Dr. Kisito Futonge Nzembayie

Assistant Professor, Trinity Business School

Biography

Dr Kisito F. Nzembayie is a recognised scholar and practitioner in entrepreneurship, with a PhD in Digital Entrepreneurship and a focus on the intersection of entrepreneurship, digital technology, marketing, and strategy. As the Director of the MSc in Entrepreneurship and Innovation, he leads one of Europe"s premier programmes designed to nurture entrepreneurial mindsets and innovation. Kisito's research explores key themes at the nexus of entrepreneurship, information systems, management education, and action research. His contributions include a seminal book, Digital Entrepreneurship, published by Edward Elgar in 2022, and impactful articles in leading journals such as Technovation, Journal of Business Venturing Insights, and European Management Review. He is a reviewer for several leading journals and currently serves as guest editor for a special issue on Digital Entrepreneurship in Technovation. With a strong commitment to teaching excellence, underpinned by a Postgraduate Certificate in University Learning and Teaching, Kisito is renowned for engaging students with a global and pragmatic perspective. Drawing on his fluency in multiple languages, including Mandarin, and his 12 years of working and doing business in China, he brings a rich cultural understanding to modules such as International Entrepreneurship. Beyond academia, Kisito is a serial digital entrepreneur, having previously founded and scaled 3 EdTech ventures in the primary sector that have achieved over 100 million global visits. His unique blend of scholarship and practical rigour strongly positions him as an engaged scholar, bridging the gap between theory and practice. Consequently, he offers unparalleled insights into key domains of knowledge scarcity such as digital transformation, platform-dependent entrepreneurship, generative AI in business and management education, and entrepreneurial resilience in times of crisis.

Publications and Further Research Outputs

Peer-Reviewed Publications
Non-Peer-Reviewed Publications

Kisito Futonge Nzembayie, Anthony Paul Buckley, Entrepreneurial Process Studies Using Insider Action Research: Opportunities & Challenges for Entrepreneurship Scholarship, European Management Review, 2020Journal Article, 2020, DOI
Kisito Futonge Nzembayie, Anthony Paul Buckley, Thomas Cooney, Researching Pure Digital Entrepreneurship " A Multimethod Insider Action Research approach, Journal of Business Venturing Insights, 11, 2019, pe00103Journal Article, 2019, DOI
Nzembayie, K.F., Using insider action research in the study of digital entrepreneurial processes: A pragmatic design choice, Electronic Journal of Business Research Methods, 15, (2), 2017, p85-98Journal Article, 2017, DOI
Kisito Futonge Nzembayie, Anthony Paul Buckley , Digital Entrepreneurship: Disruption & New Venture Creation , 1, UK, Edward Elgar, 2022, https://doi.org/10.4337/978180ppBook, 2022, DOI
Kisito Futonge Nzembayie, Doing Insider Action Design Research (IADR) in Entrepreneurship: Lessons from a PhD Case, 2023Case Study, 2023, DOI
Kisito F. Nzembayie, Natasha Evers, Covid-19 as an External Enabler of Digital Venture Growth, RENT XXXVI, Naples, Italy, 16-18 November, 2022, 2022Conference Paper, 2022
Kisito F. Nzembayie & David Coghlan, Entrepreneurship education as first-person transformation: Interiority as an operationalizing mechanism, Journal of Business Venturing Insights, 2024Journal Article, 2024, DOI , TARA - Full Text
Futonge, Conceptualising Digital Entrepreneurship: Artifacts, Platforms & Infrastructures, European Conference on Innovation and Entrepreneurship, 17, (1), 2022, p101--106Journal Article, 2022, DOI
Kisito F. Nzembayie, Natasha Evers, David Urbano, Power dynamics in transaction platforms: Adaptive strategies of platform-dependent entrepreneurs, Technovation, 138, 2024Journal Article, 2024, DOI , TARA - Full Text
Kisito F. Nzembayie, Anthony Buckley, Isilay Talay, Experiential Pedagogies for Cultivating Entrepreneurial Mindsets: Action Design Learning as Tailored Framework, Entrepreneurship Education and Pedagogy, 2024Journal Article, 2024, DOI , TARA - Full Text

Kisito F. Nzembayie, Natasha Evers, David Urbano, Surviving Dominant Digital Platform Ecosystems: Strategies for Small Digital Platform-Dependent Entrepreneurs, ISBE 2022, York, UK, 27th to 28th October, 2022Conference Paper
Kisito Futonge Nzembayie, Digital Darwinism on Platforms Survival Strategies of Platform-Dependent Entrepreneurs, INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON MARKETING INNOVATION & ANALYTICS (ICMIA"23), India, 15th-16th Dec. 2023, 2023, y International School of Business and Media (ISB&M)Invited Talk

Research Expertise

Keywords

Economics and Business Administration,

Recognition

Best Paper Finalist - Technology Entrepreneurship - ISBE Conference, York 2022 2022
First Place Gold Medal Award - TU Dublin, MSc Entrepreneurship, 2015 2015
2023 TBS Teaching Excellence Award 2023
Best PhD Paper - ECRM, 2017, Dublin 2017
2024 TBS Teaching Excellence Award 2024
Best Paper Finalist - Technology Entrepreneurship - ISBE Conference, Birmingham, 2023 2023
Best Paper - Technology Entrepreneurship - ISBE Conference, Birmingham 2018 2018
Best Paper Finalist - Technology Entrepreneurship - ISBE Conference, Newcastle 2019 2019
Student Excellence Gold Medal Award, TU Dublin 2015 2015

RENT Conference/SIG-ECSB - Institutions and Entrepreneurship Present
ECSB - European Council for Small Business and Entrepreneurship Present
EURAM - European Academy of Management 2025
IPDMC - Innovation and Product Development Management Conference Present
ISBE - Institute for Small Business & Entrepreneurship 2023

Advisory Board - Irish Exporters Association 2024
Keynote Speaker: INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON MARKETING INNOVATION & ANALYTICS (ICMIA"23) 2023
Guest Editor for Technovation (ABS3) journal special issue titled: Unlocking the Potential of Digital Entrepreneurship in Turbulent Times 2023
Member of the Organizing Committee of the 2024 IPDMC: INNOVATION AND PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT MANAGEMENT CONFERENCE 2023
Representing Trinity Business School at the 2022 Irish Export Industry Awards. I delivered a brief speech on TBS and sustainability and proceeded to offer awards to the winners of the Sustainable Trade Company of the Year (Maersk Ireland) I also granted a video interview. 30/09/2022
Technovation Guest Editor - I am the guest editor for a Special Issue on Digital Entrepreneurship 2024
Represented Trinity Business School's Executive Education programme at the 2023 Irish Export Industry Awards as judge and presenter of award for sustainable trade company of the year. 22-09-2023
ESCB - SIG Member on Institutions and Entrepreneurship November
Guest Editor - Technovation Special Issue - Digital Entrepreneurship 2023