Despite several economic difficulties that have been depicted in the popular press and in policy making circles, sub-Saharan Africa presents today undeniable business opportunities that have not been fully exploited. Several countries, such as Angola, Ghana, Kenya, and South Africa have seen their economies grow at faster rates than developed economies in the last decade. According to Chironga, Leke, Lund, and Van Wamelen (2011) and the McKinsey Global Institute (2010), Africans spent $860 billion on goods and services in 2008, more than the $835 billion that Indians spent, and more than the $821 billion of consumer expenditures in Russia. If the sub-Saharan Africa maintains its growth trajectory, consumers will spend $1.4 trillion worth of goods and services in 2020, which will be a little less than India's projected $1.7 trillion but more than Russia's $960 billion. As these economies progress, opportunities are opening in sectors, such as retailing, telecommunications, banking, infrastructure-related industries, resource-related businesses, healthcare, education, and the agricultural value chain (Chironga et al., 2011). To sustain this growth potential, Africa needs to develop strategies that foster homegrown entrepreneurs.

Africa suffers from two main diseases: poor management and a lack of vibrant entrepreneurial activity. The continent has the raw materials, the people, and the potential to be developed, and yet there remain barriers that prevent it from bettering itself. To promote entrepreneurship as an engine of economic development and growth, the author has developed a Quintuple Helix Model which advocates mutual cooperation and information sharing among the five helices and provides valuable guidelines to policymakers on how to build entrepreneurship ecosystems in sub-Saharan Africa. It goes on to examine the roles that government, donors, and public and private sectors play and how Africans themselves might take the development of entrepreneurial societies into their own hands. The book includes seven chapters that emphasize the key role that each of the five components could play in the development of entrepreneurial ecosystems. Entrepreneurship scholars, policy makers, and national and local governments of sub-Saharan Africa will value this insight as they strive to create a more favorable landscape for their citizenry.

According to a 2018 World Bank report, Africa is the only region with more women than men choosing to become entrepreneurs – a phenomenon that is not the subject of adequate discussion. This book reveals the latest research-based understanding of the entrepreneurial activities of women in sub-Saharan Africa. Specially invited subject experts present salient dimensions of entrepreneurship by African women, from environmental factors to motivations and influencers as well as financial and non-financial constraints, and highlight the significant role of cultural differences. This book provides a mixture of theoretical, conceptual, and empirical research, and fills the knowledge gap by presenting a wide range of opportunities and challenges faced by sub-Saharan African women entrepreneurs. This book will help policy makers and academic researchers in understanding the role of institutions and entrepreneurship policy in building a thriving entrepreneurial ecosystem in the region.

This is a guide to understanding entrepreneurial ecosystems: what they are, why they matter, and to whom they matter. Ben Spigel explores this popular new theory of economic development, locating the intellectual roots of ecosystems, explaining the practices and processes that allow ecosystems to support the creation and growth of innovative entrepreneurial firms.

This pioneering collection seeks to understand why and how some digital enterprises in Africa progress while others firms either stagnate or regress. Using a range of detailed case studies, it addresses the challenges and barriers that are in place and how some outstanding digital firms deal with operating in a hostile business environment. While digital platforms have created equal access for small businesses, many digital entrepreneurs in Africa continue to struggle with local environments replete with corruption, and other economic inefficiencies. The contributions move the debate forward by addressing the challenges, opportunities, and prospects of digital enterprise in Africa. Placing special emphasis on how African new entrant digital firms are shaping the landscape and forging a new beginning for Africa, this book offers entrepreneurial perspectives to both researchers and policy-makers seeking to support and stimulate entrepreneurship in the new era.

This book outlines the unique challenges and opportunities of doing business in Africa, analysing how varying degrees of development across its countries affects entrepreneurship. Taking into account historical and cultural contexts, the authors approach the topic by evaluating the different possibilities of business opportunity in Africa. Insightful contributions explore an extensive range of African countries, discussing both formal and informal entrepreneurship, as well as the different factors that influence the growing economy of Africa. African Entrepreneurship will be of interest to anyone researching the potential of doing business in Africa, as well as entrepreneurs and policy-makers looking to expand their knowledge on how businesses are managed in this region.

The hope and hype about African digital entrepreneurship, contrasted with the reality on the ground in local ecosystems. In recent years, Africa has seen a digital entrepreneurship boom, with hundreds of millions of dollars poured into tech cities, entrepreneurship trainings, coworking spaces, innovation prizes, and investment funds. Politicians and technologists have offered Silicon Valley-influenced narratives of boundless opportunity and exponential growth, in which internet-enabled entrepreneurship allows Africa to "leapfrog" developmental stages to take a leading role in the digital revolution. This book contrasts these aspirations with empirical research about what is actually happening on the ground. The authors find that although the digital revolution has empowered local entrepreneurs, it does not untether local economies from the continent's structural legacies.