This paper introduces entrepreneurship phases in studying the impact of some government policies on entrepreneurial activities. Entrepreneurship and small business development are the heart of many countries economy, and countries that give entrepreneurship special attention stand better chances of improved economy and industrialization. World over, it is well known that government policies often affect entrepreneurial activities directly and indirectly. But the question is do these policies have equal impact in every entrepreneurship phase. Hence, this study seeks to examine some policy factors that enhance entrepreneurial activities in two of African's emerging economies. And precisely, to identify the most favorable government policy in each entrepreneurship phase. This study was conducted in the economic hub of two African emerging economies (Nigeria and South Africa), where most entrepreneurial activities take place. A total of 1200 questionnaires (650 in Lagos, Nigeria and 550 in Johannesburg, South Africa) were administered. The analysis was in two stages; stage one involved descriptive statistics while stage two involved inferential statistics. Also, Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was used to identify the most favorable government policy in each entrepreneurship phase. The results show that some variations exist in the policy implementation approaches of both economies. The efficacies and shortcomings associated with the policies impacted entrepreneurial activities. The findings show that the impact of government policies on entrepreneurship phases differ in both countries. The study concluded that some policies are more favorable than others in some phases. Hence, makes a clarion call for more studies on government policies across entrepreneurship phases.

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Unpaid family workers are a heterogeneous group within the family whose work is categorized as marginal and is not included in paid income for the family. Across countries and cultures, unpaid family workers include housewives, elder caregivers, and children engaged in economic activities that are not remunerated. In Africa and Asia, the proportion of unpaid family workers is quite large and is mostly involved in subsistence agriculture.

This paper is a comparative analysis of the peculiarities of entrepreneurial motives and challenges that exist in emerging economies. The paper also emphasizes the fact that knowing what entrepreneurs are up against would get them prepared and inexorably minimize the effects of the challenges. Research findings show that entrepreneurs set up business ventures basically for various reasons, and individuals become entrepreneurs primarily due to pull, than push factors. 1200 samples were purposively drawn from two African emerging economies. Pre-tested questionnaires were administered among entrepreneurs in the economic hub to both economies. The analysis was done using descriptive statistics and one-way analysis of variance. The research findings show that a greater proportion of the entrepreneurs in both economies were driven by passion and very few were poverty driven. The results also show that entrepreneurial challenges are typical of every emerging economy but vary in certain cases. Furthermore, the results show that there is a significant difference in the average income level and the number of years in business (F=7.60; p<0.05), whereas in South Africa, there is no significant difference in average income level and the number of years in business (F=1.41; p>0.05). The study concludes that the challenges such as epileptic power supply, lack of finance, and low patronage would continually hamper entrepreneurial activities and inexorably increase the failure rates of entrepreneurship in these economies if the challenges persist.

Using cross-sectional data from 1148 structured questionnaires, administered in two key commercial hubs of Africa’s largest economies (609 from Lagos in Nigeria and 539 from Johannesburg in South Africa), we examine the volatility of venture firms, and particularly ascertain what life-cycle phases they are likely to transition out of quickly or sluggishly in the entrepreneurship process. Adopting GEM’s concept of entrepreneurship phases — conception, firm’s-birth, persistence, established and renowned phases — we find that the most volatile entrepreneurship phase in Nigeria is the conception phase while the conception and firm’s-birth phases are the most volatile in South Africa. The highest transition rate for start-ups in both countries occurs between the persistent and established phases. Overall, Nigeria’s start-ups have better prospects for progression than South Africa’s, and the transitioning differences between the two countries are attributable to differences in personality traits of the entrepreneurs. Therefore, governments seeking to influence likelihood of success at the more strategic phases of the entrepreneurship process should prioritize early phases while only channeling little of the scarce support funds to later-phases, especially when seeking to scale-up productive capabilities of emerging enterprises, in addition to encouraging personality traits that can compensate for inadequate environmental support for entrepreneurship.