IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/tefoso/v186y2023ipas0040162522006448.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The evolution of the Fintech entrepreneurial ecosystem in Africa: An exploratory study and model for future development

Author

Listed:
  • Molla, Alemayehu
  • Biru, Ashenafi

Abstract

Despite Africa's leadership in mobile money innovation and an increasing level of Fintech entrepreneurial activity, Africa's Fintech ecosystem trajectory is under-represented in the literature. This study is set out to redress this anomaly while addressing the tensions on the role of history, and adaptability in entrepreneurial ecosystem research. We draw upon the Fintech and the entrepreneurial ecosystem literature, analyze the views of practitioners, and apply temporal bracketing to reconstruct the historical context and three phases of the African Fintech ecosystem evolution over a decade: mobile money, digital finance, and innovative Fintech. Based on the results, we develop a model that explains the metamorphosis of entrepreneurial ecosystems. The study contributes an African narrative to the descriptive and explanatory knowledge of Fintech. By showing how Africa's Fintech entrepreneurial ecosystem has evolved, the study also contributes to the entrepreneurial ecosystems research that has thus far focused more on place, actors, and governance than evolution. Our model adds a dynamic perspective to the theorization of Fintech ecosystems and extends the existing literature by taking a historical and longitudinal foresight. Practitioners can apply the lessons to enhance polices that support future Fintech entrepreneurship.

