Entrepreneurship And Enterprise Development In Africa

Entrepreneurship and Enterprise Development in Africa presents a timely and compelling account of African entrepreneurship, shedding light on the critical part it plays in the continentÕs economic growth and development. It explores the various challenges, opportunities, and success stories that define the African entrepreneurial landscape and highlights the ingenuity and determination of the continentÕs entrepreneurial minds.

Presenting a topical analysis of the challenges and achievements of enterprise, Enterprise and Economic Development in Africa examines contributions to economic development on the continent, as well as exploring implications for policy dimensions.

The importance of entrepreneurship as an engine for innovation, economic growth, job creation and wealth especially in the context of Sub-Saharan Africa cannot be overemphasized. Entrepreneurship in Sub-Saharan Africa examines the socio-cultural, global, economic, financial, political, infrastructure and organizational contexts of entrepreneurship in Sub-Saharan Africa. Second, the book presents a strategic management approach for the management of entrepreneurial and small business ventures in the region. Written with a focus on theory and practice, the book is suitable for undergraduate and graduate courses in business and management studies and as a reference tool for practicing and prospective entrepreneurs, small business owners and economic change agents. Keywords: Entrepreneurship, Small Business Management, Sub-Saharan Africa, Strategic Management, Marketing, Globalization, Business Plan, Socio-cultural, financial, political, institutional, infrastructure and organizational contexts. Number of pages: 684

Enterprising Africa explores the future opportunities, challenges, growth areas and key themes that will shape entrepreneurship in the African continent over the next decade. Entrepreneurship can be the key to unlock resilient growth, but only if it is driven by both socially productive and growth-oriented new businesses. The book considers entrepreneurship as an enabler for socio-economic growth and development in Africa, especially in the context of youth unemployment and increasing youth population for which the traditional, and indeed emerging, industrial sectors will not be able to produce sufficient jobs to meet demand. Organised around three thematic parts, Part I covers the notion of inclusive growth and the role that entrepreneurs can play supporting this. Part II considers the dynamic between entrepreneurs and the environment since social, economic and environmental concerns need to build upon each other rather than vie for recognition. Finally, Part III offers chapters exploring policy contexts and the wider institutional ecosystems that need to be developed and enhanced to ensure a strong and vibrant environment for the future entrepreneurs of Africa to thrive. Edited and authored by leading experts in the field, this fascinating text will be of interest to academics as well as students of International, Transformational and Social Entrepreneurship, and International and African Business.

This book explores the issues around small business and entrepreneurial activities in Africa within the context of frequent collapse of businesses, seizures by governments, lack of access to capital and raw materials as well as the reliance on the informal sector. All these issues, the Editors argue, have been exacerbated by the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, entrepreneurship must be at the heart of efforts to transform Africa’s economic prospects to ensure sustained economic growth and decent work for all. In looking at the development of entrepreneurship for Africa’s growth, contributors to this edited collection take an evolutionary approach by focusing on entrepreneurial intentions (where entrepreneurial ideas are formed), customer management (which is central to all entrepreneurial business success) and by also focusing on local and entrepreneurial business development. The book then ends with a discussion around technological innovations in small business development in Africa. Covering topics such as social entrepreneurship, international joint ventures and the impact of digital platforms, this conceptual path provides rich contemporary insights for students, researchers, and policy makers and contributes to the achievement of SDG 8 targets.

It is now widely recognized that in regions like Africa, for economic and other reasons, the public sector has had to disengage and divest from many areas of the economy and allow private enterprise, especially scalable start-ups and new ventures, to enter and flourish if economic development and employment are to grow. There is, however, a training and education gap since entrepreneurship is rarely taught formally at African universities and, when it is, it is often approached from a Western perspective which may not be appropriate given that African environments are significantly different from most Western ones in terms of economic infrastructure and political considerations. This book allows readers to understand the African entrepreneurial context by guiding them through the principal stages in the life of a new venture, and offers approaches, both Western and indigenous, that can inform their entrepreneurial actions. It concludes by examining some specialized topics, including female, youth, and social entrepreneurship, as well as real estate and technology. Exercises throughout the book will enable readers to evaluate their motivations and preparedness for entrepreneurship and learn how to communicate a new venture’s key features to potential stakeholders. By focusing on the distinctive features of entrepreneurship in the African context, and taking a conversational tone, this is an informative and practical text that will be useful for students of Global Entrepreneurship and Business as well as actual and prospective entrepreneurs in the private, non-profit, and public sectors.

Entrepreneurial and Small Business Development in Africa focuses on entrepreneurial development and the development of small businesses in Africa. The central idea of this book is that entrepreneurial development and small business development are connected. Entrepreneurship is lauded as an engine of growth (economic development and job creation), with small businesses often contributing to new job creation. Also, entrepreneurship and small business development are the heart of many countries’ economies. The decision to focus on entrepreneurial development and small business development is that first, there is a consensus that most entrepreneurial activities are aimed at creating small new ventures. Second, countries that give special attention to entrepreneurship stand a chance of industrialization. Third, Africa has been reported as having a rich entrepreneurial landscape as the continent’s wealthiest individuals generated their wealth as trailblazing entrepreneurs. Fourth, small-scale entrepreneurs and businesses form the backbone of economic activities across the continent. A motivation to focus on entrepreneurial and small business development is the generally accepted view that start-ups in Africa are growing calling for understanding into how to enhance productivity, efficiencies, and application of new technologies. The book aims to enhance the understanding of stakeholders (business owners, governments, practitioners) to overturn challenges such as inadequate start-up capital, competition, lack of employees with the right skills, and low use of technology. The ability to develop entrepreneurship in Africa, and the role of small-medium enterprises cannot be underestimated. The promotion of entrepreneurship in Africa is crucial as it creates jobs, provides decent livelihoods, and contributes to GDP. Most entrepreneurial initiatives in developing economies entail identifying opportunities and new venture creation. It is worth recognizing that most new ventures created take the form of small businesses and the entrepreneurial processes involve entrepreneurs’ knowledge and skills, identifying opportunities, involvement in setting up a business and managing the business. The various aspects of this book focus on many entrepreneurial activities that are undertaken on the African continent. This book is focused on African countries since there is a reason to be optimistic about the prospects for growth and entrepreneurship. To achieve entrepreneurial success in African countries, the African Development Bank (2021) proposes that there must be a link between macro and firm-level characteristics that will serve as the mix of entrepreneurship in societies. This book, therefore, considers some macro-level factors such as education, training, and skills development, technological developments, government programs, and entrepreneurial challenges and opportunities. At the firm-level, this book focuses on entrepreneurial initiatives such as branding and marketing.