Entrepreneurs’ creative responses to institutional challenges: insider perspectives from sub-Saharan Africa

Entrepreneurship research in developing countries often uses macro level or meso level analyses of large surveys to examine institutional constraints and enablers of entrepreneurial activities. In contrast, this book contributes to entrepreneurship literature by providing entrepreneurs from two developing countries in sub-Saharan Africa the opportunity to illustrate how their institutional context influences their sustainability practices at the micro level. We analyzed four focus group interviews with 60 entrepreneurship experts and experienced entrepreneurs from Tanzania and Zambia. Their personal experiences and mundane stories offer a more nuanced and insider perspective of the everyday struggles of Tanzanian and Zambian entrepreneurs. We distinguished (a) institutional constraints and enablers, and (b) sustainability practices as responses to those constraints and enablers. In particular, we found that entrepreneurs use creative and bricolage methods of sustainability practices that contribute to some extent to social and environmental well-being. For example, in both countries, entrepreneurs contribute to waste management, recycling, and the creation of employment. From these findings, we will discuss how social and environmental contributions can be enhanced through entrepreneurship in sub-Saharan Africa