for the university, including the Wells Mountain Initiative Dream Big Conference ($43,750); MasterCard Foundation e-Learning Initiative, Developed an online MBA curriculum in Leadership and Ethics; ICIPE-INSFEED Project ($45,000); Created curriculum, trainee workbooks, and trainer manuals for fish and poultry training, IDRC/ACIAR Program; Designed training materials for the Metro Agri-Food Living Lab, promoting gender-inclusive youth entrepreneurship in Kenya, the Metro Agri-Food Living Lab project (KES 56.8M); Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Projects; and Developed training materials and delivered sessions on Transformational Leadership and Management to 10,000 women entrepreneurs under USIU-Africa’s CEED and related programs.

Throughout her career and professional journey, she has earned numerous accolades such as, an award in recognition of her outstanding contribution to Open Access Publishing in the year 2024, an award for being among the best performers in the Online course-Quality Matters-Designing Your Online Course (DYOC) at USIU-Africa in 2023, recognized for serving as an employee of USIU-Africa for 10 years in 2020, an award by the International Journal of Innovative Research and Development in 2017 as innovative researcher, received USIU-Africa Top Faculty Award (TFA) in 2013 as a researcher and publisher, and received the University of Nairobi Scholarship award to undertake MBA program in the year 1997 based on her academic excellent performance merit at undergraduate program (B.Com) level.

For more information, visit Professor Ouma’s Profile at: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3943-3562