Learning Financial and Business Skills for the Sustainability of Female Necessity Entrepreneurs in the Informal Street Trade in South Africa

Abstract

Western-centric studies on opportunity-based entrepreneurship have dominated the literature on female entrepreneurs. Existing research has also tended to focus on the experiences of women in the formal rather than the informal sector. In this article, we examine female necessity entrepreneurs' experiences of learning financial and business skills in the informal street trade in South Africa. The theoretical framework for this research, which was located within a critical feminist paradigm and used a feminist phenomenological design, drew on African feminisms, resilience, and informal learning. Phenomenological, in-depth, face-to-face interviews were conducted with a convenience sample of twelve women in the informal street trade in the Durban area of KwaZulu-Natal, to capture the essence of their experiences of running their businesses. The main findings showed that poor black women, especially those trading without permits in the informal street trade, faced multiple challenges, but were able to learn some of the financial and business skills necessary for survival. However, this learning was reactive, problem-centred, observation based, imitative, and partial. These findings emphasised the need for these entrepreneurs to upgrade their financial and business skills in order for their businesses to remain sustainable. The study recommended various targeted policy initiatives to support female necessity entrepreneurs.