Entrepreneurship http://lists.repec.org/mailman/listinfo/nep-ent Entrepreneurship 2026-06-15 Startups in Africa https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:35261&r=&r=ent We build new data on startups in Africa to study which types of financing these firms demand, how financing is allocated in practice, and the implications for startup creation and the composition of the sector. We combine a continent-wide founder survey, an incentive-compatible experiment estimating financing preferences, and venture capital (VC) deal records matched to founders’ education and work histories. We find that startups strongly prefer equity over debt, but equity is supplied mainly by foreign investors and flows disproportionately to foreign-connected founders. About 80 percent of VC deals involve a foreign investor, and more than 60 percent of funded founders have studied or worked outside Africa. A simple accounting framework shows that this foreignness reflects three main forces: scarce local equity capital, a thin pool of local entrepreneurs able to access startup finance, and frictions limiting local entrepreneurs’ access to foreign investors. Together, these forces reduce startup creation and tilt the sector toward foreign investors and foreign-connected founders. Emanuele Colonnelli Marcio Cruz Mariana Pereira-Lopez Tommaso Porzio Chun Zhao 2026-05 The effect of financial literacy components (budgeting, investment analysis, and risk management) on SME sustainability: The mediating role of access to finance complemented by financial risk attitude https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:esprep:341018&r=&r=ent The economic growth of developing economies depends heavily on Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) since they generate significant GDP and employment numbers in Pakistan and other emerging markets. The sustainability of these businesses faces frequent obstacles because they encounter restricted financial resources and poor financial expertise alongside cautious managerial decision-making. This study explored how financial literacy affects SME sustainability. We proposed that financial literacy components i.e. budgeting, investment analysis, and risk management, improve access to finance in turn leading to SME sustainability. We also contend that financial risk attitude moderates the relationship between financial literacy components and sustainability in a way that a higher risk attitude would lead to a more pronounced effect. Empirical validity was established by conducting a survey using a close-ended questionnaire. A structured questionnaire was used to gather data from 309 SME owners financial managers and operational managers who resided in five major Pakistani cities. The analysis employed Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) to process the data. The results show that budgeting (β = 0.165, p = 0.010) and risk management (β = 0.424, p Moiz, Abdul Siddiqui, Danish Ahmed SME Sustainability, Financial Literacy, Access to Finance, Financial Risk Attitude, Pakistan SMEs, PLS-SEM Analysis 2026 Microfoundations Of Ai Orientation As Market Signal: Evidence On Startup Funding Performance https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dar:wpaper:160144&r=&r=ent This study investigates how top management team’s AI literacy – executives’ ability to understand and apply AI – and AI orientation – the startup’s strategic focus on AI – influence startup funding performance. Drawing on Upper Echelons and Signaling Theory, we analyze a unique, multi-level dataset of 1, 517 U.S. startups founded after the public release of ChatGPT, combined with biographical profiles from 4, 075 founders. The dataset integrates PitchBook funding information with startups’ public communication and executive AI literacy derived from LinkedIn, linking observable AI capability signals with startup financing outcomes. We find that AI literacy significantly increases AI orientation, indicating that managerial cognition shapes strategic direction. However, AI-literate teams do not attract greater investor funding, revealing a paradox between internal capability and external perception. A strong AI orientation enhances cumulative and initial funding, yet interestingly reduces the likelihood of subsequent rounds, highlighting the value of early technical signals and their decay effect over time. Nadarajah, Mukunthan Keil, Samuel Riehl, Kevin Schuller, Jan Bock, Carolin Schiereck, Dirk 2026-05-19 Digital Inclusion and Economic Empowerment of Women Entrepreneurs in Kassala State: Overcoming Barriers to Resilience and Growth https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:128011&r=&r=ent The study examines how digital inclusion shapes the economic empowerment and resilience of women entrepreneurs in Kassala State, Eastern Sudan, using a mixed‑methods design that combines SLMPS 2022 survey analysis with interviews and focus groups. Grounded in a technological capability and inclusive innovation framework, it conceptualizes digital inclusion as meaningful, safe use of technologies for enterprise functions rather than simple access, and constructs a Women’s Economic Empowerment Index (WEEI) to capture empowerment attitudes. Quantitative findings show that education and household wealth are positively associated with empowerment, while age and marriage correlate negatively, and that basic digital access indicators are not robust predictors of empowerment, suggesting that technology alone is insufficient in the absence of key conversion factors such as skills, affordability, and institutional support. Qualitative evidence explains these patterns by revealing widespread “ownership without business use”, with women constrained by high data and device costs; unreliable electricity and connectivity; low digital skills; and gendered norms and reputational fears that limit public-facing online activity, leading them to rely mainly on low-barrier platforms like WhatsApp and Facebook. The study concludes that digital inclusion contributes to women’s economic empowerment in Kassala only conditionally, depending on the interaction between access, individual capabilities, and enabling ecosystem factors, and argues that policy and programme interventions must move beyond access metrics to address these structural and normative constraints. Suliman, Abdulhameed Nihar, Samia Arabi, Zuhair Omer, Namariq Digital inclusion, women entrepreneurs, economic empowerment, technological capabilities, inclusive innovation, Women's Economic Empowerment Index (WEEI) 2026-02-10 Front-of-pack nutrition labeling in Chile: How micro, small and medium-sized food enterprises respond https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipc:idwpen:003&r=&r=ent Jazmín Muñoz Marcos Mora Sofía Boza Israel Klug Maria Xipsiti Ornella Tiboni Front-of-pack nutrition labeling (FOPNL); MSMEs; Food processing; Public policy support; Chile. 2025-12