The mastery of entrepreneurial project execution in social enterprises in Uganda: a path to sustainable development in rural Africa

Traditional project management approaches have been criticised for their limited applicability in dynamic, resource-constrained, and uncertain environments. This paper addresses this gap by focusing on the execution element of the Entrepreneurial Project Management (EPM) model. Focusing on social enterprises that operate in Uganda’s complex institutional and environmental context, it validates and explores how entrepreneurial project execution is practised and operationalised. This paper employs an exploratory qualitative design, drawing on qualitative data through face-to-face interviews and document analysis. The evidence from this study supports the shift from traditional project execution process to entrepreneurial execution process in social enterprises. This shift to entrepreneurial project execution is reinforced by project managers capability to: (a) recognise and explore opportunities, (b) be proactive in managing projects, and (c) manage project knowledge. Beyond the validation of the execution element of the EPM model, the findings underscore the need for project managers in social enterprises to build essential dynamic capability around proactiveness, opportunity exploration and project knowledge management. Social enterprises in Africa operate in an environment characterised by resource scarcity, high uncertainty, institutional gaps and rapidly changing socio‑economic conditions. Thus, these capabilities are strategic for social enterprise survival and long‑term social impact. The overall value of these dynamic capabilities identified in the study is to equip project managers with operational discipline and the adaptive mindset required to achieve social impact in complex, dynamic and often resource-constrained project management environments in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). As these capabilities are refined in social enterprises, their potential to drive sustainable development outcomes in rural Africa becomes increasingly evident and significant.