The role of ecosystem for entrepreneurship development in Sudan

Purpose The components of the ecosystems differ from one ecosystem to another. The purpose of this paper is to identify the components of entrepreneurial ecosystem and investigate its role in entrepreneurship development in the Sudanese manufacturing sector. Design/methodology/approach The current study is explanatory in nature and designed to be cross-sectional, using a quantitative approach. Questionnaires were used to collect data from a stratified sample, ten industrial subsectors drawn from the total population of the study. It includes 106 manufacturing firms, all located in Khartoum State. Data are analyzed with help of exploratory factor analysis and multiple regression model. . Findings Among the major findings is that the relationship between the entrepreneurial ecosystem and entrepreneurship development was found to be significant in six factors, namely: finance, government policy, human capital, infrastructure, research and development and innovation and regulatory framework, whereas it was insignificant in three factors, namely; culture, market and support services. These former factors explain 65.8% of the variation in entrepreneurship development. Research limitations/implications The cross-sectional nature of the study entails that its conclusions be limited to relevant parties. Practical implications In conclusion, a broad process to develop entrepreneurship ecosystem initiatives is proposed alongside the crucial roles that governments and other stakeholders should play. Originality/value This paper provides the most influential factors in the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Sudan. The study will be among the first studies that focuses on evaluating the existing entrepreneurial ecosystem in Sudan, given that relatively little systematic efforts have been devoted to examine the relationship between ecosystem and entrepreneurship development in Sudan.