Entrepreneurship and Disability
Discover how entrepreneurship can dismantle the structural, social, cultural, and internalized stigma of disability in this compelling book. Journey through six countries and uncover inspiring stories of disabled people using diverse entrepreneurial strategies – micro-entrepreneurship, social entrepreneurship, activism, bricolage, compassion, and institutional entrepreneurship – to challenge and overcome stigma.
Meet Belen Dofitas, who aids people affected by leprosy in the Philippines through micro-enterprise opportunities. Explore the efforts of Ugandan bricoleurs creating small-scale activities to uplift their communities. Discover the impact of a Kenyan psychiatrist’s peer-to-peer mental health interventions and the Global Minds Collective. Follow six UK women with invisible disabilities as they transform their experiences into powerful advocacy through a documentary. Learn about Neha Arora’s all-disability travel agency, Planet Abled based in India, and her work to allow everyone to read the book that is life. Understand how neurosurgeon Neilank Jha’s work on concussion treatment and brain–computer interfaces is improving lives.
These diverse narratives highlight different pathways to systemic change and disability destigmatization. The book concludes by showing how initial slow system changes can accelerate, leading to significant transformations and manifesting declarations that can ultimately change the system. Dive into these stories of entrepreneuring against disability stigma and see how disability entrepreneurship can foster a more inclusive world.
Anica Zeyen is a Professor in Entrepreneurship and Inclusion at the School of Business and Management, Royal Holloway University of London (UK). She earned her undergraduate degree in Germany and holds a master’s degree from the University of Queensland (Australia), where she was listed on the Dean’s Honour Role. She completed her PhD with summa cum laude from Leuphana University Lueneburg (Germany) in 2014. After obtaining her PhD, she joined Royal Holloway as Lecturer in Strategy and Sustainability in January 2015, was promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2018, and became Full Professor in 2023.
Oana Branzei is Paul MacPherson's Chair in Strategic Leadership and Professor of Strategy and Sustainability at the Ivey Business School at Western University in Canada. She is also the founding director of the HBA Sustainability Certificate program and the Master of Science Graduate Diploma in Sustainability; the founder, convener, and host of PhD Sustainability Academy, an annual event of the Alliance for Research on Corporate Sustainability; and the co-founder of the recently inaugurated virtual-based and accessible Spring Institute. Ivey’s champion for the United Nations’ Principles for Responsible Education for a decade (2010–2019), she has pioneered the ESG and SDG case curations and global conversations for Ivey Publishing. She is currently cross-appointed with Western University’s Centre for Climate Change, Sustainable Livelihoods and Health. She leads the Regenerator, a campus-wide accelerator for regenerative ventures. She also heads her own global Regeneration lab, originally formed with funding from her 2010 Early Researcher Award, and currently featuring collaborations with rapid-response research teams tackling grand challenges on five continents.