Entrepreneurship in Africa Through the Eyes of Gedi

Abstract

Since the 1990s, several new indices like the Index of Economic Freedom, Doing Business, Global Competitiveness Index, have been created to achieving real progress in modernizing the business climates of developed and developing countries alike. These indicators however are focused largely on ameliorating burdens for current business, addressing issues with property rights, processes, etc. While necessary conditions, in the public effort to improve the economic incentives and create employment, they remain insufficient to foster the economic font of development: entrepreneurship. It has to be clear that entrepreneurship, and entrepreneurship policy is not merely about small business, or even at times about business at all, but about creating environments where people are able to perceive entrepreneurial opportunities, opportunities to improve their lives and be empowered by the environment to act upon their visions. While much has been written about the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) and increasingly about the Global Entrepreneurship Development Index (GEDI), this paper represents the first attempt to examine private enterprise development in Africa.