Vital entrepreneurial ecosystems: The case of ICT in Yaba, Nigeria

Entrepreneurial ecosystems (EE) are concentrations of urban economic activity where businesses start-up, innovate, grow, and create opportunities for other businesses. Successful cases of EE in cities in the global South call for a contextualisation of the framework to those challenging conditions. We argue that their success results from their vitality, defined by growth and reputation, density and diversity of actors, networks coordinated on trust and resilience. We operationalised the concept of vitality and the EE key factors to search for processes that generate vitality. We grounded the study on the case of Yaba in Nigeria, which figures prominently as a growing ICT EE in Africa. We found three key processes (motivation, compensation, and mobilisation) develop vitality and are intersected by informality and trust. While one single study cannot claim representativeness, attention to these processes can guide EE promotion policies in the global South to gain effectiveness. •The article adapts the Entrepreneurial Ecosystems (EE) framework to the challenges of cities in the global South.•By responding to everyday hurdles, these EE may develop economic vitality, expressed as informal trust networks and diverse concentrations of actors.•Vitality is the key element that promotes the EE so it can overcome some of the weaknesses present in the nine key factors of the framework.•Informal trust networks intersect all interactions and processes, including infrastructure, finance, training provision and political mobilisation.•EE can be used as roadmaps for business development policy if these elements of vitality are adequately integrated in the framework.