Determinant Factors of Crowdfunding Success and Its Influence on SMEs in West African Countries

2021 ◽  
Vol 29 (02) ◽  
pp. 109-139
Author(s):  
Djimesah Isaac Edem ◽  
Hongjiang Zhao ◽  
Okine Agnes Naa Dedei ◽  
Duah Elijah

The success rate of crowdfunding has boosted SME growth in developed countries, while the developing nations have not taken advantage of it. This study formulated five hypotheses from some determinants of crowdfunding success, and the outcome demonstrated that all the constructs were supported. The results provided R2 values of the constructs with repercussions on the research proposed model signifying 84.1% variance of crowdfunding success rate for SMEs in the West Africa Region. Using the Important-Performance Matrix Analysis to examine further revealed crowdfunding platform availability had the highest total effect value of 0.890. However, SMEs’ initial capital requirement and duration involved in raising the required funds also affect crowdfunding success rate in terms of performance with an index value of 72.692.

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. p15
Author(s):  
Yeboah Evans ◽  
Yu Jing

With regards to the ongoing development in investment activities in the Economic Community of West African States(ECOWAS) and the entire African continent is because of institutional reforms and initiation of sound investment policies. Foreign direct investment(FDI) inflow and outflow severs as a source of capital formation for most developing and least developed countries. This paper provides an overview and analyses of the flow of FDI to the ECOWAS region by considering 16 nations under this region in determining their performance towards FDI attraction and their contribution to outward FDI across the globe by the use of the quantitative method. The outcome shows that there is a continuous decline in FDI inflow to the ECOWAS region over the past 10 years. The result also proves that Ghana and Nigeria are the major recipients of foreign direct investment inflows in the West African region. The result further indicates that Nigeria is the major contributor of outward FDI from the ECOWAS region. It is recommended that the region should increase its outward FDI.


Author(s):  
Ulrike Gut

This chapter describes the history, role, and structural properties of English in the West African countries the Gambia, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ghana, Nigeria, the anglophone part of Cameroon, and the island of Saint Helena. It provides an overview of the historical phases of trading contact, British colonization and missionary activities and describes the current role of English in these multilingual countries. Further, it outlines the commonalities and differences in the vocabulary, phonology, morphology, and syntax of the varieties of English spoken in anglophone West Africa. It shows that Liberian Settler English and Saint Helenian English have distinct phonological and morphosyntactic features compared to the other West African Englishes. While some phonological areal features shared by several West African Englishes can be identified, an areal profile does not seem to exist on the level of morphosyntax.


2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 191
Author(s):  
Emmanuel Numapau Gyamfi ◽  
Anokye Mohammed Adam ◽  
Emily Frimpomaa Appiah

This article examined convergence of inflation and exchange rates in six (6) West African countries that make up the West African Monetary Zone (WAMZ). A non-parametric rank and score test was employed in the analysis. The results show that inflation and nominal exchange rates of Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone are converging. The findings have practical implications.


2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (02) ◽  
pp. e50-e56 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dieudonné M. Takou ◽  
Alain F. Kamdem Waffo ◽  
Moses K. Langat ◽  
Jean D. Wansi ◽  
Lauren E. Mulcahy-Ryan ◽  
...  

Abstract Cassipourea congoensis (syn. Cassipourea malosana) is used in African countries as a skin-lightening agent. Two previously unreported cycloartane triterpenoids, 26-hydroxy-3-keto-24-methylenecycloartan-30-oic acid 1 and 24-methylenecycloartan-3β,26,30-triol 2 along with the known mahuannin B 3, 7-methoxymahuannin B 4, 7-methoxygeranin A 5, methyl-3-(4-hydroxy-3-methoxyphenyl)-2E-propenoate, glycerol-1-alkanoate, (E)-3-(4-hydroxy-3-methoxyphenyl)prop-2-enal 6 , (-)-syringaresinol 7, and stigmast-5-en-3-O-β-D-glucoside, were isolated from the roots of C. congoensis. The crude extract and compounds 1 and 5 were found to inhibit the production of melanin at 10 µM with low cytotoxicity validating the ethnomedicinal use of this plant.


2019 ◽  
Vol 17 (31) ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph Afolabi Ibikunle

Over half a million females die every year as a result of pregnancy and birth complications. The vast majority of these fatalities can be avoided. SDG 3.1’s objective is to reduce the global maternal mortality ratio by 2030 to below 70 per 100,000 live births. Despite a number of policies put in place maternal mortality in Africa remains unacceptably high. This study investigates the impact of maternal mortal- ity on sustainable development in 9 selected West African countries for the period from 1990 to 2015. Data used were adjusted net savings, maternal mortality, consumer price index, per-capita income and financial development. The second-generation econometric methods were employed: cross sectional dependence, slope homogeneity, Westerlund cointegration, Eberhadt and Teal AMG regression, and the Emirmahmutoglu and Kose bootstrap Granger causality test. Findings confirm the following: First, cross-sectional dependence and slope heterogeneity exist among the West African countries. Second, there is a long run relationship between maternal mortality and sustainable development. Third, maternal mortality impacted negatively and signifi- cantly on sustainable development. Fourth, the direction of causality varies across countries between maternal mor- tality and sustainable development. Lastly, causality runs from maternal mortality to sustainable development when analyzing the causal relationship among all countries. The findings suggest that the West African government needs to commit more funding to the health care sector and ensure access to free healthcare service to pregnant women or at low cost with quality and effective health care services if the countries must attain sustainable development by 2030.


