Special issue editorial: Social innovation and entrepreneurship in Africa

Africa is at a crossroads. On the one hand, it faces numerous intractable sustainable development\r\nchallenges, including widespread and persistent poverty (Schoch & Lakner, 2020),\r\nincreasing competition for resources (Economist, 2020), and the intensifying effects of\r\nglobal climate change (United Nations, 2020). These challenges are exacerbated by the Coronavirus\r\n(COVID-19) pandemic (Paci, 2021). On the other hand, many African economies\r\nare growing rapidly (EY, 2021), whilst over the last decade significant progress has been\r\nmade in governance and sustainable development across the continent (Signe & Gurib-\r\nFakim, 2019). Many African cities have become centers of (social) innovation and entrepreneurship\r\n(FT, 2019), with Africans shaping their own destinies and developing local solutions\r\nto the challenges they face. Perceptions outside Africa are also changing, with the\r\nopportunities and potential of the continent and its peoples increasingly recognized.\r\nThis special issue of the Africa Journal of Management aims to reflect on and speak to\r\nthese transformations. The papers in it present novel empirical and theoretical insights\r\non social innovation and entrepreneurship in Africa, adding to this emerging field and\r\nshowcasing the contributions that research from Africa and utilizing African data can\r\nmake to wider social innovation and entrepreneurship scholarship (George, 2015; George\r\net al., 2016; Rivera-Santos et al., 2015).\r\nSocial innovation and entrepreneurship in Africa are the subject of growing academic\r\nattention (Bitzer et al., 2015; Ciambotti & Pedrini, 2021; Holt & Littlewood, 2017; Littlewood\r\n& Holt, 2018a, 2018b; Mirvis & Googins, 2018; Rivera-Santos et al., 2015; Sottini\r\net al., 2021; Steinfield & Holt, 2019; etc.). Nevertheless, research has struggled to keep\r\npace with rapid developments on the ground and in practice. Scholarship on social innovation\r\nand entrepreneurship in Africa also remains fragmented, with many research questions\r\nunanswered. For this reason, this special issue of the Africa Journal of Management\r\nwas convened.\r\nThe papers in this special issue all contribute to advancing the field of research on\r\nsocial innovation and entrepreneurship in Africa, and to wider social innovation and\r\nentrepreneurship scholarship. In the next section, we review the state of the field. We\r\nthen introduce each of the papers and discuss their contributions. Finally, we explore\r\nareas for further enquiry, building on the perspectives and insights offered by this\r\nspecial issue.