Exploring the desire to be an entrepreneur among university-educated youths : lessons from Sierra Leone

The developing country entrepreneur is championed as a driver of economic growth, poverty alleviation, and social development. Yet little is known about what drives entrepreneurial ambitions in developing countries. This study uses qualitative data from focus group discussions with university-educated Sierra Leonean youths to explore these issues. Findings show that very few have entrepreneurial ambitions ex ante, though a large share resort to entrepreneurship as a survival mechanism. Limited entrepreneurial ambitions can be explained by macro-level factors such as access to credit, but are largely driven by individual-level factors such as conceptions of success and cultural perceptions about entrepreneurship