Nikki James

Nikki James is an Assistant Teaching Professor in the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Group at Northeastern University’s D’Amore-McKim School of Business, where she also serves as Concentration Coordinator for Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship. She holds a Doctor of Education from the University of Liverpool (UK) and an MBA from Charles Sturt University (Australia). She is also a Fellow of the School for Social Entrepreneurs.

Before joining Northeastern, James developed and facilitated programs globally on innovation, social entrepreneurship, and leadership for practitioners, undergraduate, and graduate students. She has designed and delivered experiential learning initiatives in Australia, the United States, South Africa, Tanzania, and China, partnering with universities, social enterprises, and industry collaborators to expand access to education and entrepreneurship training.

At Northeastern, James teaches and designs courses that explore the intersection of business, innovation, and social impact, including *Social Impact of Business*, *Funding and Measuring Social Impact*, *Global Entrepreneurship*, *Business, Social & Economic History of South Africa*, *Integrated Studies in Social Innovation & Entrepreneurship*, and *Social Enterprise*. Her teaching spans undergraduate, graduate, and practitioner levels, and she has been a two-time nominee for the Northeastern Global Educator Award (2024 and 2025).

James’s research examines how emerging technologies and experiential learning models can support the development of social innovation and entrepreneurship—particularly in low-resource settings. Her work explores the barriers to entrepreneurial activity and how learning systems can be designed to cultivate ethical, globally minded changemakers. She is the author of “Using Technology to Structure and Scaffold Real-World Experiential Learning in Distance Education” (*TechTrends*, 2020), holds a patent for a method of monitoring a learner through an experiential learning cycle, and regularly presents her research at international conferences including the Academy of Management Annual Meeting, the International Society of the Learning Sciences, and the PRME North East Conference.

James is the Founder of ResponseAble Investments, an impact investing firm based in South Africa, where she coaches social entrepreneurs and provides impact-investing capital to fund sustainable growth. Her professional philosophy centers on equipping innovators not only with the reflective and ethical mindsets to lead change, but also with access to the capital, networks, and practical resources required to turn purpose into sustainable impact.