Biography
Elsie's research interest lies in the area of innovation for inclusive development. She explores how frugal and inclusive business models in base of pyramid markets interact with the institutional elements in these contexts, and they balance value creation and value capture, and how they bring about sustainable societal transformation.
She is currently working in the the Frugal Innovations and Responsible Entrepreneurship: Case Studies in the Water and Health Sectors in East Africa project funded by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research Responsible Innovation program.
Elsie has a PhD from the The Economics of Innovative Change programme jointly offered by Friedrich Schiller University Jena and the Max Planck Institute of Economics in Jena, Germany. Her dissertation titled Inclusive Innovation and Institutional Change explored the sources, drivers and dynamics of societal transformations associated with mobile money innovation in Kenya.
She has worked at Strathmore University in Kenya in various teaching, research and administrative capacities. She has been a visiting research fellow at the Science Policy Research Unit (SPRU), University of Sussex, UK.
International Institute of Social Studies
- onsongo@iss.nl
- Room
- I3-04
- Location
- Kortenaerkade 12, 's - Gravenhage
More information
Work
- Elsie Onsongo (2023) - Frugal innovation in public service delivery: Reflections from case studies in Kenya - [link]
- Elsie K. Onsongo, Peter Knorringa & Cees van Beers (2023) - Frugal business model innovation in the Base of the Pyramid: The case of Philips Community Life Centres in Africa - Technovation, 121 - doi: 10.1016/j.technovation.2022.102675 - [link]
- Elsie Onsongo & Peter Knorringa (2020) - Comparing Frugality and Inclusion in Innovation for Development: Logic, Process and Outcome - Innovation and Development - doi: 10.1080/2157930X.2020.1811931 - [link]
- Elsie Onsongo (2019) - Institutional entrepreneurship and social innovation at the base of the pyramid: the case of M-Pesa in Kenya - Industry and Innovation, 26 (4), 369-390 - doi: 10.1080/13662716.2017.1409104 - [link]
- J Köhler, FW Geels, F Kern, J Markard, Elsie Onsongo, A Wieczorek, F Alkemade, Flor Avelino, A Bergek, FAA (Frank) Boons, L Fünfschilling, D Hess, G Holtz, S Hyysalo, K Jenkins, P Kivimaa, M Martiskainen, A McMeekin, MS Mühlemeier, B Nykvist, B (Bonno) Pel, Ronnie Raven, H Rohracher, B Sandén, J Schot, B Sovacool, B Turnheim, D Welch & P Wells (2019) - An agenda for sustainability transitions research: State of the art and future directions - Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions, 31, 1-32 - doi: 10.1016/j.eist.2019.01.004 - [link]