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Transnational Embeddedness of Nigerian Immigrant Entrepreneurship in Ghana, West Africa

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Abstract

Transnationalism has provided an important optic for understanding immigrant entrepreneurship in the past three decades. However, the existing discourse often neglects Africa as a context for the articulation of immigrant entrepreneurship. Leaning on the constructivist epistemology with empirical base anchored in in-depth interviews and observational data, I explore the transnational contours and practices of Nigerian immigrants in Ghana and their entrepreneurial articulation in the country. First, I show how these immigrant entrepreneurs are embedded in multiple layers of transnationalism, namely one-way, two-way, and tripartite transnationalism. Secondly, I demonstrate the ways these entrepreneurial activities are embedded in Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) through the transnational economic opportunity structures it has created and are being exploited by the immigrants and the range of institutions, practices, and services that have emerged because of the existence of ECOWAS itself. A third dimension of transnationalism in the operation of Nigerian immigrant entrepreneurship in Ghana relates to labor recruitment through the traditional apprenticeship system, which, grounded in intersubjective field, crisscross the home and host communities. From these findings, I conclude by positioning the immigrants and their entrepreneurial processes as transnationally embedded.

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Notes

  1. ‘China trade’ is used here as one illustration of the dominance of traders involved in the sale of (Chinese) goods in Ghana. However, interviews revealed that the entrepreneurs sourced their goods from other places outside of Africa, like Dubai, Singapore, UK, and Germany, among others.

  2. All names are pseudonyms to protect subject identities.

  3. On the field, the entrepreneurs shared their experiences in moving goods from Nigeria to Ghana and vice versa. And while complaining about ‘high costs’, it appears that what was considered expensive depended on scale of business the entrepreneurs were involved. It was observed that for many, the cost was either affordable or forced to be affordable through bribery and corrupt practices that involved institutionalized patronage and networks involving government agencies like customs, immigration, and police.

  4. Sourced from the company’s website at http://www.abctransport.com/coachwestafrica.php. Accessed 15 March 2016.

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  1. Department of Sociology, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia

    Thomas Antwi Bosiakoh

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Antwi Bosiakoh, T. Transnational Embeddedness of Nigerian Immigrant Entrepreneurship in Ghana, West Africa. Int. Migration & Integration 21, 1187–1204 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12134-019-00706-8

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