Abstract

This paper considers what interactive dialogue, or dialogic methodology, can offer in the quest to understand the high failure in African entrepreneurship in the post 2008 financial crisis period. The impact of the method is that it enhances the evaluation of the evidence of actual or perceived disadvantage in BME’s business efforts and categorises these as endogenous and exogenous factors. The findings based on interviews with 20 leaders of ‘dead’ businesses indicate the impact that place, people and poverty (Garner and Bhattacharyya, 2011) has on business success or failure and identify reasons explaining why small African businesses have failed at a higher rate compared to other minorities. Although Altinay and Wang (2011) may be credited with shining light on the impacts of religion on personal values, this study points out an often understated variable, culture, which is critical in understanding the deeper reasons why African small entrepreneurs continue to underperform and its impacts on individual and collective lives. Recovery solutions are formulated from participants’ call for diversification, inter-cultural learning and integration as possible remedies.