Exploring the sustainability challenges encountered by recycled entrepreneurs operating and managing Botswana’s small, medium and micro enterprises

Orientation: Successful entrepreneurial talent recycling boosts economic performance, according to empirical research. Academic research on the sustainability challenges of recycled entrepreneurs is scarce. Research purpose: This study aimed to explore the sustainability challenges faced by recycled entrepreneurs operating and managing enterprises in Botswana. Motivation for the study: The research landscape on recycled entrepreneurs, particularly in developing nations, lacks depth and coherence. Research design, approach and method: An inductive method and qualitative descriptive design were employed to conduct online and face-to-face interviews with 12 participants, followed by data analysis using the five-loop spiral analysis approach. Main findings: The findings highlight that although the sustainability challenges of recycled entrepreneurs overlap with those of other entrepreneurs, key distinctions exist. Sustainability challenges are a valuable, rare, inimitable and non-substitutable (VRIN) resource and extend the resource-based view (RBV) theory. Practical/managerial implications: Policymakers and ecosystem architects should develop targeted programmes for recycled entrepreneurs. Incubators and accelerators can customise curricula to the RBV reality of recycled entrepreneurs Contribution/value-add: Although research on recycling entrepreneurial talent is still in its early stages, this study serves as a foundational reference for future investigations in this domain.