Abstract
Purpose: This exploratory study aimed to provide a description of the experiences and perceptions of survivalist entrepreneurs in under-resourced communities. These survivalist entrepreneurs perceived themselves as ‘temporary’ entrepreneurs. They engaged in entrepreneurial ventures, whilst actively searching for secure formal employment.Design/methodology/approach: Qualitative interviews were conducted with four informal survivalist microenterprise entrepreneurs (ISM-E entrepreneurs). Narratives relating to their experiences and perceptions of their environment, community and government support and their experience of owning a microenterprise in an impoverished community were analysed inductively.Findings/results: Fourteen themes were identified and were grouped under two broad topics, namely the characterisation of the entrepreneur and the surrounding setting of the ISM-E entrepreneur. The discussion of the findings was presented in a positive deviance framework.Practical implications: It was proposed that the ingenuity and strengths of these ISM-E entrepreneurs be acknowledged and that their positive discourses be cultivated and encouraged in order to inspire unemployed people around them. These ISM-E entrepreneurs could, ideally, point social scientists to possible context-appropriate solutions to the huge unemployment challenge experienced in disadvantaged communities.Originality/value: This study addresses a knowledge gap pertaining to the exploration of micro-entrepreneurship in under-resourced communities within a positive deviance framework.
Highlights
Informal enterprises is an alternative available to unemployed individuals (Fourie, 2011; Ligthelm, 2006; Ranyane, 2015; Robertson & Choto, 2015; Yu, 2012)
Research has shown that unemployed people become informal entrepreneurs not because they see it as a preferred career choice, but singularly driven by necessity (Ligthelm, 2006; Woodward, Ligthelm, & Guimarães, 2011)
Through the responses on questions (1), (3), (7), (8) and (9), a broad picture emerged of the character of the informal survivalist microenterprises (ISM-Es) entrepreneur
Summary
Informal enterprises is an alternative available to unemployed individuals (Fourie, 2011; Ligthelm, 2006; Ranyane, 2015; Robertson & Choto, 2015; Yu, 2012). Research has shown that unemployed people become informal entrepreneurs not because they see it as a preferred career choice, but singularly driven by necessity (Ligthelm, 2006; Woodward, Ligthelm, & Guimarães, 2011). Morris and Pitt (1995) argued that personal survival rather than profit-driven motivation is the most important force behind entry into an informal entrepreneurial venture. South Africa’s informal entrepreneurial sector appears to be underdeveloped (Yu, 2012). Academics have posed the following questions: ‘Why do the unemployed not enter the informal sector, as is common in other developing countries?’ Academics have posed the following questions: ‘Why do the unemployed not enter the informal sector, as is common in other developing countries?’ (Kingdon & Knight, 2004, p. 391) and ‘Where are the South African entrepreneurs?’ (Manyaka, 2015, p. 2)
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