Domestic Versus International Remittances and Job Creation in Family Firms in Nigeria and Uganda
Watch a recording of the seminar here: https://afdb.zoom.us/rec/share/86os7uLGChhu4-DtiMIGxr8hvGOCYqotYX7aL_TcT3q00-CmLlVjRscJsIb0ARHe.rwou29ipA9xMo7q0
Password: 4$ihNA00
Presented by Herbert J. Ainembabazi
African Development Bank
Organized by the Private Sector Development Research Network
hosted by the African Development Bank
Friday, 23rd Jan 2025 from 9-10am EST
Click here to register for the event
ABOUT THE SEMINAR
Join us for an engaging seminar that explores how remittances go beyond household welfare to drive job creation and entrepreneurship in Africa. While remittances are widely recognized for reducing poverty and supporting families, their potential to transform labor markets and foster business growth remains underexplored. Our study provides evidence from Nigeria and Uganda, using nationally representative panel data to show that the volume of remittances—not their source—shapes hiring patterns and entrepreneurial dynamics in family-owned firms. In Nigeria, large domestic remittances reduce family participation in businesses but spur hiring of non-family workers, signaling entrepreneurial expansion. In Uganda, when remittances dominate household income, family members are more likely to work in family-owned firms, preserving family employment. These findings reveal a critical policy opportunity: facilitating remittance flows can unlock job creation, strengthen migrant-sending communities, and accelerate inclusive economic transformation.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Herbert J. Ainembabazi, Principal Research Economist, AfDB
John Herbert Ainembabazi is a Principal Research Economist in the Microeconomic Institutional and Development Impact Division at the African Development Bank. His research work spans development economics, with a focus on policy design impacts on economic development, private sector investment in agricultural value chains, and natural resource management in Sub-Saharan Africa. Prior to joining the Bank, he served as Program Officer at the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), leading policy analysis to remove barriers to private sector investment in agricultural transformation across 11 African countries. He also worked as Agricultural Economist at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), conducting impact evaluations of agricultural technologies on smallholder farmers’ livelihoods in East and Central Africa. Herbert holds a PhD in Development Economics.