Purpose The purpose of this study is to analyse the influence of failure factors on entrepreneurial resilience in micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs). Design/methodology/approach To achieve this goal, a quantitative and cross-sectional study was carried out. Using a snowball sampling technique, 133 Angolan MSMEs founders responded to a questionnaire. Findings The results indicate that entrepreneurs attribute the failure of their activities to financial and external environmental factors such as the economic crisis and changes in the country’s laws. However, these entrepreneurs are considered resilient, as they have enough capacity to resist the national market and have a strong sense of optimism. Practical implications Based on the empirical evidence, this study shows that the failure factors of the MSMEs studied have a significant influence on some of the dimensions of entrepreneurial resilience. At the practical level, the study can be also seen as a tool to support decision making in allocating resources to improve entrepreneurial resilience in developing economies. Originality/value This study contributes to the field of research on MSMEs in an innovative way, through triangulation of the factors of business failure and entrepreneurial resilience. Furthermore, it makes some contributions to developing the theory in entrepreneurship, which has been associated with various studies about business failure.