Title: Another determinant of entrepreneurship: the belief in witchcraft and entrepreneurship

Authors: Felix Pauligard Ntep, Wilton Wilton

Addresses: Montpellier University, Montpellier, Cedex 2, France. ' UUNZ New Zealand, Auckland, New Zealand

Abstract: Interviews were carried out with entrepreneurs of Douala, Cameroon. These entrepreneurs believed that witchcraft existed and could bring harm to them and their enterprises. Hence, their entrepreneurship was affected to various degrees depending on how strongly they believed in the phenomenon. It was established that some entrepreneurs had been forced to migrate from their families and friends as a way of running away from those who could bring them harm. Due to the fear of attracting witchcraft, some entrepreneurs have had to hide their success or have preferred to remain small rather than to be visually successful. Some have not sought managerial solutions to improve the performances of their enterprises; rather they have left their success and failure to the supernatural, including ancestral spirits and witchcraft.

Keywords: Cameroon; Douala; witchcraft; family support; supernatural phenomenon; ancestral spirits; ghosts; managerial solutions; business performance; beliefs; success; failure; small and medium-sized enterprises; SMEs; entrepreneurs; indigenous entrepreneurship.

DOI: 10.1504/IJESB.2010.034029

International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business, 2010 Vol.10 No.4, pp.515 - 525

Published online: 06 Jul 2010 *

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