ReWAGE is fortunate in having some of the UK’s foremost thinkers on its Expert Group, drawn from leading universities and research organisations from across the UK. Between them they have a huge breadth of knowledge, covering such subjects as the labour market, job quality, employment relations and the changing nature of work.

This week we are pointing the spotlight onto ReWAGE expert Professor Monder Ram (OBE), Director of the Centre for Research in Ethnic Minority Entrepreneurship (CREME) and our expert on small business and ethnic minority entrepreneurship.

Background:

Monder is the Director of the Centre for Research in Ethnic Minority Entrepreneurship (CREME) at Aston University. He specialises in research on ethnic minority entrepreneurship, and employment in small firms. He is committed to ‘engaged scholarship’ and has helped to develop several social sciences inspired initiatives that have benefited diverse and overlooked communities.

Area of expertise:

Monder is a leading authority on small business and ethnic minority entrepreneurship research and has published widely on the subject.

Why Monder became a ReWAGE expert:

Small firms in low paying sectors - the businesses that we tend to research - are often overlooked in academic and policy discourse. I want to collaborate with the excellent colleagues in ReWAGE to highlight the importance of such firms to economy and the policy agenda on enterprise and employment.

What achievement makes Monder most proud:

We have developed a strong portfolio of projects in collaboration with practitioners which is making a material difference to small and ethnic minority businesses.

Recent achievements:

We won the ESRC Impact prize in 2017 and 2021 for our work on supporting small firms from disadvantaged communities.

Current projects

• Productivity in microbusinesses, focusing on low-paying sectors
• Developing a new agenda for Black and ethnic minority entrepreneurs in the UK
• Migrant integration in Europe

Other interests:

Sport, reading and family.

Recent publications

Villares-Varela, M., Ram, M., and Jones, T. Thwarted or Facilitated? The Entrepreneurial Aspirations and Capabilities of New Migrants in the UK, Sociology,

Ram, M., Jones, T., Doldor, S., Villares-Varela, M., and Li, H. (2022) What happens to refugee-origin entrepreneurs? Combining mixed embeddedness and strategy perspectives in a longitudinal study, Ethnic and Racial Studies, 45:(16): 1-27

Ram, M., McCarthy, I., Green, A., and Scully, J. (2021). Towards a more inclusive human resource community: Engaging ethnic minority microbusinesses in human resource development programmes targeted at more productive methods of operating. Human Resource Management Journal, 1– 15.

Ram, M., Edwards, P., Meardi, G., Jones, T, and Doldor, S. 2020. ‘Non-Compliant Small Firms and the National Living Wage: The Roots of Informal Responses to Regulatory Change,’ British Journal of Management 41(4): 856-871

ReWAGE’s Expert Group is uniquely placed to offer the government informed practical advice and policy recommendations to support its strategic response to the recovery and renewal of work and employment in the UK as it tackles current challenges.