Author(s):  
Benjamin Uchenna Anaemene

From the outset the founding fathers of Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) recognized the relevance of integration in the social sector based on the conviction that intense cooperation in the economic and political sectors alone will not bring about lasting regional integration. For instance, the ECOWAS treaty of 1975 and revised treaty of 1993 had the promotion of social progress and collaboration in the social field as one of the objectives of the community. Yet scholars have not given it the deserved attention. This paper therefore represents an attempt to assess the extent to which the West African Health Organization (WAHO), a specialized health agency of ECOWAS, has contributed to regional health integration in West Africa. It argues that regional integration and cooperation should not be geared solely towards economic and political purposes. It also examines the achievements as well as the major challenges confronting WAHO. It concludes that regional health integration is no longer an option but an imperative for West African countries to meet their common health challenges.  


Open Praxis ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 337
Author(s):  
Clifford Amini ◽  
Oluwaseun Oluyide

The paper posits the Regional Training and Research Institute for Distance and Open Learning (RETRIDAL) as an institution established for the purpose of enhancing Open and Distance Learning in the West African sub-region. The institute has pursued this mandate with an unparalleled vigour since its establishment in 2003 —a partnership of the Commonwealth of Learning and the National Open University of Nigeria. It is the opinion of this paper that enhancing the Open and Distance Learning mode of education in the West African subregion will require building capacity. Consequently, RETRIDAL has championed this cause through workshops and training sessions as well as commissioning research studies in Nigeria and other West African countries. The objective is to produce suitably qualified manpower that is able to utilise ODL to mitigate the exploding demand for access to education in the sub-region. The paper also foresees a future of ODL and RETRIDAL for West Africa, as many universities are keying into the distance education paradigm.


Gragoatá ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 23 (45) ◽  
pp. 24
Author(s):  
Cecilia Addei

Ahmadou Kourouma’s Allah is Not Obliged is a fiction based on the civil wars in the West African countries of Liberia and Sierra Leone as a result of the breakdown of democracy. It employs the point of view of a child narrator, Birahima, a literalist picaro, to narrate wartime atrocities. The novel, mainly a satire, employs the devices of irony and humour that allow Birahima to present his world, which is turned upside down, and morality, reversed, in a way that makes the reader laugh in spite of the horror. The reality of Birahima’s wartime experience, which has left him in a kind of developmental “limbo”, is difficult to believe to be true. However, he makes every effort in his use of language to prove the truthfulness of the absurdity he narrates. This paper considers how the protagonist/narrator Birahima’s entry into war leaves him in an absurd, cyclical limbo while he resorts in frustration to validate his absurd experience through appealing to God, folk wisdom and dictionaries.------------------------------------------------------------------------------------“WALAHÉ!”; “VOCÊ TINHA QUE TER VISTO”: VALIDANDO A VERDADE DOS ABSURDOS DA GUERRA EM ALLAH IS NOT OBLIGED, DE AHMADOU KOUROUMAAllah is Not Obliged, de Ahmadou Kourouma, é uma obra de ficção baseada nas guerras civis nos países da África Ocidental Libéria e Serra Leoa resultantes do colapso da democracia. Através do ponto de vista de um narrador infantil, Birahima, um pícaro literalista, a obra narra as atrocidades da guerra. O romance, essencialmente uma sátira, emprega os recursos da ironia e do humor para permitir que Birahima apresente seu mundo deturpado e sua moralidade invertida de uma maneira que faz o leitor rir apesar do horror. É difícil aceitar como verdade a realidade que Birahima vivenciou na guerra, que deixou o seu desenvolvimento em uma espécie de limbo. No entanto, ele se utiliza da linguagem ao máximo para provar a veracidade do absurdo que ele narra. Este artigo considera como a entrada do protagonista / narrador Birahima na guerra o deixa em um limbo cíclico e absurdo, enquanto ele se frustra para validar sua experiência absurda apelando a Deus, à sabedoria popular e aos dicionários.---Artigo em inglês.


2020 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 27-42
Author(s):  
Richard Akonor ◽  
Jeong Hun Oh

2019 ◽  
Vol 58 (3) ◽  
pp. 621-642 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Bliefernicht ◽  
M. Waongo ◽  
S. Salack ◽  
J. Seidel ◽  
P. Laux ◽  
...  

AbstractSeasonal climate forecasts for an early warning of climate anomalies are produced by regional climate outlook forums (RCOF) worldwide. This study presents a verification of one of the earliest RCOF products, the precipitation outlook for the West African monsoon peak period (July–September). The basis of this outlook is countrywide precipitation forecasts from various statistical (downscaling) models, which are subjectively reinterpreted by experts on the basis of information from observed SST pattern analysis and global forecasts. The forecast quality was analyzed from 1998 to 2013 using a novel database of rain gauge measurements established for several West African countries, among other references. The analysis indicated skill for above normal and below normal on different spatial scales but also showed typical limitations of seasonal forecasting such as lack of sharpness and poor skill for near normal. A specific feature of the RCOF product is a strong overforecasting of near normal, very likely a result of the risk aversion of experts. To better illustrate the usefulness of the outlooks, they were evaluated with respect to a binary warning system by determining the maximum economic value Vmax. This verification indicated moderate valuable precipitation warnings for dry (Vmax = 0.39) and wet (Vmax = 0.34) years for four climatological zones (Sahel, Sudan–Sahel, Sudan, and Guinean) and five river basins (Volta, Senegal, and three Niger subbasins) but with strong regional differences (0.14 < Vmax < 0.54). The bootstrap analysis illustrated large uncertainties, indicating the relevance of uncertainty margins when seasonal forecast products with small sample sizes like RCOF outlooks are evaluated.


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