Suggested Citation

  • Molla, Alemayehu & Biru, Ashenafi, 2023. "The evolution of the Fintech entrepreneurial ecosystem in Africa: An exploratory study and model for future development," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 186(PA).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:tefoso:v:186:y:2023:i:pa:s0040162522006448
    DOI: 10.1016/j.techfore.2022.122123
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0040162522006448
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.techfore.2022.122123?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ben Spigel, 2022. "Examining the cohesiveness and nestedness entrepreneurial ecosystems: evidence from British FinTechs," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 59(4), pages 1381-1399, December.
    2. Satish Nambisan, 2017. "Digital Entrepreneurship: Toward a Digital Technology Perspective of Entrepreneurship," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 41(6), pages 1029-1055, November.
    3. Erik Stam, 2015. "Entrepreneurial Ecosystems and Regional Policy: A Sympathetic Critique," European Planning Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(9), pages 1759-1769, September.
    4. Ben Spigel, 2017. "The Relational Organization of Entrepreneurial Ecosystems," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 41(1), pages 49-72, January.
    5. Eivor Oborn & Michael Barrett & Wanda Orlikowski & Anna Kim, 2019. "Trajectory Dynamics in Innovation: Developing and Transforming a Mobile Money Service Across Time and Place," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 30(5), pages 1097-1123, September.
    6. F.C. Stam & Ben Spigel, 2016. "Entrepreneurial Ecosystems," Working Papers 16-13, Utrecht School of Economics.
    7. Jenny C. Aker & Isaac M. Mbiti, 2010. "Mobile Phones and Economic Development in Africa," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 24(3), pages 207-232, Summer.
    8. Ahmad Alaassar & Anne-Laure Mention & Tor Helge Aas, 2022. "Ecosystem dynamics: exploring the interplay within fintech entrepreneurial ecosystems," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 58(4), pages 2157-2182, April.
    9. Friederike Welter, 2011. "Contextualizing Entrepreneurship—Conceptual Challenges and Ways Forward," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 35(1), pages 165-184, January.
    10. Daniel Sunghwan Cho & Paul Ryan & Giulio Buciuni, 2022. "Evolutionary entrepreneurial ecosystems: a research pathway," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 58(4), pages 1865-1883, April.
    11. Ross Brown & Colin Mason, 2017. "Looking inside the spiky bits: a critical review and conceptualisation of entrepreneurial ecosystems," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 49(1), pages 11-30, June.
    12. Alaassar, Ahmad & Mention, Anne-Laure & Aas, Tor Helge, 2021. "Exploring a new incubation model for FinTechs: Regulatory sandboxes," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 103(C).
    13. Daniel Isenberg & Vincent Onyemah, 2016. "Fostering Scaleup Ecosystems for Regional Economic Growth (Innovations Case Narrative: Manizales-Mas and Scale Up Milwaukee)," Innovations: Technology, Governance, Globalization, MIT Press, vol. 11(1-2), pages 60-79, Winter-Sp.
    14. Laivi Laidroo & Mari Avarmaa, 2020. "The role of location in FinTech formation," Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 32(7-8), pages 555-572, August.
    15. P. K. Senyo & Stan Karanasios & Daniel Gozman & Melissa Baba, 2022. "FinTech ecosystem practices shaping financial inclusion: the case of mobile money in Ghana," European Journal of Information Systems, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 31(1), pages 112-127, January.
    16. Mrkajic, Boris, 2017. "Business incubation models and institutionally void environments," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 44-55.
    17. Lee, In & Shin, Yong Jae, 2018. "Fintech: Ecosystem, business models, investment decisions, and challenges," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 61(1), pages 35-46.
    18. Cephas Paa Kwasi Coffie & Zhao Hongjiang & Isaac Adjei Mensah & Rebecca Kiconco & Abraham Emuron Otim Simon, 2021. "Determinants of FinTech payment services diffusion by SMEs in Sub-Saharan Africa: evidence from Ghana," Information Technology for Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 27(3), pages 539-560, July.
    19. Gebreab, Frew Amare, 2002. "Getting connected : competition and diffusion in African mobile telecommunications markets," Policy Research Working Paper Series 2863, The World Bank.
    20. Henner Gimpel & Daniel Rau & Maximilian Röglinger, 2018. "Understanding FinTech start-ups – a taxonomy of consumer-oriented service offerings," Electronic Markets, Springer;IIM University of St. Gallen, vol. 28(3), pages 245-264, August.
    21. Stephen B. Adams, 2021. "From orchards to chips: Silicon Valley’s evolving entrepreneurial ecosystem," Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 33(1-2), pages 15-35, January.
    22. Uwe Cantner & James A. Cunningham & Erik E. Lehmann & Matthias Menter, 2021. "Entrepreneurial ecosystems: a dynamic lifecycle model," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 57(1), pages 407-423, June.
    23. Ferran Calabuig-Moreno & Maria Huertas Gonzalez-Serrano & Manuel Alonso-Dos-Santos & Ana Gómez-Tafalla, 2021. "Entrepreneurial ecosystems, knowledge spillovers, and their embeddedness in the sport field: a bibliometric and content analysis," Knowledge Management Research & Practice, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(1), pages 65-83, January.
    24. Liu, Jiajia & Li, Xuerong & Wang, Shouyang, 2020. "What have we learnt from 10 years of fintech research? a scientometric analysis," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 155(C).
