Impetus for Change: How Sustainable is Sustainable Entrepreneurship? : A Discourse Analysis of Case Studies of Eco-Inclusive Enterprises in Africa & a Conceptualisation of Strong Sustainable Entrepreneurship

Despite the increasing popularity of the concept of entrepreneurship for sustainable development in both academia and policy making, there is no agreement on how this process should unfold and which objectives it should pursue. Perceived tensions between the paradigms of sustainability and economic development as well as alack of shared definitions and assumptions lead to ambiguous understandings of the idea of sustainable entrepreneurship. This thesis uses the theoretical framework of ecological economics to investigate a leading discourse within the field of sustainable entrepreneurship and aims toclarify the underlying assumptions and implications of the current discourse. The analysed discourse is created by SEED, a global UN partnership which promotes entrepreneurship for sustainable development with a focus on African countries. The discourse analysis is conducted according to four analytical elements as defined by Dryzek (1997: 2013). The theoretical reflection of the discourse through the lensof ecological economics and its strong sustainability paradigm functions as a foundation for the conceptualisation of strong sustainable entrepreneurship from which implications for the current sustainable entrepreneurship discourse are derived