Street Traders Research Articles

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

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.

The image of Moscow in Narine Abgaryan’s The Newcomer

This article examines the portrayal of Moscow in the book The Newcomer (2011) by Narine Abgaryan. This study aims to identify the distinctive features of Moscow’s image during the 1990s, when the story takes place. The study of the poetics of space in Narine Abgaryan’s works is an important aspect of understanding her creativity. However, The Newcomer has not yet been analyzed from this perspective. This article explores the specific image of Moscow by examining key locations, such as Petrovka and the “Intourist” hotel, as well as the characters of O. F. and Aunt Polly, who play crucial roles in the protagonist’s exploration of the city. Petrovka, described at the beginning of the book, portrays Moscow in crisis, reflecting the socio-cultural realities of the time, including street trading, neglected urban landscapes, mass poverty, and expensive imported goods. As the protagonist rushes along Petrovka for a job interview at a bank, she feels lost, helpless, and alienated in this unfamiliar city. The image of the “Intourist” hotel, once a symbol of progress and technical excellence, now represents impoverishment and the threat of demolition, mirroring the disintegration of the USSR, which was once seen as a promising project. The characters O. F. and Aunt Polly embody traditional representations of Moscow as a nurturing city-woman, associated with qualities such as warmth, hospitality, and care. The spaces connected to these characters, such as the currency exchange point and the rented apartment, become places of trust, closeness, security, and support, forming “her” Moscow for the protagonist in The Newcomer.

Legalized Extortion: A State-led Governance Regime to Control Informal Street Vending at Lima’s Gamarra Market, Peru

Based on Charles Tilly’s definition of state-making, this article develops the concept of <em>legalized extortion</em> to understand the expansion of the state’s fiscal capacity towards informal street vending. It presents an in-depth analysis of the case of the textile cluster of Gamarra (Lima, Peru), where the local government chose to profit from informal street vending by providing them labor security in exchange for extra ‘taxes.’ The study reveals the construction of a state-led governance regime where the boundary between taxation and extortion is blurred. It delves into the co-governance arrangements and extra-legal practices, and looks into the structural factors that sustain this governance regime. In doing so, the study contributes to theoretical debates about the governance of informal economies in Latin American cities and provides evidence about how the state’s fiscal capacity is employed for managing the use of public spaces for informal street trade.

E-formality and data justice: the individualization of street trade in Recife, Brazil

ABSTRACT Informal street trade has historically been seen by local authorities as backward, inefficient, and detrimental to urban areas and thus, has been subject to formalization policies. This paper reports on an ethnographic study of a project that sought to formalize street trade in Recife (Brazil). Street trade was presented by the City Council as hindering urban mobility, unhygienic and detrimental to the development of the city. A spreadsheet was developed to record, license and enforce the formalization of street trade. The spreadsheet and its classification scheme expanded the possibilities of control over individual street vendors. We will argue that formalization requires street traders to be rendered objects and subjects of knowledge. What this does is to individualize and discipline street trade. More substantially, we argue that the regulations and classification scheme shaped understandings of street trade as becoming individualized and this led to some contradictory implications for urban street trade.

Effect of Street Vending on Small and Medium Enterprises Performance

Despite the tough circumstances and competitiveness of shops with permanent structures, it is acknowledged that street enterprise could play a vital role in alleviating poverty across the globe. Formal organizations recognize this possibility and are strategically incorporating informal organizations into their selling operations. The broad objective of this study was to examine the effect of street trade on small and medium enterprises performance with a specific focus on the operators in Ilorin metropolis. Therefore, the study’s specific objectives were to: determine the relationship between street entrepreneurship transformative measures and market share of SMEs and evaluate the effect of transformative measures on the transformation of street entrepreneurship into SMEs. Since the study population was large and unknown, Cochran sample size formula was used to determining the sample size of 385. A questionnaire was designed using structured questions to obtain primary data from the respondents in Ilorin metropolis, Kwara State. A total of three hundred and eighty-five (385) copies of the questionnaire were administered, out of which three hundred and sixty-eight (368) copies were properly filled and returned. The formulated hypotheses were tested using multiple regression analysis and correlation with the aid of SPSS version 21. The findings of the study revealed that; the strong positive relationship between street entrepreneurship transformative measures with socio-cultural factor as the highest correlation coefficient of .946, multiple regression analysis established that transformative measures have an effect on the transformation of street entrepreneurship with an R2 value of .987. Hence, the study concluded that all transformative measures of street entrepreneurship have a significant effect on market share and that transformative measures have a significant positive effect on the transformation of street entrepreneurship into SMEs. It was recommended that street entrepreneurs should not underestimate the potential of relationship marketing, which may increase a company’s financial performance. Moreover, street entrepreneurial ventures should concentrate on changing their enterprises into SMEs by gaining a deeper understanding, learning skills, and developing a working knowledge of all aspects that may impact their operations and thwart their transformative aims.

