Minority entrepreneurs and firm performance in sub‐Saharan Africa
研究比较了撒哈拉以南非洲四国中本土非洲裔与亚裔或欧裔企业家所办企业的增长差异，发现少数族裔企业起步更大且增长更快，而本土企业家的教育水平能弥补网络劣势。
This study focuses on the role of entrepreneurs in the private sector in sub‐Saharan Africa. Using data from the Regional Program on Enterprise Development (RPED) and controlling for various factors, our analysis compares growth rates of indigenously owned African firms with firms owned by entrepreneurs of Asian or European descent, in Kenya, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Tanzania. We find that after controlling for firm size and age, various entrepreneurial characteristics, and sector and country differences, minority (or non‐indigenous) entrepreneur firms start out larger and grow significantly faster than indigenously‐owned African firms. Our results are consistent with theories that argue that informational and financial networks created by minority entrepreneurs provide access to credit, information, and technology for members of these networks. We also find that within indigenously‐owned African firms, entrepreneurs with secondary and/or university education realise a higher rate of growth; access to education presumably enables indigenous African entrepreneurs to develop managerial skills that serve as a substitute for the informational and financial networks created by minority entrepreneurs.