The hero's return? The figure of the entrepreneur: How a concept has evolved within development institutions in Africa

In recent years, the figure of the entrepreneur in Africa has been the subject of renewed interest. Scientific, political, and media discourse focusing on the value of entrepreneurship, and active mechanisms to promote the latter have been spreading against the backdrop of various promises (fighting against poverty and global warming, driving the transition to digital technology, empowering women, etc.). Such prominence in discourse begs the question: why has the quasi-heroic figure of the entrepreneur returned? This article aims to shed light on the way in which the pro-entrepreneurial rhetoric has been constructed and has evolved within international development institutions, and to illustrate how it has materialized in contemporary academic debates on entrepreneurship in Africa and what dominant ideal type of the entrepreneur has emerged from it.