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Paper short abstract

Many people confound the assumption that South Africa’s townships are an impossible environment for running a business. We report on 140 narrative accounts of experiences and hopes to throw light on issues of trust, identities, networks, finance, governance and formality/informality.

Paper long abstract

We report on in-depth interviews with small business operators working in Khayelitsha Township in Western Cape and Mdantsane Township in Eastern Cape – seventy from each. The interviews were conducted using an adapted version of the QuIP (Qualitative Impact Protocol) structured to identify respondents’ perception of (a) recent change in selected business domains (b) the causal pathways leading to those changes. The data was first inductively coded and analysed and then used to test hypotheses about the influence on business dynamics of (a) personal and social identity, including residence status (b) social networks and trust, (c) access to and use of financial and digital services, (d) local governance. Primary findings are also compared with a systematic meta-aggregation review of relevant secondary literature. This enables us to deconstruct the simple conceptual dualism between formal and informal business operation and governance by recognising the diversity of institutions that enable and impede business operators. We also throw light on how business activities are sustained by imaginaries of the future, as a foundation for discussion within the townships of scope for improving the business environment. The research is funded by South African, UK and US research councils under the “Transatlantic Research Program.”