First, the authors set the scene by exploring the main lines of the present development debate. They take a nuanced stand, not only looking at failures of Western development initiatives, but also going into the internal dynamics of African societies that stand in the way of social and economic development. Next, authors present some case studies of entrepreneurial development initiatives in Kenya. These cases show the difficulties in terms of organization and capacities such initiatives have to deal with and they take into consideration the bigger picture in terms of sector development, regulation, and finally civil society and governance issues. Kenya is caught up between a value set of traditional values adapted to small-scale ethnic societies, which doesn’t exercise its cohesive function like it once did and the modern large-scale and open civil society values, which are not yet fully in place. Authors contend that progress must involve a mutual reinforcement involving combination of entrepreneurial skills and capacities (i.e. initiatives from below and adequate institutionalization and regulation from above).

Abstract