Entrepreneurship in Africa, part 1: entrepreneurial dynamics in Africa

Abstract

Entrepreneurship in Africa, part 1: entrepreneurial dynamics in Africa This special issue was motivated by the desire to offer fresh and current insights into African entrepreneurship and provide a voice for African scholars doing research in entrepreneurship and small business development. The phenomenon of entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial behaviour in the developed world is well represented in the academic literature. Interestingly, however, research focussing on entrepreneurial behaviour and small business practice on the African continent is less prominent, especially within the leading international journals (see George et al., 2016). The entrepreneurial dynamic in Africa is rapidly evolving in the face of continual socio-economic, political, technological and cultural changes sweeping the continent (Fine, 1997).There is widespread recognition regarding the urgent need for effective entrepreneurial behaviour to alleviate a myriad of systemic problems, including high graduate unemployment, endemic poverty, economic growth inequality, corruption, excessive bureaucracy, ineffective infrastructure and a lack of enterprise support mechanisms (Le Pere and Ikome, 2009). Moreover, research into entrepreneurial behaviours remains limited in the complex and heterogeneous African cultural context (George et al., 2016). Thus, this set of three interrelated special issues set out to provide novel and empirically rigorous insights into a range of under-reported and emerging topics in an African context, including: reporting aspects of entrepreneurial behaviour described in Issue 1 as entrepreneurial dynamics, the development of entrepreneurial education and eco-systems to support entrepreneurial activity in Issue 2 and entrepreneurial growth and diversity, in Issue 3.It was rewarding to note the range of entrepreneurial behaviour being reported, including social enterprise, the emergence and deployment of information and communication technology and the use of microfinance to enable business start-up. In addition, we note the significant investment in entrepreneurial education and eco-systems to encourage starts-ups and effective entrepreneurial learning, despite ongoing resources challenges and issues appertaining to business sustainability and failure.The current issue of the Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development sees the publication of Part 1 of the special issue on entrepreneurship in Africa. The special issue proved to be a considerable undertaking with over 60 papers received during the call promotion. This statistic reflects the popularity of entrepreneurship in an African context. After a rigorous and lengthy review process, a total of 25 papers were accepted for publication. It was noteworthy to see that papers were submitting from all across the African continent, confirming the increased interest in entrepreneurial activity research. As a result, the special issue was split between three separate issues of the journal, for publication during 2018.This first issue, presented here, entitled "En...

Entrepreneurship in Africa, Part 3: Conclusions on African Entrepreneurship

“…The call has produced 24 published manuscripts which is a reflection of the considerable interest in the area as a research focus. The initial instalment entitled “Entrepreneurial Dynamics in Africa” explored various aspects of entrepreneurial behaviour including: female entrepreneurship, venture capital investment, information and communication technology and the influence of entrepreneurial leadership (Jones et al , 2018a). The second issue entitled “Entrepreneurship in Africa, Part 2: Entrepreneurial Education and eco-Systems” evaluated literature related to entrepreneurial education and eco-systems creation (Jones et al , 2018b).…”

The Barriers to High-Growth Enterprises: What Do Businesses in Africa Experience?

“…There is a paucity of research about entrepreneurship in Africa (George et al, 2016). However, there an increasing interest in African entrepreneurship in academic and policy domain aimed at closing the knowledge gaps (Jones et al, 2018), however, challenges remain. Some of the challenges include limited evidence-based policy, weak entrepreneurial ecosystem, lack of innovation, research and development (World Bank, 2015).…”

“…Therefore, this article examines the barriers that African entrepreneurs face starting up MSMEs and the difficulty that confronts those who are already engaged in MSMEs and want to grow their businesses. African entrepreneurship is gradually evolving in the face of global economic, political, technological and social changes (Jones et al, 2018). Also, social entrepreneurship is emerging (Igwe, Icha-Ituma & Madichie, 2018;Jaki & Siuta-Tokarska, 2019) where entrepreneurs embark on corporate social, ethical and environmental responsibilities.…”

Intersections between policy and institutions: a focus on enterprise growth in Swaziland

“…This article is motivated by a general paucity of empirical research on the entrepreneurial policy environment in Africa (Urban, 2019; Zoogah et al , 2015), where particularly in sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries range from having very simple economies to quite complex ones (Richardson, 2016). As scholars note there is a need for empirically rigorous insights into a range of under-reported and emerging topics in an African context (Jones et al , 2018). Moreover, considering that most studies on entrepreneurship are predominantly western in nature (Bruton et al , 2008); the focus of this article is on the enabling environment of SMMEs in an under-research country, namely Swaziland.…”