What We Got Right, What We Got Wrong, and Why University Leadership Must Go Beyond Enrolment
There is a question I believe every Vice-Chancellor should ask at some point during their tenure: Beyond admitting students, running programmes, securing accreditation, and building infrastructure, what economic value is our university creating from the knowledge it generates?
It is a question I have had to confront throughout my time at Summit University, Offa.
When I assumed leadership of the University in 2022, I believed that a university should be more than a place where knowledge is taught, examined, and published. It should also be a place where knowledge becomes products, research becomes solutions, skills create livelihoods, and innovation opens up new opportunities for society. This thinking aligns with the philosophy of Acadopreneurship, a concept whose story predates my joining Summit University, Offa.
I have always been fascinated by the idea of the Acadopreneur, an academic who does not stop at generating knowledge but deliberately seeks to translate it into practical, social, and economic value. My vision of acadopreneurship is one in which academic knowledge can generate income in naira, dollars, pounds sterling, and other currencies while solving real-world problems.
During my tenure, we pursued several initiatives in this direction. Many achieved tangible milestones, but most had yet to reach the stage of sustainable commercial operations that generate revenue for the University. Some attracted partners, progressed through development stages, and demonstrated considerable promise. Yet the final transition from innovation to commercial success remained a challenge.
Reflecting on this journey, I have learnt an important lesson: having a good idea is one thing; turning it into a sustainable business is an entirely different undertaking. This experience has strengthened my conviction that acadopreneurship must become a deliberate philosophy within our universities.
This is the story of that journey—not simply a catalogue of achievements, but an honest reflection on what we got right, what we could have done better, and what other university leaders might learn from our experience. It is also a recognition that such initiatives require collective leadership, including the active role of the Governing Council, time to mature, and continuity beyond the tenure of the individuals who initiate them.
It Was Never a One-Man Journey
Before discussing the initiatives, I must acknowledge the role of the Governing Council of Summit University. The Council played an active role in many of these initiatives, providing institutional support and contributing to decisions that enabled us to explore new possibilities.
This matters because university transformation is rarely the achievement of one individual. A Vice-Chancellor may provide the vision, champion an idea, assemble a team, and push for implementation, but institutional progress depends on collective leadership, governance, resources, and sustained commitment.
One lesson I have learnt is that commercialisation requires the Governing Council and university management to see innovation not as an occasional academic activity, but as part of the institution’s long-term development strategy.
It also requires patience. The results of some decisions may not become visible within the tenure of the leaders who initiated them. This is why continuity matters.
Starting with Energy and Building Practical Skills
In 2022, shortly after assuming leadership of Summit University, Offa, we began exploring commercial clean energy generation and local energy trading, using underutilised campus land. We assembled a consortium of Nigerian partners and collaborators across three continents, united by a shared vision of bringing sustainable energy solutions to Offa and its surrounding communities.
We submitted our first international grant application for the project that year. The proposal received a very high evaluation, but we did not secure the funding needed to translate the vision into reality. The project required approximately £1.5 million. It was disappointing, but we refused to give up.
The Governing Council encouraged us, gave us a pat on the back, and motivated us to try again the following year. We did. Once again, the proposal scored highly, but the funding went elsewhere. Nigeria, through Summit University, Offa, was not selected for funding.
Those experiences were not easy. When you believe in an idea, bring partners together across continents, invest time in developing a proposal, and receive a strong evaluation, you naturally hope that the next step will be implementation. Yet we learnt that even a promising proposal and a strong consortium do not guarantee funding. Sometimes, the challenge is not the quality of the idea but the difficulty of securing the capital needed to bring it to life.
We did not abandon the vision simply because the funding did not come.
Alongside the energy initiative, we organised two boot camps in 2022: Drone Building and Piloting I and Drone Building and Piloting II. We also organised seminars on clean energy generation. With support from international partners and funded research initiatives, we trained more than 200 participants. Some subsequently obtained drone-piloting certification.
But the training was never intended to be an end in itself. We were preparing people for a bigger vision. Our ambition was to develop a critical mass of skilled individuals who could support the initiatives we hoped to pursue over the following four years. As far back as 2022, we wanted to help position Offa as a hub for clean energy generation and drone technology.
For me, this was what made the effort worthwhile. We were not merely discussing the future of technology; we were equipping people with practical skills that could open doors to employment, entrepreneurship, and further innovation.
However, I also came to appreciate that building skills is one step; creating an ecosystem where those skills translate into jobs, services, products, and sustainable income is another. Training alone cannot establish an industry. It must be followed by investment, facilities, partnerships, market opportunities, and deliberate efforts to turn skills into commercial activity.
In 2025, with a generous donation from Engr. (Dr.) Kola Balogun, we pursued a proposal to establish a drone assembly plant in collaboration with industry partners, including Momas. The proposed plant was another step towards moving beyond training and skills development to drone assembly and commercial production. However, it has yet to become operational.
Looking back, I see these efforts as parts of one continuing journey. The energy proposals, drone boot camps, clean energy seminars, and proposal for a drone assembly plant were connected by a common ambition: to turn knowledge into practical capability and, ultimately, economic value.
The lesson was not that these ideas lacked merit because they had yet to deliver the commercial outcomes we desired. Rather, innovation takes time to mature, and a vision of this scale requires patience, sustained investment, and continuity. The real challenge is ensuring that promising initiatives are not abandoned before they have had a fair opportunity to grow.
Other Initiatives, One Ambition—Turning Knowledge into Commercial Value for the University
Our journey at Summit University extended beyond energy and drone technology. We explored other opportunities, driven by our belief that the University’s knowledge, skills, and resources should create economic and social value.
