ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the various types of mobile telephony businesses young people engage in. It draws on extensive fieldwork conducted in the city of Accra with young entrepreneurs working in the sector to identify which mobile telephony businesses young people establish, who the young people are, why they decide to go into such businesses, the various kinds of support available, and young people's aspirations for working in the sector. The chapter led some researchers to describe the phenomenon as having created a "revolution", although the rate of growth has not been uniform across the continent. As the subscriber base of various networks expands, a large informal economy has emerged, providing opportunities for many young people across sub-Saharan Africa to engage in self-employment and entrepreneurship. Influenced by the World Bank and other international development organisations, as well as by global changes within the telecommunications sector, Ghana embarked on a programme to liberalise the sector in the early 1990s.
