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The main aim of the study is to explore aspects of entrepreneurs' motivation and perceptions with reference to prevailing values in a given context in Africa. In the initial sections of the paper, we draw on concepts of entrepreneurship and the entrepreneurship ecosystem when discussing push and pull factors, access to resources, and Ubuntu. This discussion leads to the formulation of a set of research questions and the presentation of a case study analysis. The case study reveals the extent to which globalization and global events can present as palpable phenomena for small businesses opened by entrepreneurs in Africa. Further, in highlighting altruistically oriented entrepreneurial motivations and actions, the case study raises questions about notions of "necessity" entrepreneurs, given that entrepreneurship in Africa has traditionally been linked to finance and employment as opposed to altruistic and dispositional motivations. In drawing attention to the policy implications of the findings, we highlight that entrepreneurs driven by Ubuntu values are likely to be motivated to address issues of poverty, unemployment and community harmony as compared to those who are primarily motivated by rational-economic factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Development projects play a crucial role in kickstarting and promoting women's empowerment in agriculture. This paper is a conversation starter on how women can be included in the agenda to mechanise agriculture in Africa. It investigates the potential of empowering women as vital actors in the mechanisation value chain, by analysing the perceptions and experiences of the trained women tractor operators. The findings showed that the involvement of women in mechanisation pushed them beyond their comfort zones and offered them a new self-identity with new opportunities previously reserved for men. It also broadened their social capital through the formation of an association for women operators which ensured their representation at a local and national level. For young women, being an operator is the only alternative they have to one day owning a tractor-for-hiring service business because they do not own land or have capital, which is often a precondition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study sets out to address the decontextualized discourse on African entrepreneurship and attempts to locate it within the socio-cultural context using the philosophy and principles of Ubuntu. It investigates and traces how Ubuntu informs the motive, decisions and actions of the African entrepreneur. The study contrasts the Ubuntu-based decisions of the entrepreneur with the individualistic economic rationalism expected of an entrepreneur in a typical market economy. It presents a peculiar case of a young entrepreneur who started a business in 2013 which has gone through lots of experiences and trajectories that are relevant to Ubuntu philosophy. The study is underpinned by grounded theory research design which enabled us to analyze Ubuntu values and motivation through the entrepreneur's actions and stories. The research provides insights into the "contours" of the business journey and how social capital helps to sustain the firm. The nuances of economic rationality and humanity feature in this study as the business reached critical moments where the owner was torn between folding up and thinking about the potential impact of this decision on the employees. The research draws policy implications for entrepreneurs in Africa and encourages scholars to interrogate Westernized approaches to the concept of entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores the complex relationships among organizational learning capability (OLC), innovation, market dynamism, market responsiveness, and the performance of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in African emerging economies. Our research investigates the role of innovation as a mediator in the OLC-performance relationship, the moderated mediation impact of market dynamism, and the mediated moderation effect of market responsiveness in the indirect relationship. Using data from 225 SMEs from Ghana, and Hayes's PROCESS bootstrapping procedure the findings confirm that innovation mediates the OLC-performance. Although, market dynamism does not moderate the OLC-innovation relationship, it moderates the indirect relationship between OLC and performance through innovation, with a stronger effect at high levels of market dynamism. Additionally, market responsiveness negatively moderates the innovation–performance relationship, but it amplifies the OLC-performance relationship via innovation, with a more pronounced effect at low levels of market responsiveness. The findings indicate that the OLC-performance relationship is not only complex but depend in firm-specific and external factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With a rapidly growing population, Africa faces a significant job creation challenge. One solution to this is to encourage local entrepreneurship. Yet, entrepreneurs are facing an environment where resources are scarce. A way to enact entrepreneurial opportunities in such a penurious environment is to use bricolage and create products or services by making do with what is at hand. We support the notion that bricolage can to some extent be learnt at the individual level. We examine this viewpoint in an empirical study in Ghana with 353 actual and aspiring entrepreneurs. We examine the direct effects of informal learning in the workplace on bricolage, while investigating the moderating effects of higher-level formal education and unemployment. Our findings show that bricolage can be fostered at the individual level through informal learning, and thereby enables individuals in Ghana to form opportunities through bricolage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The dominant theoretical framework for analyzing migration in Africa rests on the assumption of cooperative intrahousehold decision making regarding the mobility of household members. This framework, applied to women's migration, overlooks the varied decision-making processes underlying their mobility, and obscures their ability to act as purposeful agents in making decisions about migration. Drawing on a study of women's rural–urban migration in Ghana, this article argues that women's migration decisions exist on a continuum defined by the presence or absence of intrahousehold contestation and the degree of agency exercised by the migrants themselves. Consequently, household models of migration may not always be the appropriate theoretical framework for the analysis of women's migration in this context. The findings presented have implications for economic analyses of women's migration and remittances, for our understanding of migrant women's capacity for agency, and for the design of effective policies to improve migration outcomes for women. HIGHLIGHTS The study directly elicits information from women about their migration decisions. Women's migration is the outcome of complex decision-making processes. The dichotomy between household and individual models of migration ignores these complexities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using time-lagged primary data from entrepreneurs in two developing countries (Ghana, N = 261 and Ethiopia, N = 166), we examine how institutional voids drive entrepreneurs' advice seeking behavior. Our findings show that higher levels of institutional voids in these developing countries are negatively related to internal advice-seeking but positively associated with external advice-seeking. The results also show that a heightened perception of environmental dynamism negatively moderates the relationship between institutional voids and internal advice-seeking but positively moderates the effect of institutional voids and external advice-seeking. Furthermore, we find that the negative relationship between institutional voids and internal advice-seeking is positive when entrepreneurs develop ties with politicians. The positive relationship between institutional voids and external advice-seeking is amplified when political network connections are stronger. Implications and direction for future research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]