Dr. Vincent Ogutu is the Vice-Chancellor of Strathmore University. He self-identifies as a teacher and is a Lecturer in Organisational Behaviour, Leadership, Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation. He is passionate about inspiring students at all levels to realise their potential for personal growth and social impact. He has given a TEDx talk at IESE Business School, Barcelona urging people to commit to the cause that “has their name written on it.” He also uses television and social media as a platform to challenge people in the areas of leadership, entrepreneurship, creativity, talent development, and social impact.

Prior to his vice-chancellor role at the University, Dr. Ogutu was the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Planning & Development), where he was charged with oversight of the University’s strategy, fundraising, alumni relations, development projects and community outreach. He has also been the Vice Dean for Executive Talent Development at Strathmore University Business School, and the Director of the regional academies in Uganda, Rwanda and Tanzania. He was the Founding Director of the MBA for Executives Programme at SBS and led the Programme in its first three years. Before working at SBS, he was the Deputy Principal of Strathmore School where he fell in love with the teaching vocation and discovered how much of a difference it can make in people’s lives.

Dr. Ogutu has a Ph.D in Organisational Management from Rutgers University, an MSc in Financial Economics from the University of London and a BA in Economics from the University of Nairobi. He undertook his doctoral studies full time in the United States on a Fulbright Scholarship. His research is on the Psychology of meaningful work and meaningful lives. He uses this knowledge to help organisations create meaningful work environments, and to help individuals to discover their path in life. He also uses it to uplift demographics that usually find their lives to be devoid of purpose (like prisoners and terminally ill patients).

While in the US, Dr. Vincent also focused on social entrepreneurship and innovation. He was one of seven moonshot pioneers chosen to present his tech idea on teleportation simulation at Google in New York in a Google NJ Solve for X competition. An accidental by-product of that Google adventure was the creation of his own step-by-step system for innovation that allows ordinary people to think outside the box and innovate. He dubbed it “The Innovation Algorithm”. He  has been invited to teach it in Kenya, Uganda, the US, Germany and Uruguay. Dr. Ogutu led Deloitte USA’s cybersecurity team on a discussion of the psychological elements of security breaches. He was part of LaunchNJ, a team of professionals creating an ecosystem of entrepreneurs in NJ similar to the Silicon Valley dynamic.

He is now a champion of the Kenyan entrepreneurial ecosystem and has given keynote speeches at incubators and accelerators like iBizAfrica, the Nairobi Garage, Transformational Business Network and Amani Institute. He has given design-thinking workshops for organisations and networks of innovators like Strathmore Energy and Resource Center and Mirazi. He has also  been a judge at entrepreneurial competitions organised by the Somo Project, and also the Women in Tech program of Standard Chartered Bank and iBizAfrica.

He currently sits on the boards of Strathmore University Foundation, B Lab East Africa (certifying companies for their social impact), Nafisika Trust (teaching entrepreneurial skills to prisoners), and is an advisor to several start-ups in Kenya and the US.

Dr. Vincent is passionate about getting businesses and individuals to use creativity and social innovation as a force for good.