Allan Gray Centre for Africa Entrepreneurship (AGCAE)
Postdoctoral Fellowships
About the AGCAE fellowship
The Postdoc will focus on two intellectual projects within the research agenda of the Allan Gray Centre for Africa Entrepreneurship (AGCAE).
Connecten: Connecten, initiated in 2023, seeks to measure and build a regional and national understanding of “ten" conditions that are generally associated with healthy entrepreneurial ecosystems in response to the lack of regional and national data on the same. Lack of data makes it difficult to identify conditions that require support and testing of potential solutions to drive social change. In pursuit of addressing this issue, Allan & Gill Gray Philanthropy South Africa is diligently conducting high-level research on all ten conditions in South Africa, with a vision to cascade this research to the local level through government collaboration. We host a series of Provincial Dialogues with the aim to introduce Connecten to the dynamic players in the entrepreneurial ecosystem within provinces. We do this to foster productive partnerships with municipalities and to collectively develop a comprehensive understanding of all ten conditions within a province. This collaborative endeavour involves close cooperation with various stakeholders, including all district municipalities and district (regional) economic development agencies, chambers of commerce, and other influential business fora. The ultimate objective is to leverage Connecten's insights to inform and shape entrepreneurship-led local economic development. By working hand-in-hand with stakeholders, Connecten envisions empowering municipalities to facilitate impactful solutions and foster local environments conducive to entrepreneurial success and social change. The Postdoc involvement and effort will culminate into co-authorship of two envisioned journal papers along the title lines of “Entrepreneurial Ecosystems and Regional Economic Development in South Africa" and “Custodians of Entrepreneurial Ecosystems in South Africa".
Africa Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Index: We have partnered with Innovation for Policy (I4Policy) in an ambitious effort to understand entrepreneurial ecosystem conditions broadly similar to Connecten at a continental level. The goal is for this research endeavour to lead to an index we could use as first basis for understanding some specific country conditions and subsequent dialogues to foster productive entrepreneurship. We are hoping the Postdoc can complement our efforts with an “African Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Literature Review" that can help us better situate the index from productive entrepreneurship perspectives. This will be an additional knowledge product suitable for top-tier journals as an agenda setting paper contributing to ongoing debates about how to better foster entrepreneurship-led sustainable development in Africa.
Position requirements and application details
Complete application details and position requirments are provided in the position outline and application advert
Contact
Any queries regarding the position can be sent to the host Dr Phumlani Nkontwana at pnkontwana@sun.ac.za
Applications can be submitted to GEM@sun.ac.za.
