Download or read book Informal Migrant Entrepreneurship and Inclusive Growth in South Africa Zimbabwe and Mozambique written by Crush, Jonathan and published by Southern African Migration Programme. This book was released on 2017-01-17 with total page 78 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: While increasing attention is being paid to the drivers and forms of entrepreneurship in informal economies, much less of this policy and research focus is directed at understanding the links between mobility and informality. This report examines the current state of knowledge about this relationship with particular reference to three countries (Mozambique, South Africa and Zimbabwe) and four cities (Cape Town, Harare, Johannesburg and Maputo), identifying major themes, knowledge gaps, research questions and policy implications.
Download or read book Informal Entrepreneurship and Cross Border Trade in Maputo Mozambique written by Raimundo, Ines and published by Southern African Migration Programme. This book was released on 2017-01-17 with total page 58 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This report presents the results of a SAMP survey of informal entrepreneurs connected to cross-border trade between Johannesburg and Maputou during 2014. The study sought to enhance the evidence base on the links between migration and informal entrepreneur-ship in Southern African cities and to examine the implications for municipal, national and regional policy.
Download or read book Informal Entrepreneurship and Cross Border Trade between Zimbabwe and South Africa written by Abel Chikanda and published by African Books Collective. This book was released on 2017-02-10 with total page 47 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Zimbabwe has witnessed the rapid expansion of informal cross-border trading (ICBT) with neighbouring countries over the past two decades. Beginning in the mid-1990s when the country embarked on its Economic Structural Adjustment Programme (ESAP), a large number of people were forced into informal employment through worsening economic conditions and the decline in formal sector jobs. The countrys post-2000 economic col-lapse resulted in the closure of many industries and created market opportunities for the further expansion of ICBT. This report, part of SAMPs Growing Informal Cities series, sought to provide a current picture of ICBT in Zimbabwe by interviewing a sample of 514 Harare-based informal entrepreneurs involved in cross-border trading with South Africa.
Download or read book Competition or Co operation South African and Migrant Entrepreneurs in Johannesburg written by Peberdy, Sally and published by Southern African Migration Programme. This book was released on 2017-04-11 with total page 59 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Debates about international migration in South Africa often centre on the role of international migrant entrepreneurs who are seen to be more successful than their South African counterparts, squeezing them out of entrepreneurial spaces, particularly in townships. This report explores and compares the experiences of international and South African migrant entrepreneurs operating informal sector businesses in Johannesburg.
Download or read book Comparing Refugees and South Africans in the Urban Informal Sector written by Jonathan Crush and published by African Books Collective. This book was released on 2017-09-28 with total page 55 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This report compares the business operations of over 2,000 South Africans and refugees in the urban informal economy and systematically dispels some of the myths that have grown up around their activities. First, the report takes issue with the perception that South Africans are inexperienced and unmotivated participants in the informal economy. Many have years of experience and have successfully grown their businesses. Second, it contests the view that refugees enjoy a competitive advantage because they come to South Africa with inherent talent and already honed skills. On the contrary, over 80% of those surveyed had no prior informal sector experience and learned their skills on the job and after coming to South Africa. Third, the report shows that there is fierce competition in the urban informal sector between and within the two groups. However, business competition between refugees and South Africans is mitigated by the fact that they tend to dominate different sections of the informal economy with South Africans dominant in the food sector and refugees in the household products and personal services sectors. Finally, the report takes issue with recent arguments that all informal sector businesses are equally at risk from robbery, extortion and other crimes. It shows that South Africans are affected but that refugees are far more vulnerable than their South African counterparts. The report therefore confirms that xenophobia and xenophobic violence are major threats to refugees seeking a livelihood in the informal sector, especially if they venture into informal settlements.
Download or read book Refugee Entrepreneurial Economies in Urban South Africa written by Crush, Jonathan and published by Southern African Migration Programme. This book was released on 2017-07-19 with total page 46 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One of the defining characteristics of many large cities in the rapidly urbanizing global South is the high degree of informality of shelter, services and economic livelihoods. It is these dynamic, shifting and dangerous informal urban spaces that refugees often arrive in with few resources other than a will to survive, a few social contacts and a drive to support themselves in the absence of financial support from the host government and international agencies. This report addresses the question of variability in economic opportunity and entrepreneurial activity between urban environments within the same destination country - South Africa - by comparing refugee entrepreneurship in Cape Town, South Africa’s second largest city, and several small towns in the province of Limpopo. The research shows that refugee entrepreneurial activity in Limpopo is a more recent phenomenon and largely a function of refugees moving from large cities such as Johannesburg where their businesses and lives are in greater danger. The refugee populations in both areas are equally diverse and tend to be engaged in the same wide range of activities. This report shows that different urban geographies do shape the local nature of refugee entrepreneurial economies, but there are also remarkable similarities in the manner in which unconnected refugee entrepreneurs establish and grow their businesses in large cities and small provincial towns.
