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Superstitions, the family and values in microenterprise development
There may be much more than a lack of finance, skills or demand that is preventing African microentrepreneurs from expanding. Family networks are strong, and they can on the one hand support the newly created enterprise with funds and labour, but on the other hand drain the profitsof an established enterprise with requests for financial help and jobs for relatives. Cultural beliefs can also be a deterrent to entrepreneurship: in many cultures success in business is put down to the wielding of malign supernatural powers, and the entrepreneur can be isolated rather than
admired in his or her community. This article describes research carried out in Africa revealing some unexpected cultural attitudes affecting business. It concludes that such attitudes take a long time to change, and that blue-print, minimalist solutions to enterprise development, dealing
with one of a number of obstacles in the path of the growth of small enterprise, may have limited success.
There may be much more than a lack of finance, skills or demand that is preventing African microentrepreneurs from expanding. Family networks are strong, and they can on the one hand support the newly created enterprise with funds and labour, but on the other hand drain the profits
of an established enterprise with requests for financial help and jobs for relatives. Cultural beliefs can also be a deterrent to entrepreneurship: in many cultures success in business is put down to the wielding of malign supernatural powers, and the entrepreneur can be isolated rather than
admired in his or her community. This article describes research carried out in Africa revealing some unexpected cultural attitudes affecting business. It concludes that such attitudes take a long time to change, and that blue-print, minimalist solutions to enterprise development, dealing
with one of a number of obstacles in the path of the growth of small enterprise, may have limited success.
of an established enterprise with requests for financial help and jobs for relatives. Cultural beliefs can also be a deterrent to entrepreneurship: in many cultures success in business is put down to the wielding of malign supernatural powers, and the entrepreneur can be isolated rather than
admired in his or her community. This article describes research carried out in Africa revealing some unexpected cultural attitudes affecting business. It concludes that such attitudes take a long time to change, and that blue-print, minimalist solutions to enterprise development, dealing
with one of a number of obstacles in the path of the growth of small enterprise, may have limited success.
Making Technical Assistance Programmes Work: A new approach
Getu, Makonen
Transformation: An International Journal of Holistic Mission Studies, Vol. 20 (2003), Iss. 2 P.115
https://doi.org/10.1177/026537880302000207 [Citations: 0]Microfinance in Africa: Is it either the problem or the solution?
Buckley, Graeme
World Development, Vol. 25 (1997), Iss. 7 P.1081
https://doi.org/10.1016/S0305-750X(97)00022-3 [Citations: 125]Tabs navigation
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