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Driving factors and sources of capital for immigrant entrepreneurs in Ghana

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  • Elijah Yendaw

    (SD Dombo University of Business and Integrated Development Studies)

Abstract

Over the past few years, the phenomenon of immigrant entrepreneurship has attracted overwhelming research curiosity in West Africa. However, scholarships about the entrepreneurial entry motivations of West African itinerant immigrant retailers and their sources of start-up capital are still nascent issues. Employing a cross-sectional concurrent embedded mixed methods design, this paper surveys the driving factors and sources of funding for 779 immigrant entrepreneurs and interviews nine immigrant key informants in the Accra Metropolis of Ghana. The results indicate that most of the immigrants entered into their itinerant retail businesses mainly because of their inability to secure alternative livelihood for survival in the labor market. The study further found that about a third of the immigrants financed their itinerant retail businesses using earnings from the sale of credited wares from their fellow entrepreneurs from the same ethnic group. These findings underscore the utility of ethnic networking as a resource in establishing immigrants’ businesses. Being mostly necessity-driven entrepreneurs, policy measures should be aimed at enrobing them into the tax bracket rather than rid them of the informal retail sector.

Suggested Citation

  • Elijah Yendaw, 2022. "Driving factors and sources of capital for immigrant entrepreneurs in Ghana," Journal of Global Entrepreneurship Research, Springer;UNESCO Chair in Entrepreneurship, vol. 12(1), pages 53-69, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:jglont:v:12:y:2022:i:1:d:10.1007_s40497-022-00314-4
    DOI: 10.1007/s40497-022-00314-4
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Matthew Kirwin & Jessica Anderson, 2018. "Identifying the Factors Driving West African Migration," West African Papers 17, OECD Publishing.
    2. Tengeh, RK & Ballard, HB & Slabbert, AS, 2012. "Do immigrant-owned businesses grow financially? An empirical study of African immigrant-owned businesses in the South Africa," MPRA Paper 40610, University Library of Munich, Germany.
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    5. Elijah Yendaw & Augustine Tanle & Akwasi Kumi-Kyereme, 2019. "Analysis of livelihood activity amongst itinerant west African migrant traders in the Accra metropolitan area," Journal of Global Entrepreneurship Research, Springer;UNESCO Chair in Entrepreneurship, vol. 9(1), pages 1-21, December.
    6. Hung Manh Chu & Cynthia Benzing & Charles Mcgee, 2007. "Ghanaian And Kenyan Entrepreneurs: A Comparative Analysis Of Their Motivations, Success Characteristics And Problems," Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship (JDE), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 12(03), pages 295-322.
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