Waiting for welfare: experiences of street traders from Delhi, India

ABSTRACT This article explores the nuances of the experiences of waiting for state-issued documents and state welfare. Waiting as an everyday experience forms an important aspect of the relationship between socio-economically marginalised groups and the state institutions. In order to examine this relationship, this paper draws upon eight interviews, conducted during December 2017 to February 2018 and in January 2019, among pheriwale. Pheriwale are self-employed traders, in Delhi, India, who collect huge amounts of second-hand/used-clothes and sell them forward to make a living. They largely work in highly precarious informal work environments, lack social security and depend on irregular income. However, as residents of India, they are also regulated through various state measures such as being registered within the national biometric database, as bank account holders and as recipients of public welfare provisions. By focusing on the experiences of pheriwale, findings show that waiting is shaped through intersecting hierarchies of gender, class and caste in the context of India. This article elucidates that a conceptualisation of waiting cannot overlook how the act of waiting for state-issued documents is tied into politics of recognition and redistribution.

Street Trading and its Associated Risks in the Tamale Metropolitan Area of the Northern Region, Ghana

The study examined the typologies, negotiation for space, and the inherent risks in street trading in the Tamale Metropolis of the Northern Region of Ghana. To achieve these objectives, a mixed-method approach was employed to carry out the study. The simple random sampling technique was used to select respondents. Questionnaires and interview guides were used to collect data from fifty-six (56) respondents and twenty-five (25) key informants respectively. The analysis of the data gathered revealed that there were three main typologies of street traders in Tamale Metropolis and these were permanent, intermittent, and mobile street traders. It was also revealed that street traders in Tamale were exposed to various risks such as harassment by city authorities, theft, and exposure to health hazards. A number of driving factors such as lack of capital, lack of employment, difficulties in securing stores, and poverty among others were responsible for street trading in the Tamale Metropolis. The Government of Ghana through the Ministry of Trades and Industry and the District Assembly should provide a congenial environment for street trading in the Tamale Metropolis to ensure the safety of the traders.

Time and space in a dish: examining the relationship between materiality and space in the early modern saloop stall

ABSTRACT Walking in the early morning in London in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries you would have come across a new consumption space, the saloop stall. These stalls operated for only a few hours before being packed away. Yet in their time they offered to labouring Londoners, its watchmen and chimney sweeps, a warm respite. Taking a microhistorical approach, this paper provides the first critical examination of these spaces. It looks to establish the temporality of these stalls and how they were situated in the broader urban routines. It also analyses the role materiality played in establishing these spatialities. This paper looks to reframe the stall’s ceramic cups and hot tea urns, demonstrating how they were crucial to creating a space of labour and sociability, removed from the domestic context they have often been associated with. This research is approached via a wide range of sources such as contemporary literature, visual culture and court testimonies. Consideration is given to material and sensorial attributes; factors that inform the creation and use of this space at every turn. It hopes to provide an example of the value taking a material and sensory-based approach when researching itinerant street traders.

The Impact of Street Trading on the Freetown Municipality

The Impact of Street Trading on the Freetown Municipality

Colonialism and the Repression of Nairobi African Women Street Traders in the 1940s

