Inspiring African Entrepreneurs: Lessons from the My Own Business Institute at Santa Clara University

Entrepreneurship is often promoted as the path to economic growth in developing nations. While starting new companies is a necessary condition for job creation and economic growth, it is not sufficient to ensure a positive outcome. A positive economic outcome depends on launching companies that have the capacity to grow, and supporting young businesses to ensure that they survive. Not all startups have the capacity to grow. A number of authors distinguish between progressive firms, which have the potential to grow, and regressive firms, which add to economic turbulence (Vivarelli (2013)). Progressive firms exploit technological or new market opportunities while regressive firms are usually founded on economic necessity. Distinguishing between progressive and regressive firms can be challenging, but the distinction is important to creating effective public policy ( (Shane, 2009) (Mason & Brown, 2013)).