Home Features Mastermind Videos About Advertise Blog Network Contact
   

Have A Suggestion?
Toronto Salsa Classes / Toronto Salsa Lessons Email us your ideas on how to make our website more valuable! Thank you Sharon from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for your suggestions to make the newsletter look like the website and profile younger entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez and Sean Combs!
Have A Suggestion?

Featured Ebook


ebook Famous Entrepreneurs - Modern Empire Builders


Featured Ebook

More Evan Carmichael
Have A Suggestion?

Sales Lessons From Starbucks And Dell

9.0 The Entrepreneurial Firm Organization Form: Entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship in Africa

 
African Accounts - Meet The Authors
Toka , Profile Toka
Profile
African , Resource African Development Bank
Resource
Craft Village , Profile Craft Village
Profile
dorothyduncan , Profile dorothyduncan
Profile
African Accounts - Meet The Authors
9.0 The Entrepreneurial Firm Organization Form: Entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship in Africa
   

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

There are many entrepreneurial activities and firms in Africa because selfemployment is a key driving force. Most of these are very small in size which makes them vulnerable. Failure rates are quite high, especially in the first two to five years. Women dominate the small and micro enterprises (SMEs) sector, both as owners and workers. Paid employment is limited, and the entrepreneurial activities' overall contribution to family income is limited; often below minimum wage levels. Thus, most of these entrepreneurs will remain poor (Horn, 1995). Most of these activities are located in rural areas, where mortality rates are also high (Charmes, 1999; Mead & Liedholm, 1998). While Kallon (1990) reported that Sierra Leone rural firms were more profitable because of competition in the urban areas, Mead and Liedholm (1998) reported that rural firms suffer from high mortality rates especially during the first five years.

Commerce (trading, vendors) dominates this sector, but manufacturing and services are gaining prominence, especially in the rural areas. Successful firms are more likely in manufacturing, rather than trading or services. Productivity and the capacity to innovate, to introduce new technology, and to manage strategically are related to owner entrepreneurial competencies, enterprise size, location, and networking or clustering.

In summary, there is no shortage of entrepreneurs or people willing to take risks to start business activities. Most of these are very small one-person operations mostly in the easy-to-enter trading and service sector, which is also the least profitable. They provide only a limited range of services or products, and do not innovate either by way of new products /services or markets. The more the macroeconomic conditions worsen, the more of these micro enterprises open up because they are predominantly a push type.



To learn more about this author, visit Journal of Development Entrepreneurship's Website.

Like this article? Share it with your friends


Related Articles Related Articles
1.0 What is known and what needs to be done: Entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship in Africa
  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.
12.0 The Entrepreneurial Firm Corporate Governance: Entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship in Africa
  Very few studies of entrepreneurship concern themselves with corporate governance. This is particularly true in Africa where by far the majority of entrepreneurial firms are very small and operate in the informal se...
14.0 What Needs to be Done - Producing Useable Knowledge: Entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship in Africa
  The way forwarded should be guided by four key strategies. These include generating useable knowledge, producing better research, scaling up, and mainstreaming entrepreneurship. Each is explored below.
SME's - still a strong component in the South African economy
  Despite the educational crisis in South Africa, entrepreneurship is thriving, albeit not the way it could be!
18.0 Conclusion: Entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship in Africa
  Ultimately, the future of entrepreneurship in Africa must be in the hands of the Africans themselves.

Related Forum Posts Related Forum Posts
Young Entrepreneur Organization - All You Need To Know Young Entrepreneur Organization - All You Need To Know
Book: The Essentials of Entrepreneurship: What it takes to c Book: The Essentials of Entrepreneurship: What it takes to c
What do you do to give back? What do you do to give back?
My Favorite Entrepreneur – created by Armand Rousso My Favorite Entrepreneur – created by Armand Rousso
Famous Entrepreneur Schedule Famous Entrepreneur Schedule
Kiva Kiva
Giving back Giving back
Re: My Favorite Entrepreneur – created by Armand Rousso Re: My Favorite Entrepreneur – created by Armand Rousso

 
About the Author


Journal of Development Entrepreneurship
(Visit Journal of's Website)
The Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship (JDE) provides a forum for the dissemination of descriptive, empirical, and theoretical research that focuses on issues concerning microenterprise and small business development, especially under conditions of adversity.
Have A Suggestion?

View Author's Video
Become An Author

Free Downloads


Journal of Development Entrepreneurship's

Complete
List Of
African-Accounts
Articles


First Name
Last Name
Email
 
If you enjoyed this article, get Journal of Development Entrepreneurship's Complete List of African-Accounts Articles For FREE!
Become An Author