Inaugural Lecture: 'On achieving the Sustainable Development Goals in Africa'

On achieving the Sustainable Development Goals in Africa: Reflections on the role of responsible business practices

Africa's potential to meet the Sustainable Development Goals (Agenda 2030) is hampered by a variety of challenges.

Professor Karim Sorour’s inaugural lecture will discuss how responsible business concepts, such as corporate governance and corporate social responsibility, can support Africa address some of these challenges and achieve a visible progress. 

About the Speaker

Professor Karim Sorour is a Professor of Accounting and Corporate Governance and Deputy Head of the Accounting & Financial Management Department. Karim is an internationally recognised expert on corporate governance and CSR and his research focuses on the role of business in society with an emphasis on developing countries. He is also interested in qualitative research applications in Accounting and Business disciplines.  He is an editor of corporate governance and CSR section of Cogent Business & Management Journal; he is also an editorial board member for the Journal of Accounting in Emerging Economies as well as the Journal of Economics and Administrative Sciences. He serves as the vice-chair of the British Accounting & Finance Association (BAFA) special interest group on Accounting & Finance in Emerging Economies (AFEE-SIG). His publications have appeared in leading academic international Journals such as the Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal, Journal of Business Ethics, Business & Society Journal, and Technological Forecasting and Social Change while his monographs were published by Palgrave MacMillan including a monograph on Corporate Governance in Africa.

Karim has a proven track record of knowledge transfer as he participated and led more than 30 consultancy and contract research projects focusing on improving management accounting practices in private and governmental organisations. With focus on research impact, he has also worked closely with senior leaders and board members in public companies and governmental organisations to reform their CSR/Governance systems. He had a track record of designing and implementation of numerous financial and governance short courses and has also led Corporate Governance and Sustainability modules at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. He was recently awarded two British Council funded projects focused on digital financial inclusion and designing of inclusive transnational programmes between the UK and Egypt.

Karim is a Certified Management Accountant (CMA-USA) and holds a PhD in Corporate Governance.