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Purpose By drawing upon institutional theory, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of four critical resources (credit, electricity, contract enforcement and political governance) in explaining the quality of entrepreneurship and the depth of the supporting entrepreneurship ecosystem in Africa. Design/methodology/approach A quantitative approach based on ordinary least squares regression analysis was used. Three data sources were employed. First, the Global Entrepreneurship Index (GEI) of 35 African countries was used to measure the quality of entrepreneurship and the depth of the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Africa which represents the dependent variable. Second, the World Bank’s data on access to credit, electricity and contract enforcement in Africa were also employed as explanatory variables. Third, the Ibrahim Index of African Governance was used as an explanatory variable. Finally, country-specific data on four control variables (GDP, foreign direct investment, population and education) were gathered and analysed. Findings To support entrepreneurship development, Africa needs broad financial inclusion and state institutions that are more effective at enforcing contracts. Access to credit was non-significant and therefore did not contribute to the dependent variable (entrepreneurship quality and depth of entrepreneurial support in Africa). Access to electricity and political governance were statistically significant and correlated positively with the dependent variables. Finally, contract enforcement was partially significant and contributed to the dependent variable. Research limitations/implications A lack of GEI data for all 54 African countries limited this study to only 35 African countries: 31 in sub-Saharan Africa and 4 in North Africa. Therefore, the generalisability of this study’s findings to the whole of Africa might be limited. Second, this study depended on indexes for this study. Therefore, any inconsistencies in the index aggregation if any could not be authenticated. This study has practical implications for the development of entrepreneurship in Africa. Public and private institutions for credit delivery, contract enforcement and the provision of utility services such as electricity are crucial for entrepreneurship development. Originality/value The institutional void is a challenge for Africa. This study highlights the weak, corrupt nature of African institutions that supposedly support MSME growth. Effective entrepreneurship development in Africa depends on the presence of a supportive institutional infrastructure. This study engages institutional theory to explain the role of institutional factors such as state institutions, financial institutions, utility providers and markets in entrepreneurship development in Africa.

Drawing on the awareness of consequence literature, this paper unpacks how the awareness of the consequences of full-sun cocoa production can encourage farmers to adopt shaded cocoa agroforestry that preserves the land and favours better cocoa farm waste management. Using Ghana as a case study, the paper provides distinctive insights on how shaded cocoa agroforestry systems provide sustainable yields in the medium- to long-term, relative to unshaded systems. We also find that cocoa farmers’ awareness of consequences about the effects of undertaking unshaded cocoa production could make individual farmers exhibit pro-environmental behaviour, leading to the adoption of cocoa agroforestry systems that help preserve soil fertility and improve waste management. We recommend that the utilization of awareness of consequence protocols, coupled with the efficient diffusion of information on the benefits of agroforestry in terms of waste management and environmental improvements to the cocoa farmers, could increase the adoption of shaded cocoa production regimes in Ghana.

Over the past centuries, hard and soft technology transfer to developing countries had largely emanated from Western economies. It has been argued that these Western made hard and soft technologies are capital and skills intensive, rely on high-quality and pervasive infrastructure, and produce products for high-income consumers. Meanwhile, developing countries over the last two to three decades have witnessed a growing influx of hard and soft technologies from China and India (Asian Driver, AD, economies). The debate is that AD technologies are appropriate for the operating conditions in developing countries. This is because they are assumed to be labour intensive, tolerant to weak infrastructure, low cost, operate on small scale basis, accessible and less skills intensive. In order to validate (or otherwise) these assumptions, this research examines the distinctiveness and profitability of AD and Western hard and soft technologies using garment making machines in Uganda as a case study. I build this research on five key economic theories-the concept of hard and soft technology, technical choice, appropriate technology, technical change, the rise of the Asian drivers, technology transfer and diffusion. The study shows five important findings (I) Uganda’s landlocked nature makes the cost of transferring technologies into the country more expensive than for the country’s maritime neighbours-Kenya and Tanzania; (II) relative to the Western machines, the distribution of the AD garment making machines is wider in Uganda. This spread is a function of access to finance, information and the location of the machine operator; (III) the assumption that the AD technologies are tolerant to weak infrastructure, low cost, was validated; but contrary to my expectation, the frequent breakdown of the AD garment making machines makes them relatively skills intensive; (IV) relative to the Western garment making machines, the level of profitability of the AD machines is higher in rural areas but lower in urban areas. Thus, the wider spread of the AD garment making machines does not necessarily reflect their level of profitability; (V) relative to other Western made machines, the use of manual AD garment making machines is appropriate for increasing output, creating jobs and small scale enterprises at a minimum cost. China and India are respectively becoming the main sources of hard and soft technologies.