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Source: Journal Citation ReportsTM from ClarivateTM 2022

Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Issues Open access
Journal Impact FactorTM (2022) 1.7
Journal Citation IndicatorTM (2022) 0.42
Received: 2022-03-25  |  Accepted: 2022-05-15  |  Published: 2022-06-30

Title

Female social entrepreneurs in Africa creating social value through innovation


Abstract

The objectives of the study were to identify the types and levels of innovations and the business categories of Female Social Entrepreneurs in Africa (FSEAs) and to determine how these FSEAs create social value in their societies. The database of Ashoka, an international organisation promoting exceptional social entrepreneurs, known as changemakers, were used to identify 142 FSEAs from 20 African countries. Schumpeter’s (1939) typology of innovation and Hamel and Breen’s (2007) hierarchy of innovation were used to determine the type and social value created and the FSEAs’ contribution to society. The results indicate that at 85%, most FSEAs have post-school qualifications, of which 43% have a degree and 24% post graduate qualifications. The business categories of the majority of FSEAs are in Education and Learning (30), Development and Prosperity (30), and Health and Fitness (21). Furthermore, the Schumpeterian type of innovation of the majority is Opening of New Markets (78) and Introduction of New Products or Services (46). The Hamel and Breen’s level of innovation of the majority of FSEAs is Product and Service Innovation (114). We found that the FSEAs identified and addressed important challenges in their communities through various types of innovation. This process created valuable social contributions to their communities, the broader society and, in some instances, other African countries.


Keywords

Africa, female, innovation, social entrepreneurs, social value


JEL classifications

O35


URI

http://jssidoi.org/jesi/article/969


DOI


Pages

225-242


Funding

Acknowledgements for their financial contribution to make the research and publication possible: Department of Higher Education and Training-National Research Foundation South African Research Chairs Initiative in Entrepreneurship Education.

This is an open access issue and all published articles are licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

Authors

Nieuwenhuizen, Cecile
University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa https://www.uj.ac.za
Articles by this author in: CrossRef |  Google Scholar

Journal title

Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Issues

Volume

9


Number

4


Issue date

June 2022


Issue DOI


ISSN

ISSN 2345-0282 (online)


Publisher

VšĮ Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Center, Vilnius, Lithuania

Cited

Google Scholar

Article views & downloads

HTML views: 1476  |  PDF downloads: 704

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