Publication: Entrepreneurship Ecosystems and MSMEs in Kenya: Strengthening Businesses in the Aftermath of the Pandemic
Loading...
Published
2022
ISSN
Date
2022-10-31
Author(s)
Hernandez Uriz, Zenaida
Editor(s)
Abstract
This report presents a diagnostic of MSMEs and entrepreneurship ecosystems in Kenya. The report is organized in four chapters combining a comprehensive set of information assessing the entrepreneurship ecosystems and MSME performance pre- and post-COVID-19. The assessment of the performance of MSMEs and entrepreneurship as well as the diagnostic of the availability of structural factors to support the ecosystem pre-COVID-19 in Kenya are not only critical to inform policy makers on the challenges burdening entrepreneurs and how the COVID-19 shock has led to additional constraints, but also to highlight potential opportunities that may emerge through the crisis. Chapter 1 examines the context of entrepreneurship and MSMEs in Kenya before the COVID-19 shock. It is based on a conceptual framework that covers indicators of key outcomes and structural pillars of the entrepreneurship ecosystem. Chapter 2 examines the potential and key challenges of entrepreneurship ecosystems at the sub-national level in Kenya. It presents the regional landscape of MSMEs and entrepreneurship in the context of the Kenya’s Economic Blocs, a recent institutional arrangement aiming to facilitate the collaboration across counties through common actions to support economic prosperity. Chapter 3 analyzes the characteristics of and the resources available through public programs and intermediary organizations (IOs) supporting entrepreneurship and MSMEs in Kenya. Chapter 4 examines the impact of COVID-19 on businesses and provides policy recommendations based on the findings of this report.
Link to Data Set
Citation
“Hernandez Uriz, Zenaida; Cruz, Marcio. 2022. Entrepreneurship Ecosystems and MSMEs in Kenya: Strengthening Businesses in the Aftermath of the Pandemic. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/38230 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
Digital Object Identifier
Associated URLs
Associated content
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue
Collections
Related items
Showing items related by metadata.
Publication Revisiting Entrepreneurial Ecosystems(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2022-11)An entrepreneurial ecosystem consists of the set of complementary factors required to start a business with the potential to scale up and innovate in a particular geographic space. This paper develops a framework using an occupational choice model with knowledge-based hierarchies to assess entrepreneurial ecosystems. The framework shows that improving human capital and managerial capabilities would increase the quality of entrepreneurship, while leading to a reduction in the entrepreneurship rate. Similarly, differences in the structure of output markets, endowments, or the business environment would lead to differences in the selection into entrepreneurship and the size distribution of firms. The paper combines these elements and proposes a method to conduct entrepreneurial ecosystem diagnostics that considers the key gaps at the country level, the potential and variation of local ecosystems, and the resources available from public programs and enabling organizations to inform policy recommendations.Publication Developing Entrepreneurial Ecosystems for Digital Businesses and Beyond(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023-10-18)An entrepreneurial ecosystem is characterized by the structure and interactions of organizations, firms, institutions, and individuals in a specific locale that is conducive to entrepreneurship. It can be defined as a set of interdependent actors and factors that are governed in such a way that they enable productive entrepreneurship in a particular territory. The World Bank has developed a new toolkit, Developing Entrepreneurial Ecosystems for Digital Businesses and Beyond, for entrepreneurial ecosystem assessments, including dedicated methodologies and data sets, to nurture digital entrepreneurship. This toolkit builds on the World Bank’s expertise in collecting and analyzing firm-level data, assessing the quality and efficiency of policies that support innovation and small and medium enterprises, and deriving insights from spatial economics to inform subnational analysis. The toolkit consists of six modules: cross-country context analysis, assessing local entrepreneurial ecosystems, digital entrepreneurship and tech start-ups, mapping public programs and intermediary organizations, digital market regulations, and policy options to support entrepreneurial ecosystems.Publication Drivers of Entrepreneurship and Post-entry Performance of Newborn Firms in Developing Countries(World Bank Group, Washington, DC, 2014-10)The aim of this paper is to provide an updated survey of the "state of the art" in entrepreneurial studies with a particular focus on developing countries (DCs). In particular, the concept of "entrepreneurship" is critically discussed, followed by a discussion of the institutional, macroeconomic, and microeconomic conditions that affect the entry of new firms and the post-entry performance of newborn firms. The reviewed literature bears some policy implications for the support of the creation new firms, such as the targeting of policy measures to prospective entrepreneurs