Mobile Phone Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract

This study assesses how knowledge diffusion modulates the effect of the mobile phone on Second, the mobile phone interacts with education (the internet) to have a positive (negative) net effect on the time needed to construct a warehouse whereas, the corresponding interaction with the internet yields a net negative effect on the time to enforce a contract. Third, there is a positive net effect from the interaction of mobile phones with education on the time to start a business. Given the construction of the education variable, the positive net effects from education are consistent with corresponding negative net effects from the other knowledge diffusion variables. The main policy implication is that mobile phone innovation (by means of internet penetration, scientific output and quality education) decreases constraints of entrepreneurship. Suggestions on how to boost these knowledge diffusion channels are discussed. Other practical and theoretical implications are also covered. To the best our knowledge, this is the first inquiry to assess the relevance of mobile phone innovation in entrepreneurship in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Openness, ICT and Entrepreneurship in Sub-Saharan Africa

“…Examining the importance of ICT in openness for entrepreneurship in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) fundamentally builds on four trends in the literature, notably, the: evolving potential of ICT; relevance of openness in 21 st century economic prosperity 2 ; role of entrepreneurship in addressing employment concerns in the post-2015 development agenda and gaps in the entrepreneurship literature (Qureshi et al, 2009;Brixiova et al, 2015;Asongu, 2015;Kuada, 2009Kuada, , 2015Asongu et al, 2016;Roztocki & Weistroffer, 2016;Asongu & Le Roux, 2017;Amavilah et al, 2017;Asongu & Biekpe, 2017).…”