Dr Winfred Onyas

My research interests are in market studies, marketing and innovation in resource-constrained environments, with a particular focus on Africa. My work investigates the agency of actors in such settings; to examine their role in enacting sustainable markets, brands, and market exchanges. I explore how actors can be equipped to navigate challenges such as illiteracy, access to resources, and institutional voids to enable their sustained participation in markets. 

My portfolio of research projects (£157,000) focus on building UK-Africa research, education, and industry partnerships.

• 2023- : Co-Investigator, Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Impact Acceleration Account: Technological Solutions to Tackle Water Shortage and Low School Attendance in Rural Uganda

• 2020-2021: Principal Investigator, UK Research and Innovation/Global Challenges Research Fund: Bridging the Digital Gender Divide to Stimulate Growth in African Digital Economies (2020-2021). The network project was led by the University of Leicester in partnership with Makerere University Business School, the University of Ghana, Africa Technology Business Network, and Gender and Policy Insights along with five digital stakeholders in Uganda and Ghana. For details about the project, visit the Coalition for Digital Equality (CODE) - a key output of the project - on https://www.coalitionfordigitalequality.org/

• 2016-2019: Principal Investigator, British Academy (International Partnership & Mobility Scheme): Exploring the Nature and Prospects of Frugal Innovations in Uganda. A partnership between the University of Leicester and Makerere University Business School.

Onyas, W.I., (2023). Enacting overlapping exchanges to address market concerns: Evidence on sustainable and conventional coffee markets in Uganda. Marketing Theory, 23(3), pp.411-435.

Dada, O.L. and Onyas, W.I. (2021). Negotiating agency in mitigating franchisee failure: A critical discourse analysis. Industrial Marketing Management, 98, pp.1-16.

Aly, H.F., Mason, K. and Onyas, W. (2021). The institutional work of a social enterprise operating in a subsistence marketplace: Using the business model as a market-shaping tool. Journal of Consumer Affairs, 55(1), pp.31-58.

Onyas W.I., McEachern MG and Ryan AM (2018) Co-constructing sustainability: Agencing sustainable coffee farmers in Uganda. Journal of Rural Studies. 61: 12-21.  

Mwiti F.G. and Onyas W.I. (2018). Framing hybrid exchanges in subsistence contexts. International Marketing Review. Special Issue on Africa Rising. Volume 25(4):601-618 

Onyas W.I. and Ryan AM. (2015). Agencing markets: actualizing ongoing market innovation. Industrial Marketing Management. Special Issue on Market Innovation Processes. 44:.13-21.

Onyas W.I. and Ryan AM. (2015). Exploring the brand's world-as-assemblage: the brand as a market shaping device. Journal of Marketing Management. 31(1-2), 141-166.

Onyas WI and Ryan AM (2014) Articulating matters of concern in markets: (en)tangling goods, market agencies and overflows in Geiger, S., Kjellberg, H., Harrison, D. and Mallard, A.(eds) Concerned Markets. Economic ordering for multiple values. Edward Elgar. 

I am interested in supervising PhD students in the areas of market studies, marketing, and innovation in resource constrained environments. 

Current supervision

Alejandro Ramirez. Crafting Culinary Identities: The Artistry and Creativity of Technology Implementation in Fine Dining.

Sara Kabil. The dynamics of grassroot innovation scaling: Investigating the impact of strategic niche activities and power relations on the scaling process.

Farah Mneimne. Enabling Organisational Resilience in Times of Crisis: Frugal Innovation as a Dynamic Capability.

William Trevor. A Critical Examination of Two Dominant Paradigms of Innovation Management: A Case Study of Frugal and Open Innovation in the Agri-food Sector in sub-Saharan Africa

Postgraduate teaching

MSc Marketing - Marketing Management and Practice (Module Leader)

MSc International Business Global Strategy, International Marketing, and Operations Management

MSc Marketing - Dissertation supervisor

Leicester MBA - Personal Tutor

Help to Grow: Management Course

Selected conference papers

Onyas WI, Dawa S, Acheampong G.  (2023). Debunking gender stereotypes to enhance female participation in the African digital economy. 7^th Interdisciplinary Market Studies Workshop Programme. University of Edinburgh.

Mueller L, Onyas WI and Higgins M. (2022). Heartfelt design: Reshaping the imperfect Philippine coffee market. European Group for Organizational Studies. WU Vienna, Austria.

Ryan AM and Onyas WI (2021). Purposeful entanglement between social values and economic orders in the shaping of social innovation markets. International Market Studies Workshop virtual conference. University of Grenoble.

Onyas WI, Sojourner G. and Nakintu M. (2020). Building portfolio synergies and ecosystems to support sustainable frugal innovations. 7th biennial virtual International Symposium Cross-Sector Social Interactions. University of Limerick, Limerick.

Mwiti F and Onyas WI. (2020). Exploring the linkages between embeddedness culture and innovations in Subsistence Marketplaces. Subsistence Marketplaces Virtual Conference. Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, USA.

Onyas WI, Dawa S., Mulira F. and Namatovu R. (2017). Fostering sustainable frugal innovation in Uganda. International Conference ""Frugal Innovation for Sustainable Global Development"". Centre for Frugal Innovation in Africa. Leiden, the Netherlands.

Onyas WI and Namatovu R. (2017). Exploring frugal innovation spaces as agencements. Globalization and Socio-Economic Development. Workshop on Private Governance Globalization and Market Dynamics. Society for the Advancement of Socio-Economics conference Lyon, France.

Onyas WI and Mulira F. (2017). Building entrepreneurial capacity in the mobile money agencement. Lancaster-Stockholm Market Studies Workshop. Stockholm School of Economics, Sweden. 

PhD Marketing. Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. PGCert in Academic Practice. MBA (Marketing). BCom (Hons).