Download or read book International Migrants and Refugees in Cape Town s Informal Economy written by Tawodzera, Godfrey and published by OSSREA. This book was released on 2016-06-13 with total page 63 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is report is the most comprehensive study yet of the contribution of migrant and refugee entrepreneurs to Cape Town's local economy. The survey of over 500 entrepreneurs engaged in trade, services and manufacturing in different areas of the city dispels some of the more prevalent myths that often attach to the activities of migrants. The vast majority are not "illegal foreigners", but have a legal right to be in South Africa and to run a business. Most are highly motivated individuals who enter the informal economy to earn revenue to support themselves, their families, and because they have a strong entrepreneurial motivation. Contrary to the claims of South African competitors, the vast majority are not successful because they are engaged in shadowy business practices. What emerges from the survey is that while migrant entrepreneurs undoubtedly have strong social networks, their businesses are highly individualistic in terms of organization, ownership and activity in a competitive business environment. This report demonstrates their positive economic contributions to Cape Town and examines the challenges they face in running a successful business operation in the city. It goes beyond the rhetoric of inclusion to demonstrate with hard evidence exactly why migrant and refugee entrepreneurs should be accepted as an integral and valuable part of the local economy.
Download or read book Informal Entrepreneurship and Cross Border Trade between Zimbabwe and South Africa written by Chikanda, Abel and published by Southern African Migration Programme. This book was released on 2017-02-10 with total page 47 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Zimbabwe has witnessed the rapid expansion of informal cross-border trading (ICBT) with neighbouring countries over the past two decades. Beginning in the mid-1990s when the country embarked on its Economic Structural Adjustment Programme (ESAP), a large number of people were forced into informal employment through worsening economic conditions and the decline in formal sector jobs.
Download or read book Problematizing the Foreign Shop written by Vanya Gastrow and published by African Books Collective. This book was released on 2018-08-03 with total page 44 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Small businesses owned by international migrants and refugees are often the target of xenophobic hostility and attack in South Africa. This report examines the problematization of migrant-owned businesses in South Africa, and the regulatory efforts aimed at curtailing their economic activities. In so doing, it sheds light on the complex ways in which xenophobic fears are generated and manifested in the countrys social, legal and political orders. Efforts to curb migrant spaza shops in South Africa have included informal trade agreements at local levels, fining migrant shops, and legislation that prohibits asylum seekers from operating businesses in the country. Several of these interventions have overlooked the content of local by-laws and outed legal frameworks. The report concludes that when South African township residents attack migrant spaza shops, they are expressing their dissatisfaction with their socio-economic conditions to an apprehensive state and political leadership. In response, governance actors turn on migrant shops to demonstrate their allegiance to these residents, to appease South African spaza shopkeepers, and to tacitly blame socio-economic malaise on perceived foreign forces. Overall, these actors do not have spaza shops primarily in mind when calling for the stricter regulation of these businesses. Instead, they are concerned about the volatile support of their key political constituencies and how this backing can be undermined or generated by the symbolic gesture of regulating the foreign shop.
Download or read book Living With Xenophobia written by Crush, Jonathan and published by Southern African Migration Programme. This book was released on 2017-08-08 with total page 39 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This report examines the impact of xenophobic violence on Zimbabweans who are trying to make a living in the South African informal sector and finds that xenophobic violence has several key characteristics that put them at constant risk of losing their livelihoods and their lives. The businesses run by migrants and refugees in the informal sector are a major target of South Africa’s extreme xenophobia. Attitudinal surveys clearly show that South Africans differentiate migrants by national origin and that Zimbabweans are amongst the most disliked. This report is based on a survey of informal sector enterprises in Cape Town and Johannesburg; and 50 in-depth interviews with Zimbabwean informal business owners in Cape Town, Johannesburg and Polokwane who had been affected by xenophobic violence. In many areas, community leaders are ineffective in dealing with the violence and, in some cases, they actively foment hostility and instigate attacks. The fact that migrant entrepreneurs provide goods, including food, at competitive prices and offer credit to consumers is clearly insufficient to protect them when violence erupts. However, the deep-rooted crisis in Zimbabwe makes return home a non- viable option and Zimbabweans instead adopt several self-protection strategies, none of which is ultimately an insurance against xenophobic attack. The findings in this report demonstrate that xenophobic violence fails in its two main aims: to drive migrant entrepreneurs out of business and to drive them out of the country.
Download or read book Mean Streets written by Jonathan Crush and published by African Books Collective. This book was released on 2015-11-16 with total page 301 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book powerfully demonstrates that some of the most resourceful entrepreneurs in the South African informal economy are migrants and refugees. Yet far from being lauded, they take their life into their hands when they trade on South Africas mean streets. The book draws attention to what they bring to their adopted country through research into previously unexamined areas of migrant entrepreneurship. Ranging from studies of how migrants have created agglomeration economies in Jeppe and Ivory Park in Johannesburg, to guanxi networks of Chinese entrepreneurs, to competition and cooperation among Somali shop owners, to cross-border informal traders, to the informal transport operators between South Africa and Zimbabwe, the chapters in this book reveal the positive economic contributions of migrants. these include generating employment, paying rents, providing cheaper goods to poor consumers, and supporting formal sector wholesalers and retailers. As well, Mean Streets highlights the xenophobic responses to migrant and refugee entrepreneurs and the challenges they face in running a successful business on the streets.
