IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/fbbsrw/v11y2022i1p11-22.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Unlocking a Continent of Opportunity: Entrepreneurship and Digital Ecosystems for Value Creation in Africa

Author

Listed:
  • Oluwasoye P. Mafimisebi
  • Adekunle I. Ogunsade

Abstract

National policies framework for entrepreneurship and digital ecosystems play a key role in setting local communities and nations for the creation and capture of value in the digital age. This article draws on entrepreneurial ecosystems and high-growth entrepreneurship theory to explore opportunities and the challenges of digital economy in Africa. We theorize that entrepreneurial and digital ecosystems framework is key to creating a robust digital economy as unregulated organic digital ecosystems may not sustain business growth, value creation and poverty alleviation. A more system approach to entrepreneurship is advocated to facilitate disparate resources to collaboratively drive and unlock a continent of opportunities through digital economic growth. The study offers practical policy insights and digital entrepreneurship ecosystem framework that will provide direction and catalytic foundation to accelerate digital entrepreneurial capacity and growth in Africa.

Suggested Citation

  • Oluwasoye P. Mafimisebi & Adekunle I. Ogunsade, 2022. "Unlocking a Continent of Opportunity: Entrepreneurship and Digital Ecosystems for Value Creation in Africa," FIIB Business Review, , vol. 11(1), pages 11-22, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:fbbsrw:v:11:y:2022:i:1:p:11-22
    DOI: 10.1177/23197145211018172
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/23197145211018172
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/23197145211018172?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ron Boschma, 2015. "Towards an Evolutionary Perspective on Regional Resilience," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 49(5), pages 733-751, May.
    2. Amnon Frenkel & Shlomo Maital, 2014. "Mapping National Innovation Ecosystems," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 15408.
    3. Ben Spigel, 2017. "The Relational Organization of Entrepreneurial Ecosystems," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 41(1), pages 49-72, January.
    4. Cooke, Philip & Gomez Uranga, Mikel & Etxebarria, Goio, 1997. "Regional innovation systems: Institutional and organisational dimensions," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 26(4-5), pages 475-491, December.
    5. R.W. Hafer, 2013. "Entrepreneurship and state economic growth," Journal of Entrepreneurship and Public Policy, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 2(1), pages 67-79, April.
    6. Abdennebi Omrane & A. Fayolle, 2011. "Entrepreneurial competencies and entrepreneurial process: a dynamic approach," Post-Print halshs-00785137, HAL.
    7. Deborah M. Markley & Thomas S. Lyons & Donald W. Macke, 2015. "Creating entrepreneurial communities: building community capacity for ecosystem development," Community Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(5), pages 580-598, December.
    8. Lauren Cohen & Karl Diether & Christopher Malloy, 2013. "Misvaluing Innovation," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 26(3), pages 635-666.
    9. Rachel Parker, 2008. "Governance and the Entrepreneurial Economy: A Comparative Analysis of Three Regions," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 32(5), pages 833-854, September.
    10. Amina Omrane & Alain Fayolle, 2011. "Entrepreneurial competencies and entrepreneurial process: a dynamic approach," International Journal of Business and Globalisation, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 6(2), pages 136-153.
    11. Autio, Erkko & Rannikko, Heikki, 2016. "Retaining winners: Can policy boost high-growth entrepreneurship?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(1), pages 42-55.
    12. Anders Lundström & Lois A. Stevenson, 2005. "Entrepreneurship Policy: Theory and Practice," International Studies in Entrepreneurship, Springer, number 978-0-387-24202-6, November.
    13. Michael Fritsch & Pamela Mueller, 2008. "The effect of new business formation on regional development over time: the case of Germany," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 30(1), pages 15-29, January.
    14. Onwuegbuzie, Henrietta N. & Mafimisebi, Oluwasoye P., 2021. "Global relevance of scaling African indigenous entrepreneurship," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 166(C).
    15. Sun, Jiazhe & Wu, Shunan & Yang, Kaizhong, 2018. "An ecosystemic framework for business sustainability," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 61(1), pages 59-72.
    16. Harshana Kasseeah & Verena Tandrayen-Ragoobur, 2016. "Ex-garment female workers: a new entrepreneurial community in Mauritius," Journal of Enterprising Communities: People and Places in the Global Economy, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 10(1), pages 33-52, March.
    17. Cumming, Douglas, 2007. "Government policy towards entrepreneurial finance: Innovation investment funds," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 22(2), pages 193-235, March.
    18. Zimu Xu & Stephen Dobson, 2019. "Challenges of building entrepreneurial ecosystems in peripheral places," Journal of Entrepreneurship and Public Policy, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 8(3), pages 408-430, August.
    19. Nick Williams & Tim Vorley, 2014. "Economic resilience and entrepreneurship: lessons from the Sheffield City Region," Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 26(3-4), pages 257-281, May.
    20. Hofmann,Claudia & Osnago,Alberto & Ruta,Michele, 2017. "Horizontal depth : a new database on the content of preferential trade agreements," Policy Research Working Paper Series 7981, The World Bank.
    21. Alain Fayolle & Amina Omrane, 2011. "Entrepreneurial competencies and entrepreneurial process : a dynamic approach," Post-Print hal-02312565, HAL.
