This study explores how social inequality, particularly within family structures in Tanzania, influences entrepreneurial practices. In the context of these Grand Challenges, entrepreneurship requires a comprehensive understanding of social and cultural contexts. Based on the Entrepreneurship-as-Practice (EaP) theory, we studied how monogamous and polygamous family structures influence entrepreneurial practices through access to resources and social order and power. Our empirical study of 22 focus group discussions among 179 rural coffee entrepreneurs in rural Tanzania preliminary identified two social mechanisms: resource allocation and social order and power. We contribute to EaP by identifying context-specific entrepreneurial practices related to power, resource allocation, and role negotiation within monogamous and polygamous family structures, thereby illustrating the role of family structures as critical sites of practice. Moreover, we will contribute to the gender and power stream of entrepreneurship by demonstrating how families as social institutions shape gender-specific power relations and normative orders.