Download or read book Rendering South Africa Undesirable written by Jonathan Crush and published by African Books Collective. This book was released on 2017-10-10 with total page 40 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: To understand the policy environment within which refugees establish and operate their enterprises in South Africas informal sector, this report brings together two streams of policy analysis. The first concerns the changing refugee policies and the erosion of the progressive approach that characterized the immediate post-apartheid period. The second concerns the informal sector policy, which oscillates between tolerance and attempted destruction at national and municipal levels. While there have been longstanding tensions between foreign and South African informal sector operators, an overtly anti-foreign migrant sentiment has increasingly been expressed in official policy and practice. This report describes the strategies being used to turn South Africa into an undesirable destination for refugees, including the setting up of additional procedural, administrative and logistical hurdles; the undercutting of court judgments affirming the right of asylum-seekers and refugees to employment and self-employment; ensuring that protection is always temporary by making it extremely difficult for refugees to progress to permanent residence and eventual citizenship; and restricting opportunities to pursue a livelihood in the informal sector. The authors conclude that the protection of refugee rights is likely to continue to depend on a cohort of non-governmental organizations prioritizing migrant livelihood rights and being willing and able to pursue time-consuming and costly litigation on their behalf.
Download or read book Mean Streets written by Crush, Jonathan and published by Southern African Migration Programme. This book was released on 2015-11-16 with total page 301 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book powerfully demonstrates that some of the most resourceful entrepreneurs in the South African informal economy are migrants and refugees. Yet far from being lauded, they take their life into their hands when they trade on South Africa's "mean streets". The book draws attention to what they bring to their adopted country through research into previously unexamined areas of migrant entrepreneurship. Ranging from studies of how migrants have created agglomeration economies in Jeppe and Ivory Park in Johannesburg, to guanxi networks of Chinese entrepreneurs, to competition and cooperation among Somali shop owners, to cross-border informal traders, to the informal transport operators between South Africa and Zimbabwe, the chapters in this book reveal the positive economic contributions of migrants. these include generating employment, paying rents, providing cheaper goods to poor consumers, and supporting formal sector wholesalers and retailers. As well, Mean Streets highlights the xenophobic responses to migrant and refugee entrepreneurs and the challenges they face in running a successful business on the streets.
Download or read book International Migrants in Johannesburgs Informal Economy written by Sally Peberdy and published by African Books Collective. This book was released on 2016-10-17 with total page 61 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This report provides a rich view of the activities of migrant entrepreneurs in the informal economy of Johannesburg. It is hoped that the information will facilitate understanding of the informal sector and its potential, and not just in the context of migrant entrepreneurs. The informal economy plays a significant role in the entrepreneurial landscape of the City of Johannesburg and is patronized by most of the citys residents. The research presented here challenges commonly held opinions about migrant entrepreneurs in the City of Johannesburg and shows that they do not dominate the informal economy, which remains largely in the hands of South Africans. In late 2013, the City, through Operation Clean Sweep, removed up to 8,000 traders from the citys streets. As this and recent xenophobic attacks demonstrate, Johannesburg can be a hostile place in which to operate a business as an informal economy migrant entrepreneur. Instead of trying to sweep the streets clean of these small businesses, government at national, provincial and city levels should develop policies to grow the SMME economy, develop township economies, and manage the informal economy and street trading. They need to incorporate the businesses owned by migrant entrepreneurs, rather than exclude and demonize them. These businesses make an invaluable contribution to Johannesburgs economy despite operating in a non-enabling political and policy environment.
Download or read book Calibrating Informal Cross Border Trade in Southern Africa written by Peberdy, Sally and published by Southern African Migration Programme. This book was released on 2017-01-17 with total page 41 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The study demonstrates that informal cross-border is a complex phenomenon and not uniform across the region, or even through border posts of the same country. However, the overall volume of trade, duties paid and VAT foregone, as well as the types of goods and where they are produced, indicate that this sector of regional trade should be given much greater attention and support by governments of the region as well as regional organizations such as the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), SADC and the Southern African Customs Union (SACU).
Download or read book Regional Sustainability South Africa 2015 written by Students of the 2015 Field Study Program and published by Lulu.com. This book was released on 2015-06-21 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is a compilation of the research essays and proposals written by students who participated in the Field Studies in Regional Sustainability Program in South Africa in January-February 2015. Each section focuses on a particular problem identified in the context of the Mpumalanga lowveld and the contributions attempt to address these issues by linking policy frameworks with strategies and projects aimed at improving the sustainability of the region.
Download or read book Food Remittances Migration and Food Security in Africa written by Jonathan Crush and published by African Books Collective. This book was released on 2016-12-29 with total page 57 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There is considerable evidence from across the African continent that a significant proportion of cash remittances to rural areas is spent on food. However, bidirectional food remitting its drivers, dimensions and impacts is an underdeveloped research and policy area. This report therefore reviews the current state of knowledge about food remittances in Africa and aims to make a number of contributions to the study of the relationship between migration and food security.
