Digital Entrepreneurship in Africa : How a Continent Is Escaping Silicon Valley's Long Shadow / Nicolas Friederici, Michel Wahome, Mark Graham.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Friederici, Nicolas, 1985- author.

Wahome, Michel, author.

Graham, Mark, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Economics.

Genre:

Electronic books.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (1 pages)

Other Title:

Knowledge Unlatched.

Place of Publication:

[Place of publication not identified] : The MIT Press, 2020.

System Details:

text file

Summary:

The hope and hype about African digital entrepreneurship, contrasted with the reality on the ground in local ecosystems. In recent years, Africa has seen a digital entrepreneurship boom, with hundreds of millions of dollars poured into tech cities, entrepreneurship trainings, coworking spaces, innovation prizes, and investment funds. Politicians and technologists have offered Silicon Valley-influenced narratives of boundless opportunity and exponential growth, in which internet-enabled entrepreneurship allows Africa to "leapfrog" developmental stages to take a leading role in the digital revolution. This book contrasts these aspirations with empirical research about what is actually happening on the ground. The authors find that although the digital revolution has empowered local entrepreneurs, it does not untether local economies from the continent's structural legacies. Drawing on a five-year research project, the authors show how entrepreneurs creatively and productively adapt digital technologies to local markets rather than dreaming of global dominance, achieving sustainable businesses by scaling based on relationships and customizing digital platform business models for African infrastructure challenges. The authors examine African entrepreneurial ecosystems; show that African digital entrepreneurs have begun to form a new professional class, becoming part of a relatively exclusive cultural and economic elite; and discuss the impact of Silicon Valley's mythologies and expectations. Finally, they consider the implications of their findings and offer recommendations to policymakers and others.

Contents:

1 Hopes and Potentials p. 1

Africa in the Global Economy p. 3

New Connectivities, New Beginnings p. 4

Is African Digital Entrepreneurship on the Rise? p. 6

Digital Technology and Entrepreneurship: How Two Gospels Have Become One p. 9

What Does Digital Entrepreneurship Theory Suggest? p. 13

The Why and How of This Book: A Grounded Empirical Inquiry p. 23

Analytical Framework p. 27

Book Outline p. 30

2 Taking Stock p. 33

How Can We Take Stock of Digital Entrepreneurship in Africa? p. 34

Comparing Digital Production in Africa versus High-Income Countries Africa Is Not a Country: Continent-Wide Variation of Activity p. 42

African Digital Markets and Infrastructures p. 46

What African Digital Enterprises Do p. 62

Summary: An Uneven and Uncertain Landscape p. 74

3 Bounded Opportunities p. 77

Close to Home: How Most African Enterprises Become Specialists for Localization p. 78

Global Competition, at Home and Abroad p. 85

Pan-African Expansion: Resources and Relationships p. 89

Summary: The Lure of Scalability p. 95

4 Viable Strategies p. 97

Scaling Based on Customer and Partner Relationships p. 98

Local Information Platforms: Digitizing, Curating, and Mediating Local Content p. 102

Distant Markets, Local Assets: Labor, Market, and Culture Brokers p. 105

Last-Mile Platforms: Asset-Heavy User Base Scaling with a Digital Backend p. 107

Summary: Location-Based Strategies and Hyperiocalization p. 113

5 Uneven Ecosystems p. 117

Entrepreneurial Ecosystems: Concepts and Theory p. 118

Unevenness of African Ecosystems: Discerning Three Tiers p. 120

Bottleneck #1 Markets and Infrastructures p. 124

Bottleneck #2 Entrepreneurial Knowledge, Mentorship, and Experience p. 127

Bottleneck #3 Digital Venture Labor and Talent p. 131

Bottleneck #4 Innovation Hubs and Other Support Organizations p. 137

Bottleneck #5 Inadequate and Exclusive Funding p. 145

Summary: Bottlenecks and Vicious Cycles Thwart Ecosystem Evolution p. 152

6 Transitioning Identities p. 155

Digital: Technological Aspirations p. 156

Entrepreneurs: Agents of Change p. 163

Summary: An African Avant-Garde? p. 178

7 Silicon Tensions p. 179

Silicon Somethings and the Digital Developmentalist Aspiration p. 180

Down to Earth: Local Markets, Local Models p. 190

Racial Bias p. 194

Reluctant Responses p. 198

Summary: The Future Mirrors the Past p. 206

8 Ways Forward p. 209

Chapter Summaries and Testing of Analytical Framework p. 211

Digital Expectations p. 216

Global Ambitions p. 217

Down a Notch: Contextualizing the United States' and China's Digital Success p. 218

Local Realities p. 221

Uneven Development p. 222

A Long-Term, International Game p. 225

Implications for Policy and Practice p. 227.

Notes:

Description based on print version record.

Local Notes:

KU Select 2019: HSS Frontlist Books

BiblioBoard internal publisher id: 104351

ISBN:

9780262538183

Access Restriction:

Open Access Unrestricted online access