Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Value Chain: Configurations Driving Entrepreneurial Dynamics for African Growth

Abstract

This chapter examines the dynamics of entrepreneurial ecosystems across seven MENA countries—Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain. The authors integrate network analysis, the resource-based view, the VRIO framework, and fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis to identify configurations of conditions associated with higher entrepreneurial outcomes, proxied by new business density. The authors show how network structure (cohesiveness, interconnectivity, proximity) and the availability of support services (e.g., funding, legal, prototyping, testing, sales) jointly shape entrepreneurial performance. Beyond a country-level lens, the authors introduce a sector-sensitive approach that disaggregates support services by industry (e.g., ICT, health, green/energy, manufacturing, creative industries) to capture contextual variation in needs and complementarities. The findings underscore the value of tailored policies that target bottlenecks in specific service bundles and sectors, and they offer a practical template to track complementarities over time.