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The purpose of this paper is to examine the intersection of formality, informality, structures of power, gender, and social norms in the mobile telecommunication industry in Cameroon, and to investigate the reasons for the over-representation of informal self-employed women at the base of the mobile telecommunication industry in the country.

This is a qualitative study using interviews and observations.

Cameroon’s mobile telecommunication industry is a “spaghetti bowl” where formality, informality, gender, structures of power, and social norms are intertwined. In Cameroon’s mobile telecommunication industry, there is no static division between formality and informality, rather, there is a connection between formality and informality to ensure the unity and totality of the airtime credit distribution system. Self-employment in the mobile telecommunication industry is gendered.

Analysing the intersection of gender, class, formality, informality, social norms, and structures of power in the functioning of the mobile telecommunication industry in the Cameroon is original.

The purpose of this paper is to introduce a multi-layered theoretical framework to enable engaged scholarship to develop as a practice in entrepreneurship and small business research. To do so, it illuminates the salient features of engaged scholarship, collaborative learning and actor-network theory (ANT).

The paper follows a narrative or traditional literature review design. Specifically, it adopts a thematic approach for summarising and synthesising a body of literature on engaged scholarship, collaborative learning and ANT with the view to develop a new multi-layered theoretical framework.

Applying the theory of engaged scholarship to pivot entrepreneurship/SME research provides scholars with an opportunity to unlock the theory vs practice paradox. Moreover, engaged scholarship offers valuable instructions for encouraging interactionism between entrepreneurship researchers and practitioners as well as reconcile their polarised views. Co-production and co-creation of knowledge addresses the concerns often raised by the practitioner community regarding the relevance and applicability of academic research to practice.

The proposed multi-layered framework provides entrepreneurship researchers, and the practitioner community with a taxonomy to use to encourage a joint approach to research. Developing deep partnerships between academics and practitioners can produce outcomes that satisfy the twin imperatives of scholarship that can be of high quality as well as a value to society.

The paper advances the theory and practice of engaged scholarship in new ways that are not common in entrepreneurship/SME research. This enables engaged scholarship to develop as a practice in entrepreneurship and small firms’ research. Through applying the proposed multi-layered framework in research, academics can deliver fully developed solutions for practical problems. The framework is useful in the theory vs practice and entrepreneurship researchers vs practitioner debates.

This study examines the environmental effects of foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows and economic growth by revisiting the pollution haven and EKC hypotheses in the context of Africa.

The underlying relationships are unravelled with the help of quantile regressions for a panel of 46 African countries over the 1996–2022 period.

The results show that FDI inflows significantly increase CO2 emissions, supporting the pollution haven hypothesis (PHH) in Africa. There is also evidence of the N-shaped EKC hypothesis. When analysing different income groups, PHH and EKC remain consistent, except in low-income countries where only PHH is observed. However, the environmental impact of FDI inflows and economic growth decreases at higher quantiles. These findings suggest that policymakers in Africa should strengthen environmental regulations and adopt common environmental standards that encourage green technologies.

This study fills an empirical research gap by comprehensively examining the relationship between FDI, economic growth, and environmental degradation in African countries. Unlike previous studies focused on the inverted U-shaped EKC, our research reveals the existence of an N-shaped EKC in Africa.

This study aims to examine the effects of energy transition on pollution emissions in Africa. In addition, it explores the indirect channels through which energy consumption impacts environmental quality.

The study uses system Generalised Method of Moments approach for a panel of 51 developing African countries over the 1996–2020 period.

The results show that fossil fuel and renewable energy consumption increase pollution emissions. The environment-degrading effect of renewable energy in Africa is however counter-intuitive, though the results are robust across regional economic blocks and income groups except for upper-middle-income countries where energy consumption is environment enhancing. Moreover, the results show that the environmental impacts of non-renewable energy consumption are modulated through financial development and information and communication technology (ICT) adoption, leading to respective positive net effects of 0.04460796 and 0.07682873. This is up to respective policy thresholds of 203.265 and 137.105 of financial development and ICT adoption, respectively, when the positive net effects are nullified.

Contingent on the results, the study suggests the need for African countries to develop sound financial systems and encourage the use of green technologies, to ensure that energy transition effectively contributes to emissions reduction. Policymakers in Africa should also be aware of the critical levels of financial development and ICT, beyond which complementary policies are required for non-renewable energy consumption to maintain a negative impact on environmental degradation.

Firstly, extant studies on the nexus between energy transition and environmental degradation in Africa are very sparse. Therefore, this study fills the existing research gap by comprehensively examining the effects of energy transition on pollution emissions across 51 African economies. Additionally, besides accounting for the direct environmental effects of energy transition, the current study accounts for the indirect channels through which the environmental impacts of energy transition are modulated. Hence, this study provides critical thresholds for the policy modulating variables, which enlighten policymakers on the necessity of designing complementary policies once the modulating variables attain the established thresholds.

The chapter looks for the conditions of a contribution of microcredit to poverty alleviation.

It uses socioeconomical hypotheses for defining a direct and fast positive effect of microcredit on the income of the poorest. The contribution raises ten issues or conditions at a micro, meso and macro level.

It is not often that these ten conditions are all completely met. So, the impact of microcredit is generally low as regards the alleviation of poverty. The problems to achieve them are linked to the specificities of the clients and of the prevailing institutions in various sub-Saharan Africa countries.

The chapter clearly identifies the limits of microcredit and their reasons.