ICTs and urban microenterprises : identifying and maximizing opportunities for economic development; final report

With more than a billion subscribers, mobile phones are the most readily available new ICT in the emerging South, and can be significant enablers of positive change in the developing world. However, robust evidence supporting this perspective remains in short supply, and this shortcoming is particularly evident in the space of social and economic outcomes among urban microenterprises. The research focuses on three specific ICTs – mobile phones, PCs, and Internet cafés. Key findings indicate that greater access to ICTs means a microentrepreneur is more likely to have year-over-year income growth. A model of possible relationships between business growth and six predictor variables is presented