Seminar: Entrepreneurs by the grace of God - Rethinking policies to promote entrepreneurship among the poor

In this Africa Today seminar, Merel van 't Wout, winner Africa Thesis Award 2015, will take a closer look at efforts to promote entrepreneurship as a development strategy. Based on the stories of seamstresses in Bolgatanga (Ghana) she argues that there is a huge discrepancy between the theoretical arguments underlying efforts to advance entrepreneurship among the poor, and the everyday realities that people portrayed as “entrepreneurs” are facing on a daily basis. There are four cross-cutting issues that will be discussed. These issues are not only relevant for the situation of seamstresses in Bolgatanga, but also apply to a wider field. These issues are: the weak conceptualization of entrepreneurship in development discourse, the neglect of the socio-economic context in which "entrepreneurial" activities take place, the importance of cultural and psychological factors, and the ongoing attractiveness that entrepreneurship carries for development policymakers.This seminar is an appeal to rethink policies designed to promote (female) entrepreneurship among the poor. It calls into question the portrayal of self-employment as "entrepreneurship" and the depiction of poverty as an individual problem.

With her MA thesis Entrepreneurs by the grace of God: Life and work of seamstresses in Bolgatanga, Ghana, Merel van 't Wout won the Africa Thesis Award 2015. In the seminar of today the chair of the jury will read the jury report.