Dr. Shiferaw Muleta Eyana is an Assistant Professor of Entrepreneurship with the College of Development Studies at Addis Ababa University. Eyana recently completed his PhD at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam’s Center for Entrepreneurship, where he focused on entrepreneurship and innovation. He holds a BA in Geography from Kotebe Metropolitan University and a MSc in Geography and Environmental Studies from Addis Ababa University.

Eyana’s research interests include entrepreneurship, open innovation, small business development and management, tourism development and management, and natural resources management, especially in developing countries. His PhD research, entitled “Entrepreneurial behaviour and firm performance of Ethiopian tour operators“, focused on how small business owners identify and exploit entrepreneurial opportunities and their resulting effects on firm performance, using empirical evidence from the Ethiopian tourism sector. He has written and published a number of articles and presented at various national and international conferences, including the International Conference on Small Businesses in Dublin and the United States Association of Small Businesses and Entrepreneurship in San Diego.

Eyana is a researcher on Open AIR’s case study, “Collaborative Models to Scale-up Tech Start-ups in Ethiopia“.