By the 1940s, the Municipal Council of Nairobi had enacted a host of By-Laws to control the presence of Africans, especially women, and had set up several agencies to implement them. Consequently, women street vendors were not only denied access to legal trade, but remained unwanted in the town except under very special circumstances. Nonetheless, pushed by their adversity, a number of them resorted to illegal hawking and demonstrated their resilience against the odds. However, as the hawkers’ earnings subsidised the colonial low wage migrant labour system, it became difficult for the colonial administration in Nairobi to resolutely stamp out their activities, especially in Eastlands. Besides, by the end of the 1940s, the Council’s fight against hawking had slackened owing to unsustainable expenses.&#x0D; &#x0D; This paper examines the effect of colonial repression of African women street traders in Nairobi’s Eastlands area in the 1940s. Using the Gender and Development (GAD) perspective along with data mainly from libraries, archives and oral sources, it interrogates the women’s attractions to Nairobi and the logic behind their street trading activities. It also examines the colonial dynamics that exploited the attitudes and beliefs of African male elders to validate the colonial government’s gender marginalisation policies against women, particularly the hawkers. The paper concludes that the gender-based constraints against African women traders notwithstanding, propelled by need, the women irrepressibly struggled to find space in the prosperous economy of Nairobi in the 1940s.&#x0D; &#x0D; Keywords&#x0D; Racism, gender discrimination, patriarchy, street trading, hawkers, licensing

ASSESSMENT OF PSYCHOACTIVE SUBSTANCE ABUSE AMONG COMMERCIAL MOTORCYCLE OPERATORS IN MINNA, NIGERIA.

The prevalence of psychoactive substance abuse among commercial motorcycle operators in Minna is of public health concern and has become worrisome as a result of their engagement in high-risk behaviour, unsafe lane-splitting and weave in and out of traffic with little caution, putting passengers and other road users at great risk. They also, dominate the road space, overtake along wrong side of traffic, and drive against traffic. This study was invariably designed to assess the extent of abuse of psychoactive substance among commercial motorcycle operators in Minna metropolis. A cross-sectional survey in which multi-stage sampling technique was adopted in dividing Minna into to Local Government Area and 372 structured questionnaires were administered to commercial motorcycle operators at three selected designated parks and operating units (i.e., Bosso, Sauka-kahuta and Kpakungu) within Minna metropolis. Findings reveals that 69.3% of commercial motorcycles operators were between the age of 21-40 years old, 45.2% had primary and secondary education with 52.7% earning less than #50,000 monthly. Unemployment and poverty accounted for 46% of factors influencing drug abuse. While, Tramadol, Codeine and Solution accounted for 98.4% of the total variance of effect of substance abuse with 47% of abused drugs gotten through street traders and peddlers. Multiple linear regression used to assed the effects of drugs abuse shows that the coefficient of determination R2 is 0.532 (53%), ANOVA; F = 38.284, P = 0.000. The following recommendations were made based on the findings; There is need for National Drugs Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) and ACOMMORON to collaborate in establishing a robust monitoring post at major parks in order to monitor, control and arrest drug abuse offenders. Finally, relevant Government agencies should introduce awareness and sensitization programs on the danger of substance abuse.

Factors associated with adherence to treatment in patients with open angle glaucoma in Sierra Leone, West Africa: patient demographics and questionnaire.

Glaucoma is a significant cause of blindness worldwide. It is more common, presents earlier and is more aggressive in those of African descent. Non-adherence and poor knowledge of glaucoma is a significant barrier to treatment and has been associated with low health literacy. We aim to establish the factors contributing to late presentation, treatment non-adherence and disease progression in glaucoma patients in Sierra Leone. This will help better understand the challenges eye services face, highlight fields requiring development in patient-clinician interaction and identify areas or specific vulnerable patient groups in which resources should be focused. Prospective, consecutive recruitment of 120 patients with POAG attending the Lowell and Ruth Gess Eye Hospital and the Connaught Government Teaching Hospital, Freetown, Sierra Leone between February and April 2020. Data were collected from 3 sources: (1) review of clinical notes since first attendance, (2) semi-structured interviews and (3) assessment of study participant's drop instillation technique using a structured checklist. Descriptive statistics was performed for demographic data and other relevant data points. Logistic regression was used for analysis of target variables. The average age was 62years with more males (52.6%). Agricultural workers and informal street traders represented 13.2% of participants' occupation. 25.8% of participants had no formal school, and 47.4% had either a degree or a diploma. This is out of proportion with the general population and may represent a hidden demographic of glaucoma patients. Drop instillation technique was successful in 52% of study participants. Notable responses to the questionnaire were 30% of patients did not know the name of their eye condition and 22% had no knowledge of glaucoma. Investment in a wide-ranging and robust screening programme and public health campaigns targeting these vulnerable groups and high-risk individuals, for example with a positive family history, alongside improved patient education and staff training is required to improve glaucoma care. Support from government, international organisations and the private sector is required to reduce the economic burden of blindness in Sierra Leone.

