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Doctoral Degrees (Social Science Education)

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/10413/7161

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Browsing Doctoral Degrees (Social Science Education) by Author "Cloete, Melanie Bernice."

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    Women’s experiences of learning financial and business skills in the informal street trade in the greater Durban area of KwaZulu-Natal.
    (2024) Cloete, Melanie Bernice.; Maistry, Suriamurthee Moonsamy.; Singh, Shakila.
    Research on opportunity-based entrepreneurship has been dominated by male-centred, Western-centric studies, resulting in knowledge gaps on female necessity entrepreneurs/survivalists in the informal street trade, particularly in Africa. As in other developing countries, in South Africa, women are crucial in fostering economic growth and development through their involvement in informal street trade. However, structural and gender inequalities predispose them to high levels of poverty. This necessitates the generation of relevant, inclusive, and empowering knowledge regarding African women in this neglected sector. This study therefore aimed to understand how women in the informal street trade learn financial and business skills and to gain their perspectives on learning interventions that could enhance and sustain their businesses. This qualitative study subscribed to a critical feminist paradigm, employed a feminist phenomenological design, and drew on African feminisms, resilience theory, and informal learning theories. Purposive sampling was used to select 12 female informal street traders in the greater Durban area of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Primary data was generated from face-to-face phenomenological interviews and observations/ phenomenological walks with participants. NVivo software was used for the initial data coding to identify emblematic typologies, from which a whole-part-whole analytical strategy allowed themes to emerge inductively. The findings indicated that participants faced complex, gendered challenges as street traders. They were unable to access formal business-education programmes and resources; relied on informal and incidental learning to acquire basic financial and business skills. This adversely affected their capacity to make sound business decisions and increase profitability. However, through this study, a deeper understanding of their lived business contexts afforded valuable feedback on the training programmes needed to support them. The findings highlighted the need for targeted, accessible and relevant training interventions that foster more inclusive and equitable opportunities for growth and sustainability of this sector by focusing on crucial financial and business skills, like product pricing, inventory management, and profit calculation. However, the effectiveness of these interventions is contingent upon establishing an entrepreneurial ecosystem that includes the adequate provision of resources and infrastructure, assistance with obtaining permits, and access to municipal