Enabling the African miracle - A case study on how accelerators contribute to scaling sustainable entrepreneurship in sub-Saharan Africa
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School of Business |
Master's thesis
Authors
Date
2023
Department
Major/Subject
Mcode
Degree programme
Creative Sustainability
Language
en
Pages
110+30
Series
Abstract
Sub-Saharan Africa is the least developed region globally. To withstand the challenges of climate change and advance its development the region needs to transform socially, environmentally, and economically. Weak governments and public institutions do not address these challenges sufficiently and leave societal voids. These voids can be filled by sustainable entrepreneurs and their high-impact ventures. The transformation of unsustainable societal modes of operation by sustainable innovations at scale is called a socio-technical transition. The aim of this thesis is to explore how sustainable entrepreneurship can contribute to socio-technical transitions in sub-Saharan Africa. More specifically, this thesis explores the function of start-up accelerators in scaling sustainable entrepreneurship in Africa. In developed economies accelerators have been shown to be effective contributors to the scaling process of start-ups. They speed up commercial development and help ventures to raise more capital. Accelerators have seen limited success in sub-Saharan Africa. What are the limiting factors and how can they be overcome? Can accelerators be effective in scaling sustainable entrepreneurship in Africa? The nascency of sustainable entrepreneurship and accelerator literature in the African context warrant a qualitative study that explores the functioning of sustainability-oriented accelerators in sub-Saharan Africa. Therefore, this study employs an exploratory multiple case study design to answer how African accelerators support their sustainability-oriented portfolio companies in the context of a socio-technical transition. Studying a climate- and an education-focused accelerator in South Africa, this study contributes to the theory on sustainable entrepreneurship, accelerators, and socio-technical transitions in Africa. The study contributes to three topics: 1) challenges for start-ups in the African business environment, 2) the strategic design of accelerator support to increase its efficacy and 3) the impacts that accelerators can have on socio-technical transitions in Africa. Developed economies boast a stable and standardised market environment. By contrast, the African environment is poor in infrastructure and rich in wicked problems. Accelerators must be adapted from developed economies to the African context. Otherwise, their efficacy suffers. Strategic accelerator design is key to this adaptation. The design should shape three support elements for sustainable entrepreneurs: resource mobilisation, ecosystem development and Africa-centric entrepreneurship development. All three support the market impact of sustainability-oriented start-ups. The efficacy of these support elements is moderated by their degree of contextualisation across local circumstances and by the accelerator’s commitment to the local ecosystem. Strategic accelerator design increases the probability of a socio-technical transition through four factors. Through contextualised support accelerators alleviate the pressures of African challenges and increase start-ups’ survival chances. They kickstart entrepreneurial ecosystems and facilitate the creation of a higher quantity of start-ups. Through their cohort programmes and knowledge diffusion they the improve the start-ups’ quality. By aligning stakeholders across ecosystem levels, they increase the permeability for start-ups to pass from a niche-level on to the societal regime. Hence, this study proposes that contextualised and committed accelerators effectively contribute to scaling sustainable entrepreneurship to bring about socio-technical transitions in Africa.Description
Thesis advisor
Halme, MinnaKeywords
socio-technical transition, sub-Saharan Africa, sustainable entrepreneurship, accelerator