Practical Demonstration of Street Trading Regulatory Management Practices

Practical Demonstration of Street Trading Regulatory Management Practices

Factors Associated With the Health and Economic Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic in the Peruvian Textile Sector, 2020-2021.

The article identifies the factors associated with the health and economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on people working in the textile industry of Lima, Peru, during 2021. The study was conducted in Peru's largest textile emporium, so-called Gamarra. The study design is observational and cross-sectional, with two models with two temporal samples for the first and second waves of the COVID-19 pandemic. The first model measures the chance of getting sick from COVID-19. The second model measures the economic impact by the variations in incomes. Inferential statistics are employed, using the chi-square test. The p-value (p < 0.05) is evaluated to decide the statistical significance of the variables. Of 820 workers included, 48% work in street trading, 45% are ≤ 35 years of age and 15% are foreign migrants. Logistic regression analysis for the first model reveals an association between infection by a family member, people breaking quarantine, foreign nationality, not having hygienic services and having a chronic disease, with the highest probability of COVID-19 infection. Regarding economic impact, an association is found between educational level, being ≥45 years of age and infection of a family member, with a greater probability of variation in income.

Street Traders and the Law: A Test of Vendors’ Encounters With Bribery and Extortion of Task Force Officials in Lagos State, Nigeria

This article interrogates street traders’ encounters with the bribery and extortion by task force officials in Lagos State, Nigeria, using a mixed method of social research survey, in-depth interview and observation. The study found that poverty ( p = 0.000), gender ( p = 0.001), location ( p = 0.009), employment status ( p = 0.003), family pressure ( p = 0.008) and payment of remittance ( p = 0.000) are significant predictors of willingness to bribe task force officials ( p &lt; 0.001). It also established that traders, who perceived the street trading law of Lagos as a deterrent law, tended to bribe task force officials in order to escape justice.

EXPLORING THE DYNAMICS OF STREET TRADING AS STREET SPATIAL (IN) JUSTICE IN MUSINA TOWN

Street trading takes place on the most contested public spaces-streets. Street spaces are therefore sites of spatial justice and injustice and consequently inclusion and exclusion. This paper explores the dynamics of street trading as street spatial (in)justice in Musina Town. The study adopts a qualitative research approach. Data were collected in the form of structured interviews with Musina Local Municipality officials and semi-structured interviews with 30 street traders from Musina Town CBD. The key findings reveal that issuing of trading licenses is a controlled form of spatial justice, which limits the expansion of street trade and confines the traders to a particular space. The findings reveal that the ‘‘Right to the City’’ claims depend on the users’ purpose for being in the street. Understanding the street trading dynamics and nature of space contestations and negotiations by street traders’ and other street users helps planners to delineate their implications on street spatial justice and stimulates the creation of new innovative approaches to co-create more inclusive and just spaces with street traders as co-producers of spatially (un)just street spaces.

Adaption and reliability of the Nutrition Environment Measures for stores (NEMS-S) instrument for use in urban areas of Chile

ObjectiveTo adapt and assess reliability of the Chilean version of Nutritional Environment Measurement for Stores (NEMS-S-CHILE) to measure the food environment of stores in urban areas.DesignNEMS-S-CHILE was the NEMS-S tool adapted to the Chilean food patterns; foods were grouped according to level of processing in (a) unprocessed or minimally processed foods, (b) processed culinary ingredients, (c) processed foods, and (d) ultra-processed foods, and scored according to NEMS-S-CHILE tool. Reliability inter evaluators was measured.SettingCity of Concepción, Bio-Bio region, Chile.ParticipantsSeventeen of a total of 25 supermarkets, and 9 out of 10 street markets according to the municipal registry and the street market trade unions, representing 74.3% of both types of food premises in Concepción.ResultsReliability inter evaluators was measured by the following aspects: product availability, price, quality, and variety, through the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC), percent agreement, and Cohen’s kappa analysis. Reliability was high for availability, where the kappa index and ICC were acceptable, ranging from moderate to high (0.42 to 1.00 for the kappa coefficient and 0.65 to 1.00 for ICC), as well as for prices (ICC: 0.65-1.00 ), variety (kappa: 0.76-1.00) and quality (percent agreement: 68.2- 100%).ConclusionsThe adapted instrument, NEMS-S-CHILE, has a high reliability inter evaluators and can be useful to measure the availability of foods by the level of processing according to the prevalent food system in developing countries.

