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1.0 What is known and what needs to be done: Entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship in Africa

Guest post by: Journal of Development Entrepreneurship

Article Overview: This article summarizes what is known about entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship in Africa using three broad categories: The Entrepreneur, The Entrepreneurial Firm, and The External Environment.

1.0 What is known and what needs to be done: Entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship in Africa

(Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship, Oct 2002 by Kiggundu, Moses N)

Abstract

This article summarizes what is known about entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship in Africa using three broad categories: The Entrepreneur, The Entrepreneurial Firm, and The External Environment. The entrepreneur's attributes relevant for success or failure include demographic variables, psychological factors, work behavior and core competencies. The entrepreneurial firm's relevant factors include organization form, capital resources, corporate governance and technical assistance. Structural weaknesses common to Africanowned firms are identified and discussed. The external environment, made up of various macroeconomic and socio-cultural variables, is considered necessary but not sufficient for sustaining changes in entrepreneurial competencies and firm performance. The paper concludes by discussing what is necessary to generate more useable knowledge, produce better research, scale up and mainstream entrepreneurship in Africa.

Various attempts have been made to synthesize knowledge about entrepreneurship in general (Sexton & Lanstrom, 2000), in developing countries (Mead & Liedholm, 1998) and in Africa (King & McGrath, 1999). As a result, some progress has been made summarizing what is known, and by implication, what needs to be known and done. This article attempts to summarize what is known about entrepreneurship and entrepreneurs in Africa, and what needs to be done. This research is based on a selective and illustrative, rather than a comprehensive review of the literature. More complete reviews are available (e.g., Buame, 1996; Trulsson, 1997; Mead & Liedholm, 1998; King & McGrath, 1999; Frese, 2000). Knowledge about what is known is presented under the three broad categories of entrepreneur, entrepreneurial firm, and external environment. These three categories capture most of what is known about entrepreneurship by means of research and practice. Although gaps still exist, there is enough knowledge to guide better research and informed action. Recommendations are made in the areas of creating useable knowledge, producing better research, scaling up, and mainstreaming entrepreneurship.

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Article Tags: Africa, demographic variables, Entrepreneur, Entrepreneurial Firm, entrepreneurs, entrepreneurship, external environment, Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship, mainstream entrepreneurship, Mead Liedholm, research scale, useable knowledge



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