    25. Johnson, Evan & Hemmatian, Iman & Lanahan, Lauren & Joshi, Amol M., 2022. "A Framework and Databases for Measuring Entrepreneurial Ecosystems," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(2).
    26. John P Wentzel & Krishna Sundar Diatha & Venkata Seshachal Sarma Yadavalli, 2016. "An investigation into factors impacting financial exclusion at the bottom of the pyramid in South Africa," Development Southern Africa, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 33(2), pages 203-214, March.
    27. Johnson, Evan E. & Hemmatian, Iman & Lanahan, Lauren & Joshi, Amol M., 2022. "A framework and databases for measuring entrepreneurial ecosystems," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(9).
    28. Kazan, Erol & Tan, Chee-Wee & Lim, Eric T.K & Sørensen, Carsten & Damsgaard, Jan, 2018. "Disentangling digital platform competition: the case of UK mobile payment platforms," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 86345, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Maresch, Daniela & Leo, Hannes & Walsh, Steven T., 2023. "Hotspurs in, sober bores out: A call and an agenda for entrepreneurship and innovation policies that foster rapidly scaling ventures," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 196(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Bejjani, Melissa & Göcke, Lutz & Menter, Matthias, 2023. "Digital entrepreneurial ecosystems: A systematic literature review," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 189(C).
    2. Angelo Cavallo & Antonio Ghezzi & Cristina Rossi-Lamastra, 2021. "Small-medium enterprises and innovative startups in entrepreneurial ecosystems: exploring an under-remarked relation," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 17(4), pages 1843-1866, December.
    3. Coad, Alex & Srhoj, Stjepan, 2023. "Entrepreneurial ecosystems and regional persistence of high growth firms: A ‘broken clock’ critique," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(6).
    4. Luiza Ossowska & Dorota Janiszewska & Grzegorz Kwiatkowski, 2023. "The Entrepreneurship Ecosystem of Food Festivals—A Vendors’ Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(2), pages 1-19, January.
    5. Colin Donaldson, 2021. "Culture in the entrepreneurial ecosystem: a conceptual framing," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 17(1), pages 289-319, March.
    6. Venâncio, Ana & Picoto, Winnie & Pinto, Inês, 2023. "Time-to-unicorn and digital entrepreneurial ecosystems," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 190(C).
    7. Hernández-Chea, Roberto & Mahdad, Maral & Minh, Thai Thi & Hjortsø, Carsten Nico, 2021. "Moving beyond intermediation: How intermediary organizations shape collaboration dynamics in entrepreneurial ecosystems," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 108(C).
    8. Maksim Belitski & Ana-Maria Grigore & Anca Bratu, 2021. "Political entrepreneurship: entrepreneurship ecosystem perspective," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 17(4), pages 1973-2004, December.
    9. Lindelöf, Peter & Hellberg, Roland, 2023. "Incubation - An evolutionary process," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 124(C).
    10. Birdthistle, Naomi & Eversole, Robyn & Walo, Megerssa, 2022. "Creating an inclusive entrepreneurial ecosystem for women entrepreneurs in a rural region," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 18(C).
    11. Jianhong Zhang & Désirée Gorp & Henk Kievit, 2023. "Digital technology and national entrepreneurship: An ecosystem perspective," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 48(3), pages 1077-1105, June.
    12. Francesco Perugini, 2023. "Space–time analysis of entrepreneurial ecosystems," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 48(1), pages 240-291, February.
    13. Quoc Hoang Thai & Khuong Ngoc Mai & Tung Thanh Do, 2023. "An Evolution of Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Studies: A Systematic Literature Review and Future Research Agenda," SAGE Open, , vol. 13(1), pages 21582440231, March.
    14. Maksim Belitski & Pınar Büyükbalci, 2021. "Uncharted waters of the entrepreneurial ecosystems research: Comparing Greater Istanbul and Reading ecosystems," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 52(2), pages 727-750, June.
    15. Candida Brush & Linda F. Edelman & Tatiana Manolova & Friederike Welter, 2019. "A gendered look at entrepreneurship ecosystems," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 53(2), pages 393-408, August.
    16. Feldman, Maryann & Fleming, Lee & Heaton, Sohvi & Desai, Sameeksha & Teece, David, 2022. "Uncommon methods and metrics for local entrepreneurial ecosystems," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(9).
    17. Ahmad Alaassar & Anne-Laure Mention & Tor Helge Aas, 2022. "Ecosystem dynamics: exploring the interplay within fintech entrepreneurial ecosystems," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 58(4), pages 2157-2182, April.
    18. Niccolò Ghio & Massimiliano Guerini & Cristina Rossi-Lamastra, 2019. "The creation of high-tech ventures in entrepreneurial ecosystems: exploring the interactions among university knowledge, cooperative banks, and individual attitudes," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 52(2), pages 523-543, February.
    19. Christine Volkmann & Klaus Fichter & Magnus Klofsten & David B. Audretsch, 2021. "Sustainable entrepreneurial ecosystems: an emerging field of research," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 56(3), pages 1047-1055, February.
    20. Angelo Cavallo & Antonio Ghezzi & Raffaello Balocco, 2019. "Entrepreneurial ecosystem research: present debates and future directions," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 15(4), pages 1291-1321, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:tefoso:v:186:y:2023:i:pa:s0040162522006448. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/00401625 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.