Abstract
This paper sought to ascertain the factors that impact on the growth of African immigrant-owned craft businesses in selected craft markets. The purposive and snowball non-probability sampling technique was deemed to be the best method to use in this study to select the respondents. The study utilized a mixed method approach to collect and analyze data. Questionnaires (quantitative) were administered to 122 African immigrant entrepreneurs, and in-depth interviews (qualitative) were conducted with the three municipality managers responsible for the four selected craft markets. The quantitative data were analyzed using the Statistical Packages for Social Sciences (SPSS) software, and face-to- face interviews were analysed by content analysis. Pushed by the need to survive and pulled by the many tourists in South Africa, African immigrant entrepreneurs turned to the craft business Seasonal and irregular nature of trade, competition, and xenophobia were noted to be the main growth challenges. Recommendations were made to the relevant stakeholders. Keywords: African immigrant entrepreneur, business growth, survivalist businesses, craft markets, SMEs. JEL Classification: M10, M13
Highlights
The past 20 years have seen an unprecedented influx of African immigrant entrepreneurs into many cities in South Africa
This study focused on four craft markets in the Cape Town area: Greenmarket Square in the central business district of Cape Town, Stellenbosch craft market, Franschhoek craft market and Hout Bay craft market
0.8% of the respondents came from Egypt
Summary
The past 20 years have seen an unprecedented influx of African immigrant entrepreneurs into many cities in South Africa. It is believed that the majority of craft retail outlets are owned by African immigrant entrepreneurs who are forced into self-employment, because they are largely unable to secure formal employment (Kaiser and Associates, 2005; Mikolo, 2007) This comes against the backdrop that they are discriminated against in the labor market and often under-paid when they find a job (Tengeh, Ballard &Slabbert, 2011; El Bouk, Vedder&tePoel, 2013; Fatoki, 2014a). Samson Nambei Asoba, Mr, Department of Entrepreneurship & Business Management, Faculty of Business & Management Sciences, Cape Peninsula University of Technology, South Africa. This is so, because the growth of African immigrant-owned businesses in craft markets would offer employment opportunities to African immigrants and the local population, but would contribute to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of South Africa (Kalitanyi& Visser, 2010; Makhitha, 2015)
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