Through the case of Guinea-Bissau, this article considers how small-scale, often cross-border entrepreneurs mitigate risk and establish resilient businesses able to cope with ongoing political and economic shocks. Nineteen interviews and 153 surveys were conducted over two months with business leaders and regulators within the commercial centers and markets of Guinea-Bissau to assess entrepreneurial profiles and activities. Findings show that small-scale private investment from the Global South is increasing. Through thematic analysis, 18 different drivers of foreign business and 23 impediments to foreign entrepreneurship and investment were identified within this risk-prone environment. Limited assets imply limited opportunities, suggesting a need to mobilize all available resources to achieve entrepreneurial success. The implications of this research are that resiliency for these foreign investors has improved and risks are mitigated through established social capital that can be converted into financial capital, linked social-business networks across borders, microenvironmental knowledge, and maintaining relatively small businesses able to fly "under the radar." In understanding foreign entrepreneurs' motives, the social and structural undergirding of South-South investment is exposed.

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Guinea-Bissau's political ecology of the 1980s led to cashews overtaking all other exports as a generator of national revenue. Through ethnographic methodology, this paper examines the cashew commodityscape illustrated through an examination of several villages in southern Guinea-Bissau. This research addresses how household livelihood strategies are fashioned as a result of necessity, opportunity, and negotiations with local, regional, and global economies. A majority of the local population in the research site was involved in cashew pomiculture in 2007 when the global demand and purchase price was low. By 2010, the price paid by Indian wholesalers rebounded with even further integration of this commodity into the natural and cultural landscape. This paper finds that cashews are playing a significant role in the environmental, economic, and cultural spheres. This local articulation of a global phenomenon demonstrates the potential pitfalls and benefits of meeting very specific global needs. [Guinea-Bissau, Nalú, Balanta, cashews, commodityscape, pomiculture, livelihood] bs_bs_banner Culture, Agriculture, Food and Environment Vol. 34, Issue 1 pp. 33-52, ISSN 2153-9553, eISSN 2153-9561.

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