Chapter 8 - A Systemic Review of the Black Entrepreneurship Ecosystem and the Impact of Networks in Advancing Black Entrepreneurship in Canada

A total of 100 published materials including journals and grey literature between 1970 and 2023 were gathered and evaluated. The results indicate four major findings. First, there is an ample amount of literature on the definitions and theoretical conceptualizations of the entrepreneurial ecosystem from dominant economies but fewer studies on the same phenomenon from emerging economies.

Second, formal social networks are a crucial factor to the success of entrepreneurs in general. Third, Black entrepreneurs rely heavily on close kinship ties for their businesses but are not able to fully integrate into the wider Canadian entrepreneurship scene and finally, measurement systems of the entrepreneurship ecosystem focus on revenues and profits as opposed to a multidimensional approach that assesses the social impact of entrepreneurial ecosystems as well.