My research employed a new methodology that bridged three research perspectives including innovations systems approach, entrepreneurship ecosystem approach, and market system development perspectives. Each of these perspectives provided a powerful contribution that enabled me to synthesise key learnings and bridge them together to identify pathways for entrepreneurship scaling and a framework for scaling legume-based agribusiness.
Insights from the innovation literature highlighted that:
Scaling legumes based entrepreneurship requires;
- Systemic lens that looks through all the players, identifies and work with relevant players with strong business models.
- Capacity development to build key entrepreneurship competencies is an enduring factor that prevents premature business failure.
- Research and development are essential for new knowledge and innovations that are essential for legumes programming, new products, and services development
- Specific entrepreneurship stimulating policies like tax incentives provides scaling legitimacy and guidance of search to legume-based products
- A clear market focus with strong legume products differentiation and promotion is required to stimulate sustained legumes demand
- Strong financial capital and human capital are essential, which necessitates partnerships and innovation platforms.
The entrepreneurship ecosystem approach also corroborates some key aspects for successful scaling as follows;
- Local resources, networks, regulation, institutions, market conditions, culture, and resources including technology shapes the context of entrepreneurship activities.
- Successful entrepreneurship is often associated with a strong, easily accessible financial capital base, and with the presence of supportive and visible investors, and their networks.
- Supporting entrepreneurship should secure or de-risk or blend private capital, or make affordable venture capital accessible to specifically verified productive entrepreneurs and stimulate product’s market demand.
- Agribusiness incubation and acceleration programmes are fundamental for supporting entrepeneurs, and can be a powerful force and pathway for scaling legume-based entreprises.
- Developing core competencies for entrepreneurship management is fundamental to successful scaling.
- Identifying and forming patnerships with key mentors or advisors, associations, incubators, accelerators, private capita sources, government departments and strengthening policy environment is key for providing a suppotive environment for successful scaling
Lastly, the value chain development or market system development perspective also highlighted the following among others;
- Sustrainable legumes value chain development should provide a clear business sense, stimulate interest, and brings positive outcomes for all market players.
- Multi-stakeholder innovation platforms are key for successful entreprenurship scaling
- Legumes-based entrepreneurship can be accelerated through product upgrading (moving into more value-added products), functional upgrading (increases value for money through tasks upgrading) and inter-sectoral upgrading (upgrading into new value-added supply chains).
- Targeting legumes value chain development has a great potential to emancipate and economically empower women as most legumes are women’s crops.
Some Useful References
DEVAUX, A., TORERO, M., DONOVAN, J. & HORTON, D. 2018. Agricultural innovation and inclusive value-chain development: a review. Journal of Agribusiness in Developing and Emerging Economies, 8, 99-123
KOIRA, A. K. 2014. Koira AK, 2014. Agribusiness in sub-Saharan Africa: pathways for developing innovative programs for youth and the rural poor: https://mastercardfdn.org/
HERNÁNDEZ, V. & PEDERSEN, T. 2017. Global value chain configuration: A review and research agenda. BRQ Business Research Quarterly, 20, 137-150
LUNDVALL, B.-Å. 2016. National systems of innovation: towards a theory of innovation and interactive learning. The Learning Economy and the Economics of Hope, 85
NEDA, E. K. 2020. Grain legumes production in Ethiopia: A review of adoption, opportunities, constraints and emphases for future interventions. Turkish Journal of Agriculture-Food Science and Technology, 8, 977-989.
NICOTRA, M., ROMANO, M., DEL GIUDICE, M. & SCHILLACI, C. E. 2018. The causal relation between entrepreneurial ecosystem and productive entrepreneurship: A measurement framework. The Journal of Technology Transfer, 43, 640-673
OSORIO-CORTES, L. E. & LUNDY, M. 2018. Behaviour Change Scale-Up in Market Systems Development-A literature review