who possess high education levels, long previous job experience, and innovative skills. Specifically, for DCs, tailored subsidies and support should be coupled with framework and infrastructural policies that are able to improve the business environment such that new ventures can start and grow.Publication Digital Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Central America(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-12)Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has made the digital revolution more important than ever. A strong entrepreneurial ecosystem is essential for digital revolution. This report assesses entrepreneurship ecosystems in Central America and provides a series of recommendations. The assessment was carried out in four countries of Central America - Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras - and combined a set of analytical instruments. It included an analysis of firm-level micro-data, an analysis of public programs and intermediary organizations to support entrepreneurship, focus groups, and an online survey of more than 2,000 firms on technology use. The findings and the corresponding recommendations also cover challenges that make it difficult for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to digitalize their operations and for start-ups in general.Publication Starting Up Romania(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2022)The report is organized in four chapters that together provide a comprehensive assessment of entrepreneurship and startup performance in Romania. Chapter one examines the context of entrepreneurship in Romania through a cross-country comparison that covers key outcomes and structural pillars of the ecosystem. The analysis exploits both firm-level data and cross-country indicators. Chapter two spotlights the potential of subnational entrepreneurship ecosystems, with a focus on tech startups and high-potential startups. This chapter identifies potential subnational ecosystems and sheds light on the characteristics of average tech startups in Romania, and their similarities to and differences from high-potential startups from Romania. It also includes a connectedness analysis, which helps us understand the relationships between entities in the ecosystem and the regional interdependencies. Chapter three examines the characteristics of public programs and private ecosystem enablers supporting entrepreneurship in Romania. Chapter four presents the policy recommendations stemming from the analysis within the report and juxtaposes them with policy priorities identified by ecosystem stakeholders. This report is complemented by the separate report "Scaling Up Romania: A Policymaker's Toolkit" that outlines stakeholder- and diagnostic-driven policy recommendations for Romania’s National Startup Ecosystem Strategy. See link below.
Users also downloaded
Showing related downloaded files
Publication Sudan Economic Update, May 2025(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-06-09)Almost two years into the conflict that began in April 2023, Sudan remains in a deepening crisis with widespread social and economic consequences. The country is facing a severe humanitarian crisis with the ongoing conflict claiming more than 61,000 lives in Khartoum state alone between April 2023 and June 2024. The conflict has led to the world’s largest displacement, with 12.9 million forcibly displaced, including 8.9 million internally and 3.8 million in neighboring countries including Chad, Egypt and South Sudan. Military operations have caused extensive damage to residential housing across Sudan, particularly in Khartoum, and forced 31 percent of urban households to relocate to other states. The report is structured as follows: part I covers the recent macroeconomic developments; part II focuses on the agriculture sector as a main vehicle for alleviating the impact of the conflict and supporting recovery; and part III concludes by discussing the way forward and offering policy options to support post-conflict recovery efforts.Publication Business Ready 2024(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-10-03)Business Ready (B-READY) is a new World Bank Group corporate flagship report that evaluates the business and investment climate worldwide. It replaces and improves upon the Doing Business project. B-READY provides a comprehensive data set and description of the factors that strengthen the private sector, not only by advancing the interests of individual firms but also by elevating the interests of workers, consumers, potential new enterprises, and the natural environment. This 2024 report introduces a new analytical framework that benchmarks economies based on three pillars: Regulatory Framework, Public Services, and Operational Efficiency. The analysis centers on 10 topics essential for private sector development that correspond to various stages of the life cycle of a firm. The report also offers insights into three cross-cutting themes that are relevant for modern economies: digital adoption, environmental sustainability, and gender. B-READY draws on a robust data collection process that includes specially tailored expert questionnaires and firm-level surveys. The 2024 report, which covers 50 economies, serves as the first in a series that will expand in geographical coverage and refine its methodology over time, supporting reform advocacy, policy guidance, and further