A cornerstone concept for ANDE’s work is that entrepreneurship support programs will be most effective if they embrace an ecosystem approach in their design and implementation.  This approach recognizes that the environment in which entrepreneurs operate is made up of many different factors, including physical, human and financial assets, government policies, networks, and the underlying business culture. It further recognizes that the entrepreneurial environment can vary widely across geographies, even within a single country or state. 

Entrepreneurship has the potential to address gaps in economic growth, stability, and other measures of well-being in nations around the world. Thriving entrepreneurial activity provides more people with access to good jobs and can drive long-term local solutions to economic, social, and environmental challenges.

Entrepreneurs with the ambition to grow their companies might be hurt or helped by the environment or ecosystem in which they operate. Well-developed ecosystems can propel entrepreneurs toward the resources they need at each stage of growth. Ecosystems that are not well-developed may create more barriers to growth.

Approaches to defining entrepreneurial ecosystems vary widely, but ANDE’s synthesis of existing frameworks shows a set of common domains that make up ecosystems, including finance, business support, policy, markets, and human capital. ANDE’s Snapshots explore only the organizations that provide direct support to entrepreneurs, which represent just one element of the complex system.

Many other researchers are exploring entrepreneurial ecosystems across the world.

Like ANDE’s Snapshots, these publications often identify gaps for entrepreneurs, and opportunities to close those gaps.

Africa

Asia

Latin America

Global

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