From political independence to economic emancipation: reseeding Africa with entrepreneurship and institutions to accelerate economic development

Abstract

A resurgence of interest in Africa in recent decades has generated an intense ideological, strategic, and pragmatic debate about the most viable strategies which could be implemented to emancipate the continent from her social and economic predicaments. However, most of these policy approaches and prescriptions have been tried before in regimes that did not generate desirable social and economic outcomes. Hence, in this paper, I challenge these policy prescriptions by identifying their inherent weaknesses and limitations and presenting alternative approaches that juxtapose institutions and entrepreneurship as sustainable interventions and solutions to Africa’s development challenges, which is followed by a discussion of their implications for policy and practice.

Keywords:

• Africa
• entrepreneurship
• institutions
• economic development

Disclosure statement

The author reports no conflicts of interest. The author alone is responsible for the content and writing of this article.

Notes on contributor

Dr. Joseph P. Eshun, Jr. is an Associate Professor of Business Management at East Stroudsburg University. He teaches courses in management and entrepreneurship, and earned his Masters and Doctorate degrees at Columbia University in New York. His research interests includes entrepreneurship and economic development, and social networks and new organizational forms. He has presented at academic conferences and published articles in various journals such as Business Strategy Series, Case Research Journal, and Human Relations.