JAB+final.pdf (133.13 kB)
Young entrepreneurs in the mobile telephony sector in Ghana: From necessities to aspirations
journal contribution
posted on 2017-09-08, 12:07 authored by Robert L. Afutu-Kotey, Katherine V. GoughKatherine V. Gough, George OwusuDespite increasing research interest in the mobile telephony sector, only a few studies have devoted attention to informal businesses in the sector. Using qualitative field data collected on young mobile telephony entrepreneurs in Accra, this paper argues that despite the businesses being ‘informal’, they cannot be dismissed as ‘necessity’ enterprises unworthy of support. On the contrary, many young entrepreneurs have aspirations which are influencing their desire to stay in business. The article thus questions the bifurcated nature of entrepreneurial motivations, using the burgeoning mobile telephony sector as a case study, and draws out implications for policy support for youth-run businesses in the informal sector generally.
Funding
This work was supported by the Consultative Research Committee for Development Research (FFU) under Danida [Project No 09-059KU]
History
School
- Social Sciences
Department
- Geography and Environment
Published in
Journal of African BusinessPages
1 - 16Citation
AFUTU-KOTEY, R.L., GOUGH, K.V. and OWUSU, G., 2017. Young entrepreneurs in the mobile telephony sector in Ghana: From necessities to aspirations. Journal of African Business, 18 (4), pp. 476-491.Publisher
© Taylor & FrancisVersion
- AM (Accepted Manuscript)
Publisher statement
This work is made available according to the conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) licence. Full details of this licence are available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/Acceptance date
2017-06-05Publication date
2017Notes
This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Journal of African Business on 1 Aug 2017, available online: https://doi.org/10.1080/15228916.2017.1339252ISSN
1522-8916eISSN
1522-9076Publisher version
Language
- en