Examining Digital Entrepreneurship Ecosystem in a Developing Economy: Evidence from Ghana

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to explore the digital entrepreneurship ecosystem of Ghana. Specifically, it sought to identify the actors in the digital entrepreneurship ecosystem; explore the success factors of digital entrepreneurship in Ghana; discover the challenges digital entrepreneurs in Ghana face. In academic discourse, there is a paucity of studies that examine digital entrepreneurship ecosystems. More so, the sub-Saharan African region has witnessed an academic marginalization with respect to this research phenomenon, thereby necessitating this study. The study adopted a qualitative research approach in its enquiry. It drew data from six (6) respondents to present its case. The snowballing sampling technique was used to draw the sample from the population with the initial contacts provided by the Accra Digital Centre Limited. The respondents were digital entrepreneurs and government officials with agencies or desks responsible for driving digital entrepreneurship in Ghana. Data were collected via qualitative online survey and analysed using the textual thematic analysis approach. The study found that digital entrepreneurship ecosystem in Ghana consists of actors such as government, platform providers, content developers (digital entrepreneurs), media and investors, mentors, and human resources (academia). These play either direct or indirect roles and are not bounded by the territories that define Ghana. Also, the study reveals that the Ghanaian culture was not fully supportive of digital entrepreneurship in Ghana. On the success factors of digital entrepreneurship in Ghana, it was found that creativity, collaboration, and funding (CCF) are key to entrepreneurial success in the digital space, with creativity being the most eminent. Poor internet connectivity, insufficient funding, slow acceptance of digital products, and inadequate physical infrastructure are the challenges that digital entrepreneurs in Ghana face. It was then deduced that the challenges of digital entrepreneurs in Ghana are external to their organizations than internal. The study recommends that there is yet the need for providing market linkages to digital entrepreneurs by stakeholders.