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Email     : noraindah@utm.my
Phone   : 07-

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Dr. Noraindah Abdullah Fahim

Dr. Noraindah Abdullah Fahim is a Senior Lecturer in Entrepreneurship at the Faculty of Management, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), where she serves under the Department of Marketing and Entrepreneurship. Since joining UTM in 2023, she has been actively involved in advancing entrepreneurship education, designing innovative pedagogical approaches, and strengthening industry–academic linkages within the faculty. Her role includes contributing to curriculum development, supporting student entrepreneurial activities, coordinating industrial internship initiatives, and serving as a panel member for entrepreneurship-related programmes. Her commitment is centred on ensuring that entrepreneurship education remains practical, industry-relevant, and aligned with the rapidly evolving demands of the digital and sustainability-driven economy. Before joining UTM, Dr. Noraindah spent 14 years as an academician within Malaysia’s Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) ecosystem under the Department of Polytechnic and Community College Education. Throughout her service in TVET, she specialised in entrepreneurship education, work-based learning (WBL), and applied business training for diploma-level students. Her experience in TVET shaped her understanding of grassroots entrepreneurship development, the challenges faced by emerging entrepreneurs, and the need to integrate practical, hands-on learning strategies into the entrepreneurship curriculum. During her years in TVET, she held multiple academic and administrative roles, including programme coordinator, industry-on-campus panel member, academic advisor, and evaluator for entrepreneurship-related competitions. This exposure strengthened her ability to work directly with students, communities, and SMEs, helping them develop entrepreneurial competencies through real projects, business pitching, product development, and applied learning activities. These experiences later became a strong foundation for her current research trajectory in entrepreneurial ecosystems, business sustainability, strategic orientations, and innovation capability. Dr. Noraindah’s research passion lies at the intersection of entrepreneurship, sustainability, business strategy, and education. Her work explores how individuals, SMEs, and institutions navigate business challenges by leveraging market learning, innovation capability, and strategic orientation. She is particularly interested in sustainability-driven entrepreneurship and how educational institutions can nurture sustainable entrepreneurial mindset among students. Her research portfolio includes studies on business performance, MSME resilience, innovation capability, grassroots social innovation, customer satisfaction, and strategic behaviour in the agricultural sector. Her publications—many of which appear in SCOPUS-indexed and peer-reviewed journals—reflect a consistent focus on how strategic actions and innovative capabilities influence firm competitiveness. Several of her studies investigate the mediating role of innovation capability, demonstrating how strategic orientation, entrepreneurial mindset, market learning orientation, and absorptive capacity contribute to firm growth. These contributions align with global research directions that highlight innovation as a core driver of business sustainability, especially within emerging economies and micro-business environments. Beyond entrepreneurship and business strategy, Dr. Noraindah also contributes to sustainability-related research. She has been involved in research collaborations focusing on environmental services, sustainable coastal tourism, social innovation, and sustainable development goals (SDGs). Her engagement in cross-border studies—particularly those involving Malaysia and Indonesia—illustrates her openness to international cooperation and her belief in the value of comparative perspectives in addressing complex sustainability issues. Her involvement in international publications and multi-country research teams enhances her ability to integrate diverse viewpoints and methodologies into her scholarly work. At UTM, Dr. Noraindah leads the internal research grant titled “Development of a Sustainable Entrepreneurship Education (SEE) Framework for Higher Education Institutions in Johor Bahru.” This project aims to develop a contextualised, practical framework for embedding sustainability-driven entrepreneurship within the curriculum of polytechnics, community colleges, and universities. The study draws inspiration from global Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) principles and Malaysia’s national agenda on sustainability, aligning entrepreneurship education with the Malaysia Madani vision and the SDG commitments. She also serves as a team member in grants related to Islamic principles in customer service experience, green and smart terminal blueprints, and SMEs’ training needs. These roles expand her expertise into areas such as service excellence, transportation sustainability, and SME development, enabling her to contribute meaningful insights across multiple fields of management research. In addition to research and teaching, Dr. Noraindah is actively involved in editorial and reviewer roles. She serves as an editor for the Semarak International Journal of Entrepreneurship, Economics and Business Development and has reviewed papers for numerous conferences and journals. Her contributions as a reviewer reflect her strong academic judgment and her commitment to supporting the quality and integrity of scholarly publications in entrepreneurship and management. Her academic leadership extends to various appointments as a jury member, evaluator, and subject matter expert for entrepreneurship competitions, innovation funds, and prototype assessment panels. These appointments—ranging from student competitions to national-level innovation programmes—demonstrate her credibility and recognition within the entrepreneurship ecosystem. She regularly evaluates business proposals, market assessment pitches, and prototype development initiatives, playing an important role in nurturing the next generation of innovators and entrepreneurs. As an educator, Dr. Noraindah is known for integrating applied learning into her teaching approach. She emphasises the use of business model canvas (BMC), real case studies, community-based projects, and hands-on entrepreneurship activities. Her teaching philosophy centres on developing students who are not only academically competent but also confident, agile, and capable of translating classroom knowledge into real business opportunities. She believes strongly in exposing students to competitions, pitching sessions, industry mentorships, and cross-cultural learning experiences, as these activities help cultivate entrepreneurial mindset and resilience. In line with her commitment to innovation in teaching and learning, she has been actively involved in designing new pedagogy, refining course structures, and integrating authentic assessment methods. She aligns her teaching with UTM Graduate Attributes, ensuring that students strengthen their cognitive, communication, and ethical competencies. She is also known for using digital tools, interactive platforms, and simplified frameworks to support students from diverse academic backgrounds—especially non-business majors—who may find entrepreneurship concepts challenging at first. Her academic journey began with a Bachelor of Business Administration (Hons) from the International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM), where she developed foundational competencies in business, management, and organisational behaviour. She later pursued a Master of Business Administration (MBA) at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, strengthening her skills in strategic management, marketing, and business analysis. Her pursuit of higher-level expertise culminated in a PhD in Management (Entrepreneurship and Marketing) at UTM. Her doctoral research focused on strategic business orientations, market learning, and entrepreneurial orientation in the agricultural sector, analysing how innovation capability mediates firm performance. This research contributes significantly to understanding how micro and small enterprises—particularly those in agriculture—adapt to changing markets by leveraging strategic intelligence and innovation. Her work continues to be relevant, especially in the context of Malaysia’s agricultural transformation and rural entrepreneurship development. Today, Dr. Noraindah continues to balance her roles as an academic, researcher, mentor, and industry collaborator. She remains committed to advancing entrepreneurship education, contributing to national and international research dialogues, and supporting students and SMEs in navigating the dynamic entrepreneurial landscape. Her experience across TVET, higher education, community engagement, and international collaboration positions her as an impactful educator who bridges theory with real-world practice.