Closing the Digital Entrepreneurship Gap the Case of Returnee Entrepreneurs in Morocco

Abstract

Despite the growing rates of Internet penetration and inflows of returnee entrepreneurs (REs) from Silicon Valley, there are still few examples of successful digital entrepreneurship ventures from emerging markets reaching international markets. Positioning itself at the intersection of returnee entrepreneurship, digital entrepreneurship and internationalization, this article is based on the case studies of the REs starting up digital ventures in Morocco. The results show that Moroccan digital entrepreneurship is driven by well-educated REs with working experience from the United States and Europe. These entrepreneurs play a dominant role in fostering the local digital entrepreneurship scene, and they have an international ambition in their ventures from the outset. The dominance of the REs also reveals vulnerability in the local digital ecosystem—reluctance of the indigenous business community to engage in the digital sector and a lack of domestic investors, programmers and start-up clusters. However, Moroccan digital start-ups struggle with the fierce competition among the global Internet firms, which benefit from an underdeveloped policy framework. This article contributes new insights to the complexity of the returnee and digital entrepreneurship and demonstrates the pivotal role of Moroccan REs in the country’s trajectory towards closing the extant digital entrepreneurship gap vis-à-vis developed markets.