analysis and research.Publication The Global Findex Database 2025: Connectivity and Financial Inclusion in the Digital Economy(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-07-16)The Global Findex 2025 reveals how mobile technology is equipping more adults around the world to own and use financial accounts to save formally, access credit, make and receive digital payments, and pursue opportunities. Including the inaugural Global Findex Digital Connectivity Tracker, this fifth edition of Global Findex presents new insights on the interactions among mobile phone ownership, internet use, and financial inclusion. The Global Findex is the world’s most comprehensive database on digital and financial inclusion. It is also the only global source of comparable demand-side data, allowing cross-country analysis of how adults access and use mobile phones, the internet, and financial accounts to reach digital information and resources, save, borrow, make payments, and manage their financial health. Data for the Global Findex 2025 were collected from nationally representative surveys of about 145,000 adults in 141 economies. The latest edition follows the 2011, 2014, 2017, and 2021 editions and includes new series measuring mobile phone ownership and internet use, digital safety, and frequency of transactions using financial services. The Global Findex 2025 is an indispensable resource for policy makers in the fields of digital connectivity and financial inclusion, as well as for practitioners, researchers, and development professionals.Publication Digital Africa(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023-03-13)All African countries need better and more jobs for their growing populations. "Digital Africa: Technological Transformation for Jobs" shows that broader use of productivity-enhancing, digital technologies by enterprises and households is imperative to generate such jobs, including for lower-skilled people. At the same time, it can support not only countries’ short-term objective of postpandemic economic recovery but also their vision of economic transformation with more inclusive growth. These outcomes are not automatic, however. Mobile internet availability has increased throughout the continent in recent years, but Africa’s uptake gap is the highest in the world. Areas with at least 3G mobile internet service now cover 84 percent of Africa’s population, but only 22 percent uses such services. And the average African business lags in the use of smartphones and computers as well as more sophisticated digital technologies that catalyze further productivity gains. Two issues explain the usage gap: affordability of these new technologies and willingness to use them. For the 40 percent of Africans below the extreme poverty line, mobile data plans alone would cost one-third of their incomes—in addition to the price of access devices, apps, and electricity. Data plans for small- and medium-size businesses are also more expensive than in other regions. Moreover, shortcomings in the quality of internet services—and in the supply of attractive, skills-appropriate apps that promote entrepreneurship and raise earnings—dampen people’s willingness to use them. For those countries already using these technologies, the development payoffs are significant. New empirical studies for this report add to the rapidly growing evidence that mobile internet availability directly raises enterprise productivity, increases jobs, and reduces poverty throughout Africa. To realize these and other benefits more widely, Africa’s countries must implement complementary and mutually reinforcing policies to strengthen both consumers’ ability to pay and willingness to use digital technologies. These interventions must prioritize productive use to generate large numbers of inclusive jobs in a region poised to benefit from a massive, youthful workforce—one projected to become the world’s largest by the end of this century.Publication Gender Dimensions of Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining : A Rapid Assessment Toolkit(World Bank, 2012-01-01)Artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) is a global reality. It represents a longstanding and important livelihood for more than 100 million men and women around the world. In some places, communities have practiced it for generations; in other places, the prospect of new mineral finds draws large numbers of people suddenly to mining areas. Whether newly begun or long established, ASM has the potential to help men and women out of poverty when conducted in an informed and responsible way. In different communities, different techniques are used, and men and women share different divisions of labor, risks, and opportunities. ASM assessments, and the recommendations for action arising from these, are critical to the objectives of every ASM stakeholder, whether the large-scale mining (LSM) company seeking to improve the outcomes of its corporate social responsibility programs, a government agency or nongovernmental organization (NGO) seeking to fulfill its policy mandate, a microfinance organization promoting small and medium enterprise development in mining areas, or an association of miners seeking to formalize its activities. The toolkit is comprised of six components: introduction to gender and ASM; the gender and ASM framework; gender and ASM tools; the toolkit in practice; resources; and supplemental CD-ROM.