Abstract
The institutional environment in West Africa presents a complex landscape for enterprise development, characterised by formal regulatory frameworks coexisting with informal norms and practices. Understanding how businesses navigate this terrain is critical for fostering sustainable economic growth. This study aims to analyse the lived experiences of business leaders in confronting institutional challenges and to identify the strategic adaptations that underpin enterprise resilience and growth within this context. A qualitative, interpretivist design was employed, using in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 42 founders and senior executives of small and medium-sized enterprises across multiple sectors. Data were analysed using a thematic analysis approach to identify patterns and construct meaning. A predominant theme was the critical role of social capital and informal networks in mitigating bureaucratic inefficiencies. Approximately 70% of participants explicitly described leveraging personal connections to expedite processes like licensing and tax compliance, which were viewed as primary operational constraints. Business success is less dependent on merely understanding formal rules than on strategically navigating the informal institutional layer, suggesting that institutional theory must account for adaptive agency in developing economies. Policymakers should focus on simplifying administrative procedures to reduce the necessity for informal workarounds. Business support programmes should facilitate legitimate networking opportunities to strengthen entrepreneurial ecosystems. institutional theory, qualitative research, entrepreneurship, business environment, West Africa, strategic adaptation This paper provides a novel, empirically-grounded framework of 'institutional navigation' that delineates the tactical behaviours Senegalese entrepreneurs use to reconcile formal and informal institutional demands.