PhD Spotlight: Omima Elkailani

For PhD candidate Omima Elkailani, research is more than an academic pursuit — it is a reflection of a life lived across borders. Having navigated the cultural landscapes of the Middle East, Europe, and North America, she has turned her personal history of movement into a rigorous study of how cultures "meet and clash."

Her academic journey reflects this same versatility: she built a technical foundation with a Bachelor’s in Engineering from The University of Benghazi, before pivoting to the human side of industry with a Master of Science in Management from Oxford Brookes University and an MBA in Small and Medium Enterprises from Leipzig University. It was during her time as a co-founder of a social enterprise that these threads converged: the practical challenges of building a business sparked a shift from practicing entrepreneurship to analyzing it. Today, she explores a singular, compelling question: How do shifting environments — and the turbulence of events like the Arab Spring—redefine the way we think, work, and build?

“Having witnessed firsthand the upheaval of the Arab Spring and its aftermath, I became attuned to how entrepreneurs find ways to persist and even thrive amid turbulence,” says Elkailani. “These experiences shaped a research agenda that is deeply personal.”

Built around two interconnected pillars, Elkailani’s research first examines the resilience of women entrepreneurs in violent conflict zones, exploring how they carve out spaces of normalcy amid chaos — a study recognized as one of the Academy of Management’s Best Papers. The second focus shifts to the experiences of Arab entrepreneurs in Canada, examining how they navigate the expression or concealment of their cultural identity and thereby revealing the complex negotiation of belonging — between who they are and who they feel they must appear to be in order to succeed.

“My research is unified by a central concern: How entrepreneurship is shaped by who we are, where we come from, and where we find ourselves," says Elkailani. “I examine how experiences — whether shaped by conflict or migration — leave lasting imprints on entrepreneurs, and how they navigate what to carry forward, what to leave behind, and how these decisions shape their journeys and sense of self.”

Elkailani is especially grateful for the supportive environment within the PhD program at the Alberta School of Business — one she describes as meaningful not only intellectually, but personally. She credits her supervisor, professor Jennifer Jennings, as central to that experience, describing her as someone who brings both scholarly rigor and human warmth to the mentoring relationship. "That combination has made a real difference," Elkailani reflects.

Elkailani has been recognized with several awards, including the Above and Beyond the Call of Duty Reviewer Award from the Academy of Management, the Impact Award from the Canadian Entrepreneurship Research Conference, and the Innovation in Student Research Award from the Administrative Sciences Association of Canada. 

Elkailani is also contributing to ongoing scholarly conversations co-authoring a chapter for the Oxford Handbook of Entrepreneurship and Gender. Looking ahead, she hopes to contribute to more inclusive understandings of entrepreneurship — ones that recognize the complexity of cultural identity and the distinct challenges entrepreneurs face across different contexts.

Omima Elkailani joined the Alberta School of Business in 2022 as a PhD student in strategy, entrepreneurship and management and is supervised by professor Jennifer Jennings.