Soil-transmitted helminths contamination of carrots and cucumbers, and molecular identification of Ascaris lumbricoides in Jos Plateau State, Nigeria

Background: Soil-transmitted helminths (STHs) are group of parasitic nematodes transmitted through ingestion of eggs in contaminated food and water or through active skin penetration by an infective larva. Aim: This study determined the prevalence of STHs and molecular identification of Ascarislumbricoides in fresh carrots and cucumbers in Jos Plateau State, Nigeria. Materials and Method: This was a cross-sectional study of carrots and cucumbers obtained from two vegetable markets and streets of Jos metropolis. About 200 g of each sample was weighed and washed separately in a sterile container using 200 ml of normal saline. This was allowed to sediment overnight, and the sediment was examined microscopically for eggs or larvae of parasites using ×10 and ×40 objectives of the light microscope. The positive samples for eggs of A. lumbricoides were subjected to molecular identification. The data obtained were computed using IBM SPSS software version 26. Results: The overall prevalence of STHs was 38.3% (138/360). The rate of contamination was higher in carrots with 45.0% (81/180) compared to 31.7% (57/180) of the total cucumbers examined. This was statistically significant (P = 0.009). The vegetables from the Farin-Gada market were the most contaminated, having a prevalence of 63 (52.5%), followed by the building Materials Market 50 (41.7%) and street traders 25 (20.8%). Strongyloidesstercoralis was the most identified parasite totaling 69 (50.0%), followed by hookworm 51 (37.0%), A. lumbricoides 10 (7.2%), and Trichuristrichiura 8 (5.8%) being the least. Conclusions: There was a high contamination of carrots and cucumber studied in this research by STHs. Hence, there is a need for proper washing and possible decontamination before consumption to prevent food-borne infections.

Causes of Traffic Congestion and Possible Solutions along Akesan-Igando Road, Lagos Nigeria

Many urban cities in Nigeria are bedeviled with traffic congestion which tends to defy various remedial measures adopted by different governments over the years. Journey times from one point to another within a town have remained unreliable and residents have continued to face disturbing in conveniences in transportation especially traffic congestion. This study, therefore, addresses the problems of traffic congestion impacts on commuters along Akesan-Igando road. The set objectives incudes: identifying pattern of traffic congestion at the Corridor, ascertaining the cause(s) of traffic congestion, determine what can be done to reduce traffic congestion in the study area. Basically, primary data was used for the research through direct observation, interview and field measurement. Drones were also deployed to capture images from the field. It was discovered from the field that the causes of traffic congestion along this corridor include: narrow road conditions, increase in population leading to increase in vehicle ownership, activities of road traders, illegal parking and poor enforcement. The study recommended that t here should be proper and adequate enlightment for the drivers on the dangers inherent in congestion , t he law enforcement agencies (Police and LASTMA) should be motivated in other to act professionally and not to take bribe from public bus drivers, street trader should be completely banned from displaying their wares on the set back which impedes the free flow of vehicular movement, the state government should intensify effort to ensure BRT is operational on this corridor and t here is need for improved traffic management system and of the road condition along the corridor .

The functionality of informal trade in the creation of political power

This article delves into the analysis of informal commerce as a means of power created from the street vendor's perspective. This paper aims to evaluate the expressions of the itinerant executors of the practice of informal trade as a means of creating power. To do this, the conception of analysis, using the local practices referring to informal trade, were analyzed as a means of economic sustenance and in the same way, understood among selected groups as illegal. However independent of the local context and the established place. The thesis that follows is that the street trade has a functional character in the obtaining of power by groups; ideological promotion and not just an economic justification. The main findings and results of the research demonstrated that the decisions of the executors of the practice are permeated by a motivation for the illegal practice, which wanders between what is economically necessary and politically permissible. The situation that determines the functionality and applicability of informal trade acts, underestimates compliance with the existence of local trade policies and regulations of social life and instead, they are recognized as legitimate as they belong to groups of political control. Therefore, it contributes to the defense of the hypothesis, based on demonstrating that the practice of ambulance is presented as a valve for attention to unemployment, while it is tolerated as a means of opportunity to the creation of political power independent of the local or regional context.