Enhancing the private sector, and especially entrepreneurship, has become a key feature of development policy in recent years. In many African countries, entrepreneurship is promoted as a way to solve the youth unemployment crisis, but little is known about the experiences of young entrepreneurs. This paper examines the motivations and aspirations of young business owners in Uganda. Drawing on qualitative data collected in Kampala, the paper shows the diversity and complexity of factors underpinning the decision to set up a business and the variety of future aspirations. The paper questions the common representation of entrepreneurs as either necessity- or opportunity-driven and discusses the widespread assumption that necessity-driven entrepreneurs in developing countries are unlikely to have growth aspirations. Adopting the notion of social embeddedness, this paper shows how entrepreneurship motivations and aspirations are closely intertwined with changes in the socio-economic environment, social networ...