Exploring Multi-Dimensional Events Characterizing Tech Start-Up Emergence in the Nigerian Entrepreneurial Ecosystem

TL;DR

This paper investigates the multi-dimensional process of tech start-up emergence in Nigeria, highlighting interdependent events like opportunity discovery, team formation, and market testing within a complex, uncertain environment.

Contribution

It introduces a multi-dimensional perspective on tech start-up emergence, integrating interdependent events and challenging the linear, unidimensional view common in prior studies.

Findings

Identified key interdependent events in start-up emergence.

Highlighted the importance of a multi-dimensional, iterative process.

Provided insights into Nigerian tech start-up ecosystem dynamics.

Abstract

Most countries across the globe identify technology-based start-ups as a driving force for job creation, economic growth and national development, and a critical tool for economic sustenance during pandemic crises like covid-19. However, its emergence are been argued to be problematic. Especially in a developing economy like Nigeria, where tech start-up founders are faced with diverse form of constraints and environmental uncertainties. Extant literature indicated that studies are been conducted to explain tech start-up emergence. However, such studies are fragmented with findings that are determinants to tech start-up emergence, with several determinants studied in isolation, and the emergence as linear and unidimensional events. Consequently, neglecting multi-dimensional perspective, which aggregate the dimensions of events characterizing tech start-up emergence. Given the iterative, event-based process, and interactive-dependent nature of tech start-up ventures to create activity-based products/services in an open, uncertain, nonlinear and dynamic environment, we argue that little are been known about tech start-up emergence. Thus, by drawing from synthesize literature review, activity theory, and exploratory case study design we identify opportunity discovery and selection; team formation and domain consensus; bootstrapping; minimum viable product development and market experimentation feedback as interdependent multi-dimensional events constituting tech start-up emergence in Nigerian tech start-up ecosystem.