    22. Colm O’gorman & Mika Kautonen, 2004. "Policies to promote new knowledge-intensive industrial agglomerations," Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(6), pages 459-479, November.
    23. Boyd Cohen, 2006. "Sustainable valley entrepreneurial ecosystems," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 15(1), pages 1-14, January.
    24. Jorge Niosi, 2010. "Building National and Regional Innovation Systems," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 14006.
    25. Oh, Deog-Seong & Phillips, Fred & Park, Sehee & Lee, Eunghyun, 2016. "Innovation ecosystems: A critical examination," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 1-6.
    26. W. H. Voorberg & V. J. J. M. Bekkers & L. G. Tummers, 2015. "A Systematic Review of Co-Creation and Co-Production: Embarking on the social innovation journey," Public Management Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(9), pages 1333-1357, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Arenal, Alberto & Armuña, Cristina & Feijoo, Claudio & Ramos, Sergio & Xu, Zimu & Moreno, Ana, 2020. "Innovation ecosystems theory revisited: The case of artificial intelligence in China," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(6).
    2. Angelo Cavallo & Antonio Ghezzi & Raffaello Balocco, 2019. "Entrepreneurial ecosystem research: present debates and future directions," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 15(4), pages 1291-1321, December.
    3. Zhe Cao & Xianwei Shi, 2021. "A systematic literature review of entrepreneurial ecosystems in advanced and emerging economies," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 57(1), pages 75-110, June.
    4. Melita Nicotra & Marco Romano & Manlio Giudice & Carmela Elita Schillaci, 2018. "The causal relation between entrepreneurial ecosystem and productive entrepreneurship: a measurement framework," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 43(3), pages 640-673, June.
    5. Daniel Sunghwan Cho & Paul Ryan & Giulio Buciuni, 2022. "Evolutionary entrepreneurial ecosystems: a research pathway," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 58(4), pages 1865-1883, April.
    6. Véronique Favre-Bonté & Marie da Fonséca & Benoît Régent, 2022. "Entrepreneurship and Territorial Cultural Projects: Towards a Development of Territorial Effectuation Concept [Entrepreneuriat et projets culturels territoriaux : Vers un développement du concept d," Post-Print hal-03891496, HAL.
    7. Gerald Midgley & Erik Lindhult, 2021. "A systems perspective on systemic innovation," Systems Research and Behavioral Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(5), pages 635-670, October.
    8. Hannigan, Timothy R. & Briggs, Anthony R. & Valadao, Rodrigo & Seidel, Marc-David L. & Jennings, P. Devereaux, 2022. "A new tool for policymakers: Mapping cultural possibilities in an emerging AI entrepreneurial ecosystem," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(9).
    9. Wei, Yifan, 2022. "Regional governments and opportunity entrepreneurship in underdeveloped institutional environments: An entrepreneurial ecosystem perspective," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(1).
    10. Pedro López-Rubio & Norat Roig-Tierno & Alicia Mas-Tur, 2020. "Regional innovation system research trends: toward knowledge management and entrepreneurial ecosystems," International Journal of Quality Innovation, Springer, vol. 6(1), pages 1-16, December.
    11. Alessandra Colombelli & Emilio Paolucci & Elisa Ughetto, 2019. "Hierarchical and relational governance and the life cycle of entrepreneurial ecosystems," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 52(2), pages 505-521, February.
    12. Meek, Shelby Renee & Tietz, Matthias A., 2022. "Entrepreneurship and subjective vs objective institutional performance: A decade of US hospital data," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(9).
    13. Ivana Komarkova & Dimitri Gagliardi & Johannes Conrads & Antonio Collado, 2015. "Entrepreneurship Competence: An Overview of Existing Concepts, Policies and Initiatives – Final report," JRC Research Reports JRC96531, Joint Research Centre.
    14. Xie, Zhimin & Wang, Xia & Xie, Lingmin & Duan, Kaifeng, 2021. "Entrepreneurial ecosystem and the quality and quantity of regional entrepreneurship: A configurational approach," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 499-509.
    15. Chaudhary, Sanjay & Kaur, Puneet & Ferraris, Alberto & Bresciani, Stefano & Dhir, Amandeep, 2024. "Connecting entrepreneurial ecosystem and innovation. Grasping at straws or hitting a home run?," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 130(C).
    16. Elisa Villani & Christian Lechner, 2019. "The emergence of an innovation ecosystem in a low innovation region: Disrupting inertia by a young university," BEMPS - Bozen Economics & Management Paper Series BEMPS63, Faculty of Economics and Management at the Free University of Bozen.
    17. Salvatore Corrente & Salvatore Greco & Melita Nicotra & Marco Romano & Carmela Elita Schillaci, 2019. "Evaluating and comparing entrepreneurial ecosystems using SMAA and SMAA-S," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 44(2), pages 485-519, April.
    18. Shi, Xianwei & Liang, Xingkun & Luo, Yining, 2023. "Unpacking the intellectual structure of ecosystem research in innovation studies," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(6).
    19. Bernd Wurth & Erik Stam & Ben Spigel, 2022. "Toward an Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Research Program," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 46(3), pages 729-778, May.
    20. Keim, Jan, 2024. "Depolarizing Innovation: Dynamic Policy Implications for Entrepreneurial Ecosystems in Second-Tier European Regions," Junior Management Science (JUMS), Junior Management Science e. V., vol. 9(1), pages 1211-1240.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:fbbsrw:v:11:y:2022:i:1:p:11-22. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.