Factors Stimulating Entrepreneurship

The World Bank, the World Economic Forum, the Heritage Foundation, and other global organizations have studied national business climates to determine optimal conditions and practices necessary to stimulate entrepreneurship and economic growth. This chapter compares select measures from the three organizations from six West African countries (Benin, Cote d'Ivorie, Ghana, Liberia, Senegal, and Sierra Leone) and benchmarks their results against the United States and an unweighted average of six European Union member states. These measures are most directly tied to the establishment, protection and sustainable growth of technology or technology-dependent entrepreneurial businesses: business freedom, investment freedom, investor protection, property rights protection, technological readiness, innovation, freedom from corruption, and access to risk capital. This chapter contributes to the literature in three ways. First, it provides a broad policy comparison. Second, it benchmarks entrepreneurial readiness climates via comparisons among emerging and developed markets. Lastly, it offers recommendations for policy makers and researchers.