At OSE in Africa, we employ a robust, multi-faceted methodology to evaluate and understand the dynamics of entrepreneurial ecosystems across Africa. Our approach integrates advanced tools and frameworks designed to analyze the interconnected nature of these ecosystems, providing valuable insights that drive sustainable growth, innovation, and collaboration.

Our 6 layers of analysis, available on 33 african countries

These data and analysis, allow a complete “Competitive Advantage” analysis of an Entrepreneurial Ecosystem.

Here in detail our most significative contributions :

We begin by conducting Ecosystem Mapping and Evaluation, a crucial step in understanding the various stakeholders and their relationships within an entrepreneurial ecosystem. This process involves identifying and categorizing the key players—incubators, accelerators, investors, institutions, service providers—and mapping their interactions. By doing so, we gain a comprehensive overview of the ecosystem’s structure, uncover potential gaps, and identify opportunities for strengthening collaboration and resource flow across the network.

• Focus: This method evaluates the network in terms of an entrepreneurial ecosystem, identifying actors, their roles, and how they interact within the larger network to create an environment conducive to innovation and entrepreneurship.

• Key Areas: Actor roles (incubators, accelerators, VCs, etc.), value exchange, and the overall health and development of the ecosystem.

The Resource-Based View (RBV) is applied to evaluate the unique resources and capabilities that each organization within a network contributes to the ecosystem. By focusing on the strategic resources—such as intellectual capital, financial resources, and technological expertise—we assess how these resources generate competitive advantages for organizations and the overall network. This approach allows us to understand how resource sharing and access within the ecosystem contribute to innovation, growth, and resilience.

• Focus: RBV can be extended to a network level, where the focus is on the resources and capabilities that each entrepreneurial ecosystem actor brings to the network. The network itself is seen as a resource that provides competitive advantages to the ecosystem at a whole.

• Key Metrics: Resource access, sharing practices, and synergies created through network collaboration.

With Value Network Analysis (VNA), we focus on the flow of value across the ecosystem. VNA helps us examine how value is created, exchanged, and captured by various actors within the network. By mapping these value exchanges, we identify key value creators, assess dependencies, and uncover hidden opportunities for collaboration and co-creation. This analysis provides a clear view of the drivers of innovation and growth within the ecosystem and how organizations can leverage these dynamics to their advantage.

• Focus: This method focuses on understanding how value is created and exchanged across different entrepreneurial ecosystem actors in a network. It looks at value creation from both tangible and intangible resources, such as knowledge or innovation.

• Key Aspects: The flow of value across different entities, dependencies, and network-wide value co-creation.

To understand the long-term behavior of the ecosystem, we employ System Dynamics Modeling. This method allows us to simulate the dynamic interactions and feedback loops within the ecosystem over time. By modeling different scenarios, we can predict the impact of policy changes, external disruptions, and shifts in the network structure. System Dynamics Modeling helps us identify the most effective interventions to foster sustainable development and resilience within the entrepreneurial ecosystem.

• Focus: This method uses techniques to analyze the behavior of interconnected entrepreneurial ecosystems in a network over time, capturing feedback loops and the dynamic evolution of the network.

• Applications: Assessing long-term changes in network structures, such as the emergence or collapse of partnerships, shifts in value flows, or the growth of new sectors.

The mix of Ecosystem Mapping and Evaluation, Resource-Based View (RBV) in Networks, Value Network Analysis (VNA), and System Dynamics Modeling provides a detailed way to connect broad “Macro” analyses, like those from GEM (Global Entrepreneurship Monitor) or GEDI (Global Entrepreneurship and Development Index), with the more specific study of how entrepreneurial activities affect each other.

Here’s why this combination is so valuable:

1. Macro Analysis vs. Micro Insights

Macro-level analyses, like those from GEM and GEDI, typically focus on broad, high-level indicators such as economic conditions, policy frameworks, and general entrepreneurial activity. While these analyses provide useful overviews, they often lack the detailed understanding of how specific actors within an ecosystem interact, create value, or face challenges on the ground.

By integrating Ecosystem Mapping and Evaluation, we provide a detailed, visual representation of the ecosystem’s structure, identifying not only the key actors but also their specific roles, relationships, and resource flows. This offers granular insights into how the macro-environment influences and is influenced by local networks, providing a deeper understanding of the underlying dynamics that drive entrepreneurial activity.

2. RBV in Networks – Identifying Key Resources and Competitive Advantage

While macro analysis provides data on the broad state of entrepreneurship, RBV in Networks focuses on the strategic resources within the ecosystem. By assessing how organizations leverage their unique resources (human capital, financial resources, knowledge, etc.), we identify the competitive advantages that individual actors or groups bring to the ecosystem.

This adds a critical layer of analysis that connects macro trends with the resources that fuel real-world entrepreneurial success. It also highlights where resource gaps may exist or where collaboration could be enhanced to drive innovation.

3. VNA – Understanding Value Creation and Exchange

Value Network Analysis (VNA) deepens our understanding of the flow of value across the ecosystem. Unlike macro models, which aggregate data at a high level, VNA focuses on the tangible and intangible exchanges between organizations—such as knowledge, technology, and financial resources. It identifies how these exchanges drive entrepreneurial outcomes and how value is co-created by multiple players within the ecosystem.

This approach provides an essential bridge between macro conditions (such as policies and overall infrastructure) and the real-world entrepreneurial dynamics. By analyzing the value exchanges, we gain insights into the drivers of innovation, collaborative opportunities, and systemic bottlenecks, which are often missed in broader, macro-level studies.

4. System Dynamics Modeling – Simulating Long-Term Evolution

Finally, System Dynamics Modeling offers the ability to simulate and predict how entrepreneurial ecosystems evolve over time, taking into account feedback loops, delays, and complex interactions between actors. This predictive modeling can identify potential future trends and the impact of policy changes or external disruptions, filling the gap between static macro models and the dynamic realities of entrepreneurial growth.

This tool allows us to project the impact of interventions and understand how changes at the micro level (e.g., a new startup initiative or a shift in funding access) can ripple through the system, creating spillover effects across the entire ecosystem. It provides a dynamic layer of analysis that helps forecast entrepreneurial trends beyond what static, macro-focused analyses can capture.

5. Bridging Macro and Spillover Analysis

In essence, this combined methodology enables a multi-level, integrated approach to understanding entrepreneurial ecosystems. Macro analyses provide the context and broad patterns, while our methodology offers a deeper, more actionable view of the micro-level dynamics that drive entrepreneurial behavior. By mapping these relationships, understanding resource dependencies, and modeling long-term outcomes, we can capture the spillover effects—the unintended consequences and ripple effects—that are often difficult to detect with macro-level data alone.

This enriched analysis makes our methodology particularly valuable for stakeholders such as policymakers, development organizations, and investors, who need to design interventions that are grounded in both the macro trends and the micro dynamics of ecosystems. It supports targeted interventions that address specific network inefficiencies, resource gaps, and collaborative opportunities, thereby enhancing the overall entrepreneurial environment and driving sustainable growth.

By offering this holistic, multi-dimensional analysis, OSE in Africa provides a comprehensive view of entrepreneurial ecosystems that complements traditional macro-level analysis, enabling stakeholders to make more informed, data-driven decisions and fostering an environment that supports entrepreneurial success in the long term.