Interest(s)

Primary interest(s): Financial Development, Fintech, Capital Markets, Corporate Finance, Financial Inclusion

Secondary Interest(s): Private Equity, Mergers and Acquisitions, Venture Capital, Institutions & Culture, Crowdfunding

 Working Paper(s) 

Colonial Pathways, Access to Finance and Firm Performance with Asli Togan Egrican

Firm growth is considered to be one of the main drivers of economic growth. Whether adequate access to external finance is an important factor for firm growth is still a point of debate in literature. In this paper, we study the relationship between firms’ access to finance and their performance by using colonial railroads’ and ports’ distance to firm locations as an instrument. Focusing on the CEMAC region (Central African Economic and Monetary Community) which is one of the oldest and important groupings within Africa, we observe that access to finance is indeed an important determinant of firm growth. Our results are robust to alternative specifications and highlight the importance of access to finance for firm growth.

The Private Equity Industry in Africa: Firm Survival and Growth with Asli Togan-Egrican

The availability of Private Equity (PE) in Africa is quite limited. And even though the literature documents that in other parts of the world this type of financing can relieve entrepreneurial firms’ financial constraints and likely benefit employment and firm growth, little is known about the effect of PE on firms operating in Sub Sharan Africa (SSA). This paper describes the landscape of PE in this region and analyzes whether private equity helps firms survive and grow. The results reveal that recipients of external financing from PE firms have a higher probability of survival than nonrecipients, and such financing strongly correlates with proxies for firm growth. This claim still holds even when we conduct our analysis with a matched sample of firms. Our results suggest that PE is an important source of external financing for SSA firms at each investment stage, and that governments should create incentives for investors (such as tax breaks) and for entrepreneurs (such as working with universities or providing grants to encourage idea generation and the conversion of ideas into businesses).

Crowdfunding, Financial Access, and Entrepreneurship with Asli Togan-Egrican

In this paper, we ask whether the adoption of recent technological improvements in delivering financial services such as crowdfunding assists the financially excluded to enhance/embark on entrepreneurial ventures. To address this; we build on the premise that ceteris paribus, a borrower’s distrust in traditional financial institutions attributable to ex-ante asymmetric information, partially reflects their state of financial exclusion, which plausibly triggers the search for an alternative financing model such as crowdfunding. Empirical results highlight the marginal benefits of adopting this alternative financing model: all else equal, crowdfunding positively and strongly affects entrepreneurial access to finance. Our findings suggest that in countries with less bank account penetration, entrepreneurs are more likely to rely on crowdfunding financing. These effects remain robust to alternative specifications that capture country-level differences in crowdfunding opportunities. The study has policy implications on private sector development regarding alternative financing channels for entrepreneurs.

Colonialism in Sub-Saharan Africa, Access to Finance and Firm Performance with Asli Togan-Egrican

Firm performance is considered one of the main drivers of economic growth. Whether adequate access to external finance is essential for firm performance remains debatable in the literature, mainly due to endogeneity concerns. In this paper, we address these concerns with instruments constructed from colonial history that explain current variations in financial development across Sub-Saharan African economies. These instruments: colonial railways and settler characteristics, reflect the demand-side and the supply-side effects of access to finance, respectively, and provide a clear identification of the effects of access to finance on firm performance. Our results underscore the primacy of access to finance on firm performance and consistently suggest that firms with access to finance are more likely to experience higher revenues and asset growth. These results are robust to alternative specifications and highlight the importance of access to finance for firms.

 Work In Progress

Gender-Sensitivity and ESG Drive 

Origins of Banking in CEMAC

Economic Policy Uncertainty and Stock Market Development: Evidence from BRICS

Essay on 20 years of MA in Africa

 Publication(s) and Presentation(s)

Exchange Rate Volatility and Trade Flows in The Euro Area with Zelha Atinkaya and Firat Bayir, Florya Chronicles of Political Economy (2015)

2023 Global Finance Conference—  June 12-14, Treviso, Italy 

2022 Global Development Finance Conference—  November 17, South Africa 

2022 The 35th Annual meeting of the Academy of Finance organized by Academy of Finance (AoF)— March 23-25, Chicago, IL, USA

2021 Global Development Finance Conference organized by African Growth Institute(AGI)—  November 16-17, South Africa 

2021 Kadir Has University,  Department of Economics Seminars— May 26, Istanbul, Turkey

2nd International Researchers, Statisticians and Young Statisticians Congress (IRSYSC 2016) Program - Hacettepe Üniversitesi/Ankara/Turkey 

  Professional Membership/Affiliations 

African Economic & Finance Association

American Economic Association

American Finance Association

European Economic Association

Work Experience 

August 2022 - Present

African Research Center

ISTANBUL AYDIN UNIVERSITY 

Jan. 2019 - Present

African Market Strategist/Admissions Office

ISTANBUL AYDIN UNIVERSITY 

Jan. 2016 - Dec 2018

Market Developer; African Coordinator 

TURKEY STUDY CENTER

2015

African Research Center (volunteer)

ISTANBUL AYDIN UNIVERSITY 

 Education 

Sept. 2017 -  July 2022

PhD Banking and Finance 

KADIR HAS UNIVERSITY-TURKEY

 Basics 

Nationality: Cameroonian

Gender: Male

Language(s): English/French