Doing business and inclusive human development in Sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract

This study examines how doing business affects inclusive human development in 48 sub-Saharan Africa for the period 2000-2012.The measurement of inclusive human development encompasses both absolute pro-poor and relative pro-poor concepts of inclusive development. Three doing business variables are used, namely: the number of start-up procedures required to register a business; time required to start a business; and time to prepare and pay taxes. The empirical evidence is based on Fixed Effects and Generalised Method of Moments regressions. The findings show that increasing constraints to the doing of business have a negative effect on inclusive human development. The study is timely and very relevant to the post-2015 Sustainable Development agenda for two fundamental reasons: (i) Exclusive development is a critical policy syndrome in Africa because about 50% of countries in the continent did not attain the MDG extreme poverty target despite enjoying more than two decades of growth resurgence. (ii) Growth in Africa is primarily driven by large extractive industries and with the population of the continent expected to double in about 30 years, scholarship on entrepreneurship for inclusive development is very welcome. This is essentially because studies have shown that the increase in unemployment (resulting from the underlying demographic change) would be accommodated by the private sector, not the public sector.

Challenges of Doing Business in Africa: A Systematic Review

“…Third, the positioning of this study as a systematic review of challenges to doing business in Africa is also motivated by gaps in the extant literature. Accordingly, the literature on the ease of doing business in Africa has predominantly focused on, inter alia: the cost of doing business (Eifert, Gelb & Ramachandran, 2008); legal challenges to doing business (Taplin & Synman, 2004); determinants of doing business in East Africa (Khavul, Bruton & Wood, 2009); the rate at which business cycle synchronization is affected by trade (Tapsoba, 2010); the long-term poverty-mitigation impact of doing business (Mensah & Benedict, 2010); motivations underlying the intentions of students to become entrepreneurs (Gerba, 2012); gender-related factors (Bayraktar & Fofack, 2018;Mannah-Blankson, 2018;Elu, 2018); the relevance of social networks and human capital (Kuada, 2009);role of the knowledge economy in doing business (Tchamyou, 2017); the relevance of doing business in inclusive human development (Asongu & Odhiambo, 2019) and linkages between information technology, openness, governance and entrepreneurship (Asongu, Nwachukwu &Orim, 2018;Asongu & Nwachukwu, 2018a).…”

Challenges of Doing Business in Africa: A Systematic Review

“…Third, the positioning of this study as a systematic review of challenges to doing business in Africa is also motivated by gaps in the extant literature. Accordingly, the literature on the ease of doing business in Africa has predominantly focused on, inter alia: the cost of doing business (Eifert, Gelb & Ramachandran, 2008); legal challenges to doing business (Taplin & Synman, 2004); determinants of doing business in East Africa (Khavul, Bruton & Wood, 2009); the rate at which business cycle synchronization is affected by trade (Tapsoba, 2010); the long-term poverty-mitigation impact of doing business (Mensah & Benedict, 2010); motivations underlying the intentions of students to become entrepreneurs (Gerba, 2012); gender-related factors (Bayraktar & Fofack, 2018;Mannah-Blankson, 2018;Elu, 2018); the relevance of social networks and human capital (Kuada, 2009);role of the knowledge economy in doing business (Tchamyou, 2017); the relevance of doing business in inclusive human development (Asongu & Odhiambo, 2019) and linkages between information technology, openness, governance and entrepreneurship (Asongu, Nwachukwu &Orim, 2018;Asongu & Nwachukwu, 2018a).…”

A value proposition mix framework of successful foreign-owned small and medium enterprises in South Africa

“…Opportunity-based immigrations occur when foreign nationals move into another country to seek entrepreneurial opportunities. On the African continent, South Africa has long been a favourite destination for prospective foreign entrepreneurs due to its open policies competitive markets, and ease of conducting business (Asongu & Odhiambo, 2019).…”