Entrepreneurs with Disabilities Need Attention Too!

This study addresses entrepreneurship among persons with disabilities in Uganda and potential to contribute to economic development.Using mixed research methods, we interviewed Entrepreneurs with Disabilities (EWDs) in Kampala in order to learn more about their operating environment, busines endeavours, motivations, challenges and growth aspirations

Resource constraints and sustainable entrepreneurship in sub-Saharan Africa: An effectual view

The study seeks to explain how sustainable entrepreneurship occurs in a resource constrained setting. This is important as it improves our understanding of how entrepreneurs respond to adversity and develop opportunities that jointly address the social, environmental and economic dimensions of entrepreneurship. Previous research has discussed the antecedents, outcomes and contextual conditions that drive sustainable entrepreneurship. However, what is absent from this growing research body is knowledge of the mechanisms through which individuals engage in this type of entrepreneurship. The study seeks to answer the following research question: “How do individuals faced with resource constraints engage in sustainable entrepreneurship?” Using effectuation as a lens, a multi-method qualitative approach based on multiple case studies was adopted in this research and a mix of inductive and deductive analyses, also referred to as abductive analysis was employed. A sample of 5 sustainable enterprises were purposively selected in Uganda, located in sub-Saharan Africa. The results show that resource constraints compel the entrepreneurs to seek expertise and resources from others with mutual goals while controlling expenses. In the process the entrepreneur learns and adapts to the emergent opportunity. The entrepreneur’s actions are further influenced by passion that sustains the activity in the face of challenges. In this research, sustainable entrepreneurship is further explicated showing that the social, economic and environmental objectives exist in a state of shifting, supportive interaction of one another. The study clarifies our understanding of how entrepreneurs cope with inadequate resources. It explains the mechanisms through which individuals contending with resource constraints employ control as opposed to prediction strategies to exploit entrepreneurship opportunities. In this way the study contributes to the literature by proposing the fusion of cognitive and affective dimensions in realizing sustainable entrepreneurship goals. The study further suggests that the multiple objectives that typify the pursuits of sustainable entrepreneurs serve as supportive mechanisms and this puts into question arguments that these firms face comparatively larger challenges than those that singularly pursue economic objectives.Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2018.Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS)PhDUnrestricte

Entrepreneurs with Disability in Uganda

This report addresses entrepreneurship activity among Persons with Disability in Uganda and their potential to contribute to economic development.

Understanding Women Micro and Small Business Entrepreneurs in Uganda

This report focuses on micro and small entrepreneurial activity among women in Uganda. We present and discuss findings that were adduced on the entrepreneurial environment, motivations, aspirations and challenges of women entrepreneurs

An effectuation approach to sustainable entrepreneurship

PURPOSE : This paper aims to explain the occurrence of sustainable entrepreneurship in the underresearched sub-Saharan Africa context and to improve the understanding of how effectuation manifests in this context. DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH : This study uses a qualitative research approach based on multiple case studies. Responses were sourced from owners, employees, suppliers, the community and customers of sustainable entrepreneurial firms. Data collection methods included in-depth interviews, document reviews and observations. The Gioia analytical approach was used. FINDINGS : Overall, the authors find the concept of effectuation to be well-suited to capturing the processes through which individuals with limited means seek to engage in sustainable entrepreneurship. The authors also identify three pervasive practices that are key to understanding effectuation in the developing country context: complementation of indigenous knowledge with modern science, compassion and pluriactivity. PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS : This study underscores the importance of co-creation, diversification of revenue sources and the role of emotional awareness and interpersonal skills in entrepreneurial endeavors. ORIGINALITY/VALUE : This study, therefore, contributes new knowledge about the mechanisms through which entrepreneurs faced with resource constraints use control as opposed to prediction strategies to exploit sustainable entrepreneurship opportunities. In so doing, this study contributes to entrepreneurship theory by proposing the integration of cognitive and affective dimensions in realizing sustainable entrepreneurship goals.https://www.emerald.com/insight/publication/issn/2053-4604hj2024Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS)SDG-08:Decent work and economic growt

Rural Youth Entrepreneurs in East Africa: A View from Uganda and Kenya

This report is a result of a project titled Entrepreneurship empowering marginalized groups. The project was made possible through funding from the IDRC Trust Africa Investment Climate and Business Environment- Research Fund. The overall objective of the project was to explore the entrepreneurship initiatives that marginalized groups which included women, rural youth and the disabled are engaged in

Impact of Nyiragongo volcanic eruptions on the resilience to the COVID-19 and Ebola in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

For decades, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has been vulnerable to disasters. The most dangerous Nyiragongo volcanic eruption posed a threat to the country, particularly the city of Goma. The explosions on 22 May 2021 caused unfathomable damages, with loss of lives, properties, and the destruction of homes, displacing thousands of people, with thousands of children being left vulnerable as a result. Furthermore, it charred health and school infrastructures and decimated crops, an issue in the population where the COVID-19 has exacerbated the existing fragile health system. Importantly, these eruptions posed a challenge when DRC struggled to end COVID-19 and Ebola through surveillance, preventive measures, and vaccination. It is doubtless that priorities of the emergency have interrupted the surveillance system, thus increasing exposure to the COVID-19 and Ebola transmission. It is critical to provide basic needs to victims of the Nyiragongo volcanic eruptions in the aftermath of such a disaster. Local and global humanitarian organizations are needed to assist residents in relocating. Furthermore, appropriate and adjusted mitigation strategies will significantly prevent Ebola, COVID-19, and other infectious diseases. In this paper, we discuss the impacts of the volcanic eruption on population health and Ebola preparedness and response in the context of the global COVID-19 outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Alchemical Gold and the pursuit of the Mercurial Elixir: An analysis of two alchemical treatises from the Tibetan Buddhist Canon

This article focuses on the analysis of two Tibetan treatises on iatrochemistry, The Treatise on the Mercurial Elixir (Dngul chu grub pa’i bstan bcos) and the Compendium on the Transmutation into Gold (Gser ’gyur bstan bcos bsdus pa). These texts belong to the rasaśāstra genre that were translated from Sanskrit into Tibetan by Orgyenpa Rinchenpel (O rgyan pa Rin chen dpal, 1229/30–1309) and integrated into the Tibetan Buddhist Canon of the Tengyur (Bstan ’gyur). The treatises deal with the processing of mercury, which is indispensable to convert metals into gold (gser ’gyur) and to accomplish the ‘mercurial elixir’ (dngul chu’i bcud len). The texts start with the description of a ‘pink-coloured’ (dmar skya mdog) compound, which is described as the amalgam of ‘moonlight-exposed tin’ (gsha’ tshe zla ba phyogs), gold, and copper. According to the texts, mercury has to be ‘amalgamated’ (sbyor ba) with ‘minerals that devour its poisons’ (za byed khams) and with ‘eight metals that bind it’ (’ching khams brgyad); at the same time, mercury is cooked with ‘red substances’ (dmar sde tshan) and other herbal extracts, types of urine and salts, and reduced to ashes. Starting with an outline of the earliest Tibetan medical sources on mercury, I analyse the two treatises with regard to their entire materia alchemica and the respective purification methods aimed at ‘obtaining essences’ (snying stobs), which are then to be absorbed by mercury. I argue that the two thirteenth-century treatises were particularly significant in the process of consolidating pharmaceutical practices based on mercury and the merging of alchemical and medical knowledge in Tibet