African Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Resource Constraints: A COVID-19 Perspective

What the paper says

Ordinarily, African countries suffer severe resource constraints. Resource constraints refer to insufficient means to meet sustainable economic growth demands. Regarding entrepreneurial activities, a supportive entrepreneurial ecosystem is needed for the large uptake of and sustained interest in entrepreneurship. It is on record that African countries’ dilapidated infrastructure and maladministration, including weak institutions, are reasons sustainable entrepreneurial activities have been less than optimal. The recent COVID-19 pandemic no doubt extended the challenge of entrepreneurship on the continent. Using Pickering and Byrne’s (2014) systematic quantitative assessment technique, we identified, assessed and interpreted available research evidence that assisted us in exploring the impact of resource constraints on African entrepreneurial ecosystem formation, development and growth. We noted that COVID-19 added complexities to perennial questions about making African entrepreneurship ecosystems fit for supporting entrepreneurship development. Although African economies were already constrained in many ways, including their business environment, we conclude that the COVID-19 pandemic brought challenges and opportunities for business management and entrepreneurship. While businesses could adapt in many cases, several aspects—such as government regulations, consumer behaviour shifts and global supply chain disruptions—were beyond their control. Navigating these uncertainties required agility, resilience and an ability to innovate, but it also highlighted the vulnerabilities and risks inherent in the modern globalised economy. This study synthesised the evidence on how COVID-19 intensified longstanding resource constraints within African entrepreneurial ecosystems, revealing that the compounded effects on business education, infrastructure and regulatory processes not only deepened small and medium enterprise (SME) vulnerabilities but also uncovered context-specific opportunities for resilience and innovation that have not been previously documented. Some implications and recommendations for future research are flagged. However, more importantly, we are convinced that African entrepreneurship has long suffered several political, economic, social and technological challenges that compromised its capacity to grapple with the COVID-19 pandemic. To this end, we conclude that a supportive entrepreneurial ecosystem is crucial to SME development. As such, this study reinforces the need for the government to reconsider its approach to supporting SMEs.