Overcoming Barriers to Opportunity-Motivated Entrepreneurship: Expanding Networks Through Mobile Telecommunications

Telecommunication technology has been available in most developed economies for a century now, and we often take for granted that individuals can communicate seamlessly with even the most extended nodes in their network (Roller & Waverman, 2001). An entrepreneur operating in a developed economy is not limited by a lack of access to networks given the communication technology necessary to reach customers, employees, and suppliers, are available, even if they fall outside the entrepreneur’s network. This was not true for entrepreneurs in most developing nations, prior to the invention of the mobile phone.