Saleha Khumawala

Dr. Saleha Khumawala is the Robert Grinaker Professor of Accounting and the Founding Director of the SURE™ (Stimulating Urban Renewal through Entrepreneurship) Program at Bauer College of Business, University of Houston. She obtained her Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and is a CPA and CGMA. She teaches and does research in the fields of Government and NonProfit Accounting and Social Entrepreneurship. She has been widely published and made numerous presentations at national and international conferences. She is also the coauthor of Government and Not-for-Profit Accounting: Concepts and Practices, 7th edition, John Wiley & Sons, and is an active member of the American Accounting Association and served as the President of the Government and NonProfit Section in 2008.

Dr. Khumawala’s past projects included much travel and international work, but she has recently made Houston’s local economy a decidedly more important part of her focus through the SURE™ program (Stimulating Urban Renewal through Entrepreneurship). SURE™ provides an experiential, impactful, innovative educational program by creating a partnership between University of Houston students, business thought leaders, and aspiring local entrepreneurs from under resourced communities. The SURE Program is truly an example of something being more than the sum of its parts, as it not only produces socially engaged students who have developed empathy, critical thinking and key soft skills, but also stimulates urban renewal by empowering entrepreneurs in underserved communities. As of May 2017, the SURE Program has educated 515 aspiring entrepreneurs and has launched 95 businesses. In 2016, SURE commissioned an economic impact study surveying past participants: 77% were women, 50% were African American, 27% were Latino, 63% met CRA qualifications, and 90% were referred to SURE by a friend, family member, or partner organization.

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