2024/12/24 by Abou Moumouni, Issifou, Adam, Moudjabou
#Digital economy #digital entrepreneurs #digital literacy #e-services #informal economy
paper · doi:10.57832/ytqz-f895
This article focuses on local digital businesses and entrepreneurs in a context of high digital penetration in people’s activities in Benin. Starting in 2016, the Beninese government displayed a political will to embark on a dynamic aimed at making digital technology the primary driver of its socio-economic development. Since then, initiatives have been undertaken at the state level to facilitate the establishment of an ecosystem conducive to the emergence and strengthening of the digital economy. These new measures, combined with the process of digitizing public services, have led to the expansion in the number of microenterprises of various kind, and have fostered the emergence of a new category of digital entrepreneurs: e-service providers. How do these microenterprises operate, and what kinds of relationships do they maintain with the state and their customers? A significant portion of these businesses still operate outside government control. They often operate without official registration, thus escaping regulation and taxation despite their significant role in the informal economy. Moreover, the dematerialization of public services has been an opportunity for the creation of services that digital entrepreneurs offer to people with no digital literacy skills.