A Review of Environmental Entrepreneurship as an Agenda for Rural Development: The Case for Ghana

Abstract

There is no shortage of research on the idea of “environmental entrepreneurship” in the developed world especially in the United States and Western Europe. But the same cannot be said about the developing world. This paper is designed to review and carefully synthesize some of the existing research about the characteristics of environmental entrepreneurs or green entrepreneurs that distinguishes them from regular entrepreneurs and the idea of environmental entrepreneurship itself. Factors considered include the scope of operation and management practices, opportunities and also the obstacles that militate against environmental entrepreneurs, and the policies that might help stimulate environmental entrepreneurships. The review is done with the objective to create a framework that could be used to evaluate “green entrepreneurs” and their activities in different parts of the world. The framework was employed to evaluate the state of environmental innovation or entrepreneurship in Ghana, and the policy implications of the innovative use of the environment and its resources as strategies for rural development. Key finding about the state of green entrepreneurship in Ghana is that among other things, access to finance for innovation and the awareness of the public about their activities constitute some of the major challenges that confront the new industry.