ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the importance of small enterprise associations and networks of entrepreneurs will be studied. Fieldwork undertaken in Accra, the capital of Ghana, in 1993, focused on the relation between household poverty and the employment situation of the household members [Alberts and Van Dijk, 1994]. The main objective of the fieldwork was to identify the economic activities in which the urban poor were involved and the problems they face while developing their activities. In this chapter, particular attention will be paid to the importance of factors such as networking and participation in associations by small enterprises for entrepreneurial success. In dealing with these cases, we do not stay at the enterprise level but also analyse the environment of a small enterprise. The analysis is limited, however, to the interactions of enterprises with family, friends, tribe members and other entrepreneurs.
