Abstract
Guinea's business environment is characterised by significant institutional constraints, including regulatory opacity, infrastructural deficits, and political instability. These persistent barriers challenge entrepreneurial activity, yet a segment of the business community demonstrates notable resilience. Understanding the interplay between these systemic constraints and adaptive entrepreneurial strategies is critical for effective policy formulation. This policy analysis aims to systematically evaluate the nature and impact of institutional constraints on entrepreneurial activity in Guinea. It seeks to identify the specific mechanisms through which entrepreneurs develop resilience and to propose targeted policy interventions to improve the institutional framework for business. The analysis employs a mixed-methods approach, synthesising longitudinal data from international governance indicators with in-depth, semi-structured interviews conducted with a purposive sample of established entrepreneurs and policymakers. A thematic analysis was applied to the qualitative data to identify key resilience strategies. A dominant theme from the analysis is that entrepreneurs rely heavily on informal networks and adaptive improvisation to circumvent formal institutional weaknesses. Specifically, over 70% of interviewed entrepreneurs cited the use of personal connections as their primary method for navigating bureaucratic hurdles. Regulatory unpredictability was identified as a more significant barrier than corruption per se. Entrepreneurial resilience in Guinea is largely a reactive, informal adaptation to a weak institutional environment, rather than a product of supportive policy. This underscores a critical gap between state-level governance structures and on-the-ground business realities. Policy should prioritise enhancing regulatory predictability and transparency. Key measures include establishing a public, centralised digital portal for all business regulations and licences, and implementing regular, structured public-private dialogue forums to co-design regulatory reforms. Institutional constraints, entrepreneurial resilience, business environment, policy analysis, Guinea, informal networks This article provides a novel analysis of the specific policy mechanisms that link institutional weakness to entrepreneurial behaviour, offering a refined framework for targeting interventions in fragile business environments.