4 - Unleashing Popular Entrepreneurship

Summary

Economic restructuring unleashed a whirlwind of economic change in Nigeria that dramatically reshaped the informal as well as the formal economy. Igbo commercial networks, which had proved an impressive source of entrepreneurial development in the face of repeated historical obstacles, found themselves confronted with the formidable new challenges of liberalization and globalization. The question to be raised here is whether neo-liberal economic reforms unleashed or undermined the developmental capacity of Igbo informal manufacturing networks. Addressing this issue calls for empirical attention to the actual impact of economic reforms on informal enterprise, rather than simply assuming that positive or negative economic outcomes are the best indicators of whether informal economic networks constitute social capital or social liabilities.

This chapter will trace the effect of Nigeria's structural adjustment policies on the Aba shoe and garment clusters, focusing on changes in the organization of production, supply and marketing networks. Have these enterprise networks been able to promote productive development in an environment of liberalization and formal sector crisis? To what extent have Igbo cultural institutions acted as assets to or as constraints on the ability of the two clusters to meet the challenges of economic restructuring? Have neo-liberal economic reforms unleashed a process of ‘development from below’ or have they served to intensify processes of informalization and marginalization that have plagued Igbo informal enterprise since colonial times?