How students in developing economies navigate economic hardship through conditional informal-necessity entrepreneurial bricolage

Purpose This paper aims to examine how and why student entrepreneurs in developing economies engage in informal, necessity-based entrepreneurship while pursuing their education. Developing economies face unique challenges, including high rates of youth unemployment, poverty, informality and limited resources. This paper investigates entrepreneurial bricolage and frugal business models by which students engage in entrepreneurship to navigate economic hardship. Design/methodology/approach An exploratory qualitative approach based on interviews with 18 student entrepreneurs in Nigeria was the preferred research method. The qualitative research is grounded in the principles of interpretative phenomenological analysis and Gioia's thematic methodology, which enable qualitative rigor and an “inductive approach.” Findings By defining and framing the first-order concepts and second-order themes from the qualitative data, the thematic findings revealed the nature of self-employment, side hustles, frugality and bricolage innovations associated with student entrepreneurship. The findings enable us to conceptually frame conditional entrepreneurial bricolage, which describes the frugal, innovative process by which students in developing economies establish informal necessity enterprises as a primary source of income, a side income, or an alternative to employment. Student entrepreneurs rely on informal learning, low-cost resources, cheap products, improvisation and social networks to sustain their ventures. Originality/value This paper contributes to an understanding of student entrepreneurship, conditional entrepreneurship and frugal innovation in the context of developing economies. This study identifies essential elements of informal necessity entrepreneurship and proposes future avenues for advancing knowledge on student entrepreneurship, bricolage, and frugal business model innovations.