Entrepreneurial finance, news media narratives, and productive entrepreneurship in Rwanda's entrepreneurial ecosystem: an entrepreneurial resourcefulness perspective

Purpose This multi-study paper investigates how entrepreneurial financing practices and news media narratives shape entrepreneurial resourcefulness and productive entrepreneurship within Rwanda's orchestrated entrepreneurial ecosystem. Design/methodology/approach Study 1 examines survey data of entrepreneurial financing, while Study 2 assesses news media narratives via quantitative linguistic analysis. Findings Local entrepreneurs demonstrate resourcefulness by preferring informal finance, thus enabling Baumolian productive entrepreneurship (Study 1). Conversely, elite neoliberal narratives articulated by news media promoted top-down globalization rhetoric, potentially enabling unproductive entrepreneurship (rent-seeking) and contradicting grassroots practices in the Rwandan entrepreneurial ecosystem (Study 2). Originality/value The study advances understanding of how entrepreneurial finance, news media, and entrepreneurial resourcefulness co-constitute (productive) entrepreneurship in African entrepreneurial ecosystems, with broader implications for entrepreneurial policy and practice.