Startup Culture’s role in the
Technology Transition of African Entrepreneurship Ecosystems
Because a prosperous Africa requires creative solutions for job creation.
Phenomena inspiring the research
A dire need for sustainable and inclusive economic growth in Sub-Saharan Africa
Phenomena sweeping over Africa: rapid urbanization, high youth unemployment
Rise of technology: Increase in education levels and access to technology fueling
technology-enabled startup entrepreneurship in urban centres
Studies of Entrepreneurship Ecosystems overlook southern Africa and rarely apply a cultural lens
Understanding of technology-enabled startup support practices is insufficient
Foreign influence in African ecosystems: Donor funding backing a rapidly rising number of hubs (e.g. entrepreneurship support organisations, incubators, coworking spaces, maker spaces)
Startup hubs' impact is often measured only quantitatively and wider scale impact
remains a mystery.
The research aims to enhance entrepreneurship support for job creation in the fastest-growing continent in the world, Africa.
Creating meaningful employment for African youth can prevent conflict and alleviate poverty and suffering. Achieving this is an issue of global equality. Through its multidisciplinary and participatory approach, the research empirically proves whether a specific culture in an ecosystem is linked to the birth of startups and through that, Technology Transition. It maps the best practice in transferring and domesticating startup support.
Research Questions
The research is ongoing and the process for the research design is iterative. The details or approaches used in the research can be subject to change.
After wrapping up my data collection at the end of my 3rd year in the PhD program (Sept 2022), my research questions have evolved into the following:
How is the local Startup Culture constructed by individual ecosystem actors in the city-level Entrepreneurship Ecosystems?
How does Startup Culture enable the birth and growth of startups, if at all?
How does Startup Culture transfer through the domestication of design-based methods and practices used in startup support?
Research Aim and Objectives
To design an empirically founded framework for Startup Culture
To seek insight into the linkages between Startup Culture and the birth of technology entrepreneurship, and analyse its connection to the Technological Transition of Entrepreneurship Ecosystems in southern Africa
To provide an overview of the domestication process of a Northern-originated, design-based approach used in startup development, which illuminates the transfer of Startup Culture across cultures
To support international donors how best to support the development of Entrepreneurship Ecosystems in southern Africa with culturally suitable initiatives
To support policymakers regionally, nationally and sub-nationally in developing Entrepreneurship Ecosystems in southern Africa.
Theory and Methodology
The research is localized at the intersection of early-stage startup entrepreneurship, domestication of a global form and Design Thinking. The research consists of three studies informed by Design Anthropology utilizing ethnographic and Participatory Action Research methods.
Study 1: Ethnography of the Windhoek Entrepreneurship Ecosystem
Thematic analysis of qualitative data collected through semi-structured interviews conducted with startup actors in Windhoek, Namibia (Aug 2021-Jan 2022), and mapping findings using Hofstede’s model for Manifestations of Culture.
Study 2: Case Study of a Lusaka-based accelerator program
With Geel’s framework for Technological Transfer (TT) as the backdrop, Paper 2 is an analysis of how Startup Culture shifts, if at all, from a niche level to a socio-technical regime and whether accelerator programs run at a Lusaka hub influence the TT of urban entrepreneurship ecosystems through their input on the birth and growth of startups. This study is based on the data collected in April 2021-Jan 2022) through participant observation, interviews and focus groups with startup founders, their trainers and ecosystem actors.
Study 3: Case Study on the transfer of Startup Culture through design-based tools
The theory of TT is supported by domestication theory as the research aims to outline how Startup Culture transfers and is domesticated through design-based methods used in startup support. The experiment of using Lean Service Creation, a Northern-designed toolkit, is co-designed with expert partners who pilot its use with Namibian founders.
Collaboration and industry partnerships
Close collaboration with local hubs ensures that the research fits the local culture.
Collaboration is conducted with:
Future Females (South Africa and Namibia)
Future Females is a movement to inspire more female entrepreneurs, and better support their success.
BongoHive (Zambia)
BongoHive is Zambia’s first technology and innovation hub. They work with great minds building viable solutions that change the world.
An industry partnership with an expert in startup development in Finland provides a quality tool for the experiments that are co-created with the local experts.
A tool that suits the research is openly sourced and it supports the development of technology-enabled startups. Testing it in cultural contexts where it hasn’t been used before shows us how tools can be localized and transferred across cultural context.
The industry partner for this research is Futurice. Futurice helps customers unleash innovation through digital product design and build, emerging technology, agile software development and lean organisational change.
Curious about the findings? Get in touch.
Funding
I am the recipient of the competitive study grant from Liikesivistysrahasto (Foundation for Economic Education - grant received in 2019-2021). The foundation supports research and education in business and economics primarily through grants. For more information on the funder, please see the foundation’s website.
Furthermore, I am a recipient of a travel grant from Hans Bang Stiftelsen (2020).
I am grateful for all the support shown by these two foundations in the pursuit of my degree.
The PhD Program and the University
I am pursuing a Doctorate in Philosophy at the Institute for Design Innovation at Loughborough University London, a Top 5 UK University. The 4-year program has progressed into the completion of the international fieldwork resulting in over 100 data points. Data analysis and the write-up of the three studies remain with an estimated submission date for the dissertation in December 2023 (updated in Sept 2022).
My supervisors are Dr Ida Telalbasic (Institute for Design Innovation), Dr Roy Meriton (Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship) and Professor Mikko Koria (Institute for Design Innovation).