Entrepreneurship Development In Africa Research Articles

Necessity, the Fundamental Basis of Entrepreneurship Development in Africa: A Survey of Southern Nigeria

Necessity, the Fundamental Basis of Entrepreneurship Development in Africa: A Survey of Southern Nigeria

Venture Capital Financing as A Driver for Entrepreneurship Development in Africa. A Literature Review and Future Research Agenda

Purpose: Several academics and practitioners have observed entrepreneurship development as a critical pillar for the prosperity of high-growth entrepreneurial ventures, new job opportunities, promotion of exports, and improvement of tax revenue across all countries. However, little is known about the role of VC in stimulating entrepreneurship development in Southern and East African regions.
 Design/methodology/approach: Therefore, we reviewed 121 articles in international accredited journals from 2001 to 2022 to provide insights into this field of study.
 Findings: Our results show that 90% of the reviewed articles were empirical, and 10% were theoretical. Furthermore, only 7% of the articles support the role of VC investment in entrepreneurship development. Colossal studies present beneficial results on this topic, but they are mainly from developed economies in Latin America and Europe, thus widening the literature gaps in Africa.
 Research limitations/implications: Whereas the VC industry has received growing attention from emerging economies lately, it is still divided and restricted to technology entrepreneurship sector.
 Practical implications: To the best of our understanding, this is the first multidisciplinary and integrative analysis that delivers a current thematic overview and insights into the explicit fields to create instincts for further empirical studies on the role of VC investment in entrepreneurship development in developing countries. Second, our literature analysis discloses significant literature gaps. Lastly, the authors improve the current literature by suggesting future research directions centred on an integration of exceeding Venture capital investors’ technological skills to foster entrepreneurship development.
 Paper type: Research paper

Information Technology and Entrepreneurship Development in Africa

This paper aimed to provide an overview of how information technology has an impact on entrepreneurship development in Africa. Findings from empirical studies led into the conclusion that there is a positive relationship between the use of information technology and the development of entrepreneurship in Africa. The paper recommends that governments may provide enough funds to the entrepreneurs in order to ensure the new technologies are made use of effectively by all entrepreneurs which in turn will facilitate the entrepreneurial success.

Developing entrepreneurship in Africa: investigating critical resource challenges

PurposeBy drawing upon institutional theory, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of four critical resources (credit, electricity, contract enforcement and political governance) in explaining the quality of entrepreneurship and the depth of the supporting entrepreneurship ecosystem in Africa.Design/methodology/approachA quantitative approach based on ordinary least squares regression analysis was used. Three data sources were employed. First, the Global Entrepreneurship Index (GEI) of 35 African countries was used to measure the quality of entrepreneurship and the depth of the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Africa which represents the dependent variable. Second, the World Bank’s data on access to credit, electricity and contract enforcement in Africa were also employed as explanatory variables. Third, the Ibrahim Index of African Governance was used as an explanatory variable. Finally, country-specific data on four control variables (GDP, foreign direct investment, population and education) were gathered and analysed.FindingsTo support entrepreneurship development, Africa needs broad financial inclusion and state institutions that are more effective at enforcing contracts. Access to credit was non-significant and therefore did not contribute to the dependent variable (entrepreneurship quality and depth of entrepreneurial support in Africa). Access to electricity and political governance were statistically significant and correlated positively with the dependent variables. Finally, contract enforcement was partially significant and contributed to the dependent variable.Research limitations/implicationsA lack of GEI data for all 54 African countries limited this study to only 35 African countries: 31 in sub-Saharan Africa and 4 in North Africa. Therefore, the generalisability of this study’s findings to the whole of Africa might be limited. Second, this study depended on indexes for this study. Therefore, any inconsistencies in the index aggregation if any could not be authenticated. This study has practical implications for the development of entrepreneurship in Africa. Public and private institutions for credit delivery, contract enforcement and the provision of utility services such as electricity are crucial for entrepreneurship development.Originality/valueThe institutional void is a challenge for Africa. This study highlights the weak, corrupt nature of African institutions that supposedly support MSME growth. Effective entrepreneurship development in Africa depends on the presence of a supportive institutional infrastructure. This study engages institutional theory to explain the role of institutional factors such as state institutions, financial institutions, utility providers and markets in entrepreneurship development in Africa.

Entrepreneurship development and financial literacy in Africa

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyse the level of financial literacy in Africa based on previous studies and evidence from financial literacy surveys, with the aim of establishing how financial literacy impacts entrepreneurship development in Africa. The study specifically looks at how financial literacy affects the household behaviour regarding financial decision making, as well as the gender gap in financial literacy. As financial literacy is gaining momentum both in developed economies with sophisticated financial systems and developing countries with low levels of financial services, this research seeks to establish a formal relationship between financial literacy and access to finance and what impact both have for developing an entrepreneurship society in Africa. It also focuses on the relationship between financial decision making and gender as well as access to finance with the aim of carefully examining the implications on entrepreneurship development. Design/methodology/approach – To attain the above objective, the study employed a mixed methodology research design where both quantitative and qualitative methods were used. A survey method on financial literacy, conducted by: (Finscope, OECD) was thoroughly analysed in addition to previous work on entrepreneurship development, financial literacy, access to finance and poverty reduction in Africa. Findings – The results show that the difficulties in access to finance, access to market, policy support and entrepreneurship culture are the main problems and constraints on entrepreneurship development in Africa which has a very strong implication for financial literacy on the continent particularly on micro, small and medium enterprises. Other important problems include unfavorable investment climate, absence of entrepreneurship training programmes, unfriendly investment business environment, gender gap and lack of value chain in the entrepreneurship ecosystem. Research limitations/implications – The paper is limited to the established survey and mainly concentrates on Africa. Practical implications – African governments and other development partners should re-evaluate their intervention programmes to strengthen financial literacy skills while simultaneously supporting entrepreneurship development by promoting an entrepreneurship culture through the right policy that will actively stimulate the development of entrepreneurs that will contribute to entrepreneurship ecosystems and ultimately enhance Africa’s economic development. Originality/value – This paper aims at enhancing understanding of entrepreneurship development and financial literacy in Africa and will help policy makers and researcher fill the missing gap between financial literacy and entrepreneurship education. The recommendations made could significantly boost entrepreneurship activities as well as enhance financial literacy skills in the region, which can as well help increase access to finance on the continent.

Entrepreneurship development in Africa: an overview

Purpose – This paper aims to provide an over view of the different key factors that are influencing and influenced by the entrepreneurship environment in Africa.