In 2023, we explored the use of 100 hectares for cashew cultivation, value-chain development, and services that could benefit the surrounding community. That same year, we pursued electric mobility and achieved a tangible milestone by producing two e-tricycles on campus. Seeing physical products emerge from our efforts reinforced our belief that a university can move beyond ideas to create practical solutions.
We explored cassava cultivation between 2024 and 2025 as another avenue for agricultural enterprise and value creation. In 2025, we also commenced a poultry egg-theft detection initiative through a capstone project. Its development continued into 2026, with promising possibilities for startup creation.
We also explored opportunities in the knowledge economy through storytelling and content commercialisation. We considered developing content for wider audiences and establishing an FM station to serve local communities alongside online listeners. We believed that knowledge, creativity, and our stories could also become valuable resources.
These initiatives progressed at different rates, and not all reached sustainable commercial operations. Yet each represented an attempt to translate the University’s capabilities into tangible value.
A plantation is not yet a value-chain business; a prototype is not yet a profitable product; and a promising idea is not yet a sustainable enterprise. Turning innovation into commercial success requires investment, customers, effective partnerships, appropriate approvals, sound business models, and continuity.
Looking back, I have learnt that the real challenge is not simply to conceive ideas or initiate projects. It is to nurture them patiently, build the structures they need to grow, and ensure that promising efforts are not abandoned before they have the opportunity to deliver lasting economic and social value.
What We Got Right—and What We Could Have Done Better
Looking back, I believe we got several things right. We dared to look beyond conventional academic activities and explore ways of turning the University’s knowledge, skills, and resources into practical and commercial opportunities. We engaged external partners, pursued funding, organised hands-on training, supported innovation, and explored solutions in agriculture, energy, mobility, technology, and the knowledge economy.
The active involvement of the Governing Council was important to this journey. Its support helped give these initiatives institutional backing and placed them within a broader vision for the University’s future.
Yet there are things I believe we could have done better.
Perhaps we should have established commercialisation as a distinct institutional function, with dedicated resources, clear responsibilities, measurable milestones, and a defined pathway from an idea to a paying customer. We could also have developed commercial and financial plans alongside the technical work, rather than concentrating so heavily on developing the innovations themselves.
We might also have engaged experienced commercialisation consultants to guide the process, provide specialised expertise, and reduce the burden on the Vice-Chancellor, who must balance these ambitions with many other competing responsibilities.
These are lessons from experience, not an admission that every challenge could have been avoided. Commercialisation is difficult, even for well-resourced institutions. However, we must be willing to acknowledge the gaps if those who come after us are to build on what we have started rather than begin again.
One of my strongest lessons is that universities must plan beyond the prototype. Developing a technically sound innovation is a significant achievement, but turning it into a viable business requires a different set of skills, resources, partnerships, and sustained commitment.
The Work of a Vice-Chancellor Must Go Beyond Enrolment
University enrolment matters. So do accreditation, infrastructure, staff development, and academic quality. These are fundamental responsibilities, and no university should neglect them.
But should they represent the limits of our ambition?
I believe Vice-Chancellors must also ask how their institutions are creating value beyond the classroom. How many practical problems are we solving? How many students are developing entrepreneurial capabilities? How many innovations are moving towards the market? How effectively are we engaging industry? What intellectual property, start-ups, products, services, and community benefits are emerging from our work?
Not every research project must become a business. Not every innovation will succeed commercially. Some will create public value without generating direct revenue for the University. Others will require years of development before they become viable.
Nevertheless, universities should deliberately create pathways through which promising ideas can be tested, financed, developed, and commercialised.
This calls for more than entrepreneurial academics. It requires supportive governance, suitable policies, industry partnerships, investment, professional commercialisation support, and a culture that values both intellectual discovery and practical application.
The Unfinished Business of Continuity
Perhaps the greatest lesson from my experience is that commercialisation takes time.
An initiative may begin under one Vice-Chancellor, attract the support of a Governing Council, involve several teams, and reach an important milestone. Its eventual commercial success may come years later, under a different management team.
If the next leadership abandons it simply because it did not generate immediate revenue, the institution may lose the benefit of years of work. Conversely, continuing every project merely because it has already received investment would be equally unwise. Continuity must be accompanied by evaluation, accountability, and evidence that the initiative remains viable.
What we need is a system that preserves institutional knowledge, documents progress, evaluates commercial prospects, and makes informed decisions about which initiatives to scale, redesign, pursue with partners, or discontinue.
A university’s innovation agenda should not depend entirely on the enthusiasm of one individual. It should be embedded in the institution’s strategy and sustained through appropriate governance and management structures.
As I reflect on my journey as an acadopreneur, I do not present every initiative as a commercial success. Some achieved tangible milestones; others demonstrated promise but remained short of sustainable commercial operations. The experience has nevertheless deepened my understanding of what university commercialisation demands.
I remain convinced that African universities must become more deliberate about translating knowledge into value. We must be willing to experiment, learn from setbacks, and build partnerships that connect research with real needs.
Above all, we must understand that the end of a Vice-Chancellor’s tenure should not automatically mark the end of the initiatives that tenure began.
The true measure of institutional leadership is not only what we accomplish while we are in office, but also what we build that others can sustain, improve, and eventually bring to fruition after we leave.
That, to me, is the unfinished journey from academic innovation to commercial success, and one worth continuing.
The stories are many. The lessons are even more.
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Prof. Abiodun Musa Aibinu, Ph.D.
Professor of Mechatronics Engineering | University Leader | Innovation & AI Advocate
Author, “Notes from a Vice-Chancellor”
Sharing practical insights and lessons from academia, leadership, technology, innovation, and institutional transformation.
