The role of entrepreneurial ecosystems for start-up acceleration in emerging markets

Abstract

Start-ups are an important component of driving context-sensitive sustainable development in emerging markets based on domestic innovation. However, knowledge on how best to support the capabilities, networks and access to finance of such ventures is limited, specifically in emerging markets. In this paper, we leverage novel data from a pan-African start-up accelerator to understand whether and why accelerators are effective. Adopting an entrepreneurial ecosystem lens and conceptualizing accelerators as intermediaries within ecosystems, we test two competing views of accelerator effectiveness: substitution and complementarity. Our results provide support for a complementarity view, where the positive effects of accelerators are higher in more mature ecosystems. We contribute to the literature by drawing attention to the importance of the context within which accelerators are situated, challenging the predominant approach of substituting for missing ecosystem components in emerging markets.