Meet our new board alternate member, Søren Jeppesen, Associate Professor at Copenhagen Business School (CBS). He sees great potential in the collaboration and reports of a fine interest for Africa between his students at CBS.
“In Africa, you don’t get far without a network.” So, says Søren Jeppesen, Associate Professor at Copenhagen Business School (CBS), who has spent decades researching on business development in Africa. Now, he has joined the board of the Access2innovation (A2i) network, and for good reasons.
“I see A2i as a valuable partner — both academically and practically. A2i has local contacts that our students and researchers can draw on. When doing fieldwork in Uganda, Tanzania, or Kenya, having someone who can introduce you to the right NGO or company can make all the difference,” he explains.
Søren has had ties to A2i through various collaborations through time with among others, Arne Remmen, Olav Jull Sørensen and Peter Kjær Mackie Jensen. The last one, he remembers as a very dynamic student. The projects are for example Svend Auken’s consortium DUCED – I&UA (Danish University Consortium for Environment and Development – Industry and Urban Areas). Søren also has built the contact to A2i through joint field trips with, among others, University of Aalborg.
What he values most is A2i’s ability to bridge research and practice:
“We see ourselves as a knowledge bank that A2i can tap into — and we do the same when we or our students need local expertise or insights from the field.”
“I see A2i as a valuable partner — both academically and practically. A2i has local contacts that our students and researchers can draw on. When doing fieldwork in Uganda, Tanzania, or Kenya, having someone who can introduce you to the right NGO or company can make all the difference,” he explains.
Søren has had ties to A2i through various collaborations through time with among others, Arne Remmen, Olav Jull Sørensen and Peter Kjær Mackie Jensen. The last one, he remembers as a very dynamic student. The projects are for example Svend Auken’s consortium DUCED – I&UA (Danish University Consortium for Environment and Development – Industry and Urban Areas). Søren also has built the contact to A2i through joint field trips with, among others, University of Aalborg.
What he values most is A2i’s ability to bridge research and practice:
“We see ourselves as a knowledge bank that A2i can tap into — and we do the same when we or our students need local expertise or insights from the field.”
Fieldwork that Makes a Difference
One concrete example of the collaboration is CBS’s annual field course in Uganda, where 30 master students work side by side with Ugandan students to explore entrepreneurship and the role of the private sector in development. The course is so popular that spots are filled almost immediately.
“It offers practical, real-world content in the field. Students gain hands-on experience with cultural differences, data collection, and teamwork in a context that’s vastly different from Denmark,” says Søren.
Søren Jeppesen, CBS
He emphasizes that the course not only strengthens students’ academic skills but also broadens their global perspective:
“Our students today are very international. They use all the opportunities they get, to collect knowledge of the world, and the interest for Africa is high.”
A Knowledge Contributor — and Ambassador of Membership
As a new board member, Søren hopes to contribute with his deep expertise on African contexts and concrete experiences from working with NGOs and businesses. He is also involved in a research project on the garment industry in South Africa, Lesotho, and Eswatini — a project that will culminate in a book.
“Africa is a big part of my work, so it is a logical step for me to be back as alternate board member, which I have served as before. Every year, when my department discusses our economy and prioritizing of out partnerships, I strongly advocate for CBS to remain part of the network. It’s the kind of partnership that really gives us access to resources and relationships we couldn’t build on our own.”
The collaboration with A2i is likely to grow even more relevant with the Danish government’s new “Knowledge and Innovation” program, aimed at fostering partnerships between academia and industry.
“This could lead to more concrete projects — with funding and time allocations,” Søren says.
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Popular field Study in Uganda for CBS students
Field Study: Entrepreneurship and Private Sector Development in Uganda
Every spring, 30 CBS master students travel to Uganda to conduct fieldwork in collaboration with students from Makerere University Business School in Kampala. The course has run for 13 years and combines theoretical learning with on-the-ground research.
Course objectives:
- Train students in conducting fieldwork in a developing country
- Explore entrepreneurship and the private sector’s role in growth and poverty reduction
- Develop intercultural collaboration skills
The course consists of six modules and culminates in 2½ weeks of fieldwork in Uganda, where students work in teams and collect data from businesses and institutions.
