From Survival to Growth: Unleashing the Entrepreneurial and Small Business Development Through Innovation in Sub-Saharan Africa

This study examines how institutional innovation programs foster the transition of small businesses in Sub-Saharan Africa from survival to scalable entrepreneurial ventures. Using a mixed-methods framework and 720 region-years of data (2010–2024), we evaluate both direct program impacts and broader ecosystem spillovers through difference-in-differences models, spatial lag analysis, and instrumental variable techniques. Robustness was assessed with placebo tests, entropy balancing, and threshold analysis. The results show that the Boost Africa initiative increased crowdfunding activity by 42.8%, with 36% of the effects spilling over into neighboring regions. Impacts peaked in the third year and were significantly enhanced by mobile money penetration. Sectoral analysis indicates that fintech interventions delivered the highest returns, while equity investments consistently outperformed grants. Methodologically, the study integrates formal (crowdfunding) and informal (mobile money) sector metrics, applies historical missionary settlements as instruments, and quantifies spatial spillovers—offering a novel framework for assessing ecosystem-wide effects. The findings highlight how blended finance, when paired with digital inclusion, can catalyze systemic entrepreneurial growth, providing actionable guidance for optimizing intervention design and timing in emerging economies.