In this hybrid research seminar on Monday June 15, 2026 at 12:00 pm by Professor Eric Stam— will present his research titled "Ecosystems for Transformative Entrepreneurship in Africa".
Abstract:
To achieve prosperity in Africa structural change is needed. This structural change does not happen automatically; it needs change agents: transformative entrepreneurship. This transformative entrepreneurship is enabled by fundamentals including well-functioning governance, education, finance, infrastructure. These fundamentals are not isolated factors, but are interdependent and place specific, they constitute an ecosystem for transformative entrepreneurship.=
In this presentation we will present and discuss the nature and evolution of entrepreneurial ecosystems and transformative entrepreneurship in Africa. Until recently this was hardly possible due to data constraints. We tackle this data challenge and source data from various public, private, global, and African sources. We use an entrepreneurial ecosystem framework to select, make sense of, and integrate this data. We use an extensive set of 21 empirical indicators to measure seven dimensions of national entrepreneurial ecosystems in Africa and to compose the Africa Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Index. We relate this to the prevalence of transformative entrepreneurship. This index and the underlying data aim to facilitate large-scale research on entrepreneurial ecosystems and collective learning for improving entrepreneurial ecosystems in Africa.
The zoom link to join the seminar online can be found here. This event is open to the public; all those interested in this topic are very welcome to attend. After the presentation there will be time for questions and discussion.
For any queries related to our UNU-MERIT Seminar Series, please contact Lizeth Melissa Molina Alvarez and Karthika Baby Sujatha by sending an email to seminars@merit.unu.edu.
