Yusuf Akinwale

The economic turbulence in the last two decades and the Covid-19 pandemic have impaired several economies, heightened unemployment, and worsened job loss and socio-economic hardships. Promoting entrepreneurship inclusiveness has become a critical strategy to revamp the economy. Meanwhile, the global economy has been projected to grow faster with an increase in women entrepreneurs. However, there seems to be a gender gap and differential in start-ups, which draws down women’s inclusion in the business environment. This study examines the gender differential in entrepreneurial interest and practice among 12,485 university students in Nigeria. The results reveal that 88% of male and 84% of female students want to start their own businesses. Both males (66%) and females (65%) reported high entrepreneurial interest, with no statistically significant difference between both genders. The logistic regression analysis shows that entrepreneurship education, relational support, risk-taking, self-efficacy, university ecosystem, and attitudes toward behavior are the main drivers of entrepreneurial interest among male and female students. However, the university ecosystem is found to not significantly affect entrepreneurial interest among male students. Similarly, all factors except for the university ecosystem significantly influence entrepreneurial practice among male and female students. However, relational support is not statistically significant for female students. The study concludes with appropriate policy suggestions that could improve and sustain entrepreneurship interest and practice in both male and female students.

A circular economy has become an innovative business model, though contentious, to replace a linear economy in achieving sustainable and efficient production. This study aims to investigate the level of awareness, adoption, and effect of factors driving the circular economy adoption on the financial performance of micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in Saudi Arabia. The survey was conducted among 301 MSMEs, and the method of logistic regression was utilized for its analysis. The results revealed that the level of awareness is averagely high, with an average of seven out of 10 enterprises. However, the outcome further showed that only an average of three out of 10 had implemented a circular economy during the period of the survey. In addition, logistic regression revealed the significant influence of drivers of circular economy adoption on the financial performance of MSMEs. The following drivers of circular economy adoption have a great likelihood and significant effect on the enterprise’s financial performance: training of employees, availability of financial resources, top management commitment, digital technology, product/service upgrade, material generated/buy back cheaper to use, and pressure from people. This is based on the outcome of logistic regression of the survey conducted on the factors driving circular economy adoption in the previous literature. However, the results revealed that regulatory incentives toward the environment and pressure from government and companies are not significant. Hence, this study provides policy implications for stakeholders in the circular economic system.