External financing perceptions by Sub-Saharan entrepreneurs: a qualitative approach

Based on the interviews of 18 Cameroonian entrepreneurs, we study how the entrepreneur's locus of control and motivations influence their perception of bank loans. Also, we evaluate the mediating roles of the managerial team and the entrepreneur's social network in this relation. Our results are manifold. First, we show that venture creation was not the initial professional choice of most of the entrepreneurs in our sample. Then, we distinguish three classes of entrepreneurs according to their professionalisation process. Finally, we shed light on the relationships between entrepreneurs' motivational trajectories and their acceptance to meet bank requirements.