Mutual Aid Economy: Exploring the Locally Generated Venture Capital Approach in Igbo Business Industrial Clusters

Recently, there is an increasing academic and practitioner interest on the Igbo ethnic group, their business activities and how they have utilised industrial clusters to drive local industrial development in the southeast region of Nigeria and the country at large. However, there are relatively few studies that have explored the mechanisms driving this development. Our chapter focuses on explicating the Igbo business industrial clusters and its inherent locally generated venture capital approach built on the Igbo traditional culture and philosophy. We draw on previous literature to show the three phases: assessing competency, providing the start-up capital and continuous replication process involved in creating and sustaining the locally generated venture capital approach as operated by Igbo business industrial clusters. We contend that overall, this approach has the potential to drive modern business and industrial policies for driving entrepreneurial start-ups, innovation, and economic sustainability. We conclude our chapter by highlighting the implications for Africa, African business practices and areas for future studies.