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Today, social entrepreneurship is considered as a growth driver for emerging countries. This phenomenon that combines economic utility and social efficiency has recently attracted considerable interest in the academic world as well as among public institutions. In Morocco, it is during the last decade we witnessed an infatuation toward this new type of entrepreneurship. Several actors are working today to promote the sector; however, there is a lack of research on their role in developing the ecosystem of the Moroccan social enterprise. Based on a qualitative study, this article aims to map the stakeholders of social entrepreneurship, their missions and their role in creating a favorable environment for the emergence of social entrepreneurs. The results are presented as an exploratory basis.

Poverty levels represent an important indicator of economic development. A widely-held view among scholars is that formal institutions provide the foundation to support entrepreneurial activity that, when robust, can support economic development. Scholars typically examine the influence of specific formal institutions, such as property rights, tax policies, infrastructures, or otherwise. Herein, I seek to complement and build upon this extant research by elaborating a system-level view of institutions. Interfaces, tradeoffs and externalities are discussed as three key characteristics of institutional systems alongside system-level considerations for each of these characteristics (i.e., institutional coordination, cooperation and direction that can take place at interfaces; institutional imbalances that can occur with tradeoffs; and institutional ambiguities and territoriality that can exist because of externalities). I then describe how these system-level considerations influence entrepreneurial activities and the implications for poverty in two illustrative contexts: base-of-the-pyramid markets and entrepreneurial ecosystems. I conclude with a discussion of the intended contributions and implications of this work.

All other parts of the entrepreneurial ecosystem in any country are governed by the political and legal aspects of the system. This study examines the integrated effect of the entrepreneurial ecosystem’s political-legal subsystem on the performance of MSEs based on system theory and the mediating role of entrepreneurial competence, based on a resource-based view. There has been no detailed examination of the entrepreneurial ecosystem of MSEs in Africa in general, and Ethiopia in particular. Although the political-legal aspects of the entrepreneurial ecosystem have a major effect on both entrepreneurial competency and MSE’s performance, the relationship between entrepreneurial competencies and MSE performance was found to be insignificant. The role of entrepreneurial competency in mediating the relationships between policy and business performance and other business environments and business performance was shown to be insignificant. The study suggests that the policies designed by the government for MSEs should be flexible enough to affect other aspects of the entrepreneurial environment, such as the economic and social dimensions. Finally, additional studies in the field are encouraged to clarify the discrepancies in the findings concerning the relationships between entrepreneurial competencies and the performance of SMEs.

This chapter portrays a glance picture of entrepreneurship in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. It begins with an overview of the Saudi context and its development approach. Then, it describes the state of entrepreneurship and maps the Saudi entrepreneurial ecosystem highlighting the challenges and current issues. The chapter concludes by suggesting further development of entrepreneurship research in Saudi Arabia.

In emerging economies, firms, especially Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), have attempted to bolster their competitive positions by incorporating digital technologies, which sees them operate in a broader Digital Entrepreneurial Ecosystem (DEE). The DEE includes varied actors and technologies facilitating digital infrastructure, the Internet, broadband communications, operating systems, and the cloud. However, when it comes to developing economies, knowledge on the nature and components of DEE is limited. Therefore, to fill this research gap, this chapter seeks to accomplish two objectives: (1) identify the different parameters of DEE and (2) determine how these parameters perform according to the perceptions among the ecosystem actors/stakeholders. For this, Bangladesh has been chosen as the empirical ground. Based on the DEE frameworks provided by Sussan and Acs (2017) and Song (2019), data were collected through case studies and face-to-face personal interviews with the entrepreneurs of 10 information and communication technology firms. By delineating the components of the DEE from a developing country, this chapter contributes to the extant literature on digital entrepreneurship and the digital entrepreneurial ecosystem. In addition, this chapter bears practical implications for the ecosystem partners and digital entrepreneurs to leverage the DEE components in improving firm performance.

Women entrepreneurs are brilliant change-makers in societies as they have proven this statement by offering innovative solutions to various problems. Iranian women have contributed to the socioeconomic development of the country and this chapter provides more detailed insights into the history of women’s entrepreneurship and their challenges. Besides, the authors elaborate on the entrepreneurial ecosystem and the role of women entrepreneurs as an integral part of it. Finally, the chapter concludes with some remarks on the future directions of women’s entrepreneurship in Iran.

The growing interest in studying and researching women’s entrepreneurship in Jordan is welcomed as the Kingdom continues to grapple with one of the lowest rates in the world for women’s entrepreneurship, and one of the highest rates for unemployment. To better understand the opportunities, challenges, and prospects for women entrepreneurs in Jordan, this chapter covers the past, present, and future of women entrepreneurs in Jordan. This is achieved by first presenting a contextual overview of Jordan and a historical overview of the development of the entrepreneurial ecosystem in the Kingdom. Secondly, a discussion of the current and maturing entrepreneurial ecosystem, and how it relates to women entrepreneurs operating in the Kingdom, is presented. Third, and finally, the chapter offers a set of potential prospects for the future of women entrepreneurs in Jordan. In doing so, the chapter highlights that the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Jordan began with a “gender neutral” approach assuming that men and women entrepreneurs shared the same barriers, challenges, and opportunities. However, as it developed, there was a growing awareness of the lack of engagement from women entrepreneurs, which led to an awareness of gendered barriers to women’s entrepreneurship and business growth. Strategies and remedies have been activated to address this, but this could be too little, too late.

This chapter aims to understand the development of women entrepreneurship in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). It provides a historical overview of the KSA and examines the entrepreneurial ecosystem and implications for women entrepreneurship in the country. The chapter highlights the deep transformation that the country has undertaken in all business sectors since the announcement of the 2030 vision of the Kingdom. The chapter concludes with a look toward the future of the KSA as it progresses to achieve its objectives for the next decade.

Women’s entrepreneurship in Syria is highly affected by its historical facts and the wars that affected the business environment. This chapter tries to shed light on the history of entrepreneurship, especially women’s entrepreneurship, in the country. Then, the authors add more details about the entrepreneurship ecosystem and relevant issues. Afterwards, the chapter explains the evolution of women’s entrepreneurship and the challenges that can affect its trend. Finally, the authors mention some critical issues to improve women’s entrepreneurship in Syria.