Entrepreneurialism and innovation among Cameroonian street vendors in Cape Town

Abstract

ABSTRACT Following the economic destabilization that resulted from the implementation of structural adjustment programmes, many young Cameroonians decided to leave their country to find ways to make a living abroad. These migrants often arrived in host countries with expectations of settling in and getting by, with scant knowledge of and little regard for the challenges that awaited them. This article focuses on migrants’ economic activities, particularly street vending, to understand how young Cameroonians in Cape Town, South Africa, improvise and negotiate a living for themselves through entrepreneurial economic activities. Using a ‘life history’ approach, which provides qualitative biographical accounts and emphasizes the experiences of individuals, this article examines these migrants’ entrepreneurial activities as they try to overcome the crisis they are facing and generate income for themselves and their families back home. Straddling economic hardship, they creatively reinvent and reposition their businesses, with some, as this article shows, eventually becoming transnational entrepreneurs.