TY - JOUR
T1 - Young Entrepreneurs in the Mobile Telephony Sector in Ghana
T2 - From Necessities to Aspirations
AU - Afutu-Kotey, Robert Lawrence
AU - Gough, Katherine V.
AU - Owusu, George
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
PY - 2017/10/2
Y1 - 2017/10/2
N2 - Despite 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.
AB - Despite 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.
KW - Ghana
KW - Young people
KW - informal businesses
KW - mobile telephony
KW - motivations
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85026558375&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/15228916.2017.1339252
DO - 10.1080/15228916.2017.1339252
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85026558375
SN - 1522-8916
VL - 18
SP - 476
EP - 491
JO - Journal of African Business
JF - Journal of African Business
IS - 4
ER -