Are Northern Practices for Supporting Entrepreneurs Transferable to the South?
The authors explore the question of model transferability from North to South through a case study of a Canadian non-governmental organization (NGO) which supports entrepreneurs in South Africa. The analysis shows that the transfer to the South of an entrepreneurial support model developed in the North has significant limitations because of country specificities. It becomes apparent that adaptations are necessary to ensure the adequacy of the model in the particular context of the targeted country. Success factors and adaptation strategies were identified based on the limitations to transferability. These limitations relate to consideration of the local business sectors, consideration of lenders' and stakeholders' expectations, establishing partnerships with local players, internal capacity building, segmentation of services according to entrepreneur types, activities targeted at entrepreneur service customization and, finally, the use of quantitative and qualitative indicators and the balance between expansion and consolidation of the organization.