Samson Nambei Asoba

Even though the arts and craft industry is perceived to be a significant contributor to the socio-economic development of South Africa, the plight of immigrant owed businesses that dominate this sector has been largely neglected in policy and support initiatives over the past decades. This paper aims to contribute to the inclusion debate, by examining the factors that inhibit the start-up of African immigrant-owned craft businesses in selected craft markets in the Cape Town area. A quantitative approach to data collection and analysis was adopted with snowballing as the sampling technique. Questionnaires were administered to 122 African immigrant entrepreneurs. The quantitative data was analysed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS 23). The findings indicated that limited access to bank loans, limited space, and high rental costs were the major start-up challenges. Other concerns included the relatively very short-stay permits issued by the Department of Home Affairs to immigrant entrepreneurs, the problem of complying with taxation regulations in South Africa, and the difficulty of communicating in Afrikaans and Xhosa were not perceived as start-up challenges. Recommendations were made to African immigrant entrepreneurs and selected municipal managers aimed at dealing with the start-up challenges faced by African immigrant-owned businesses

This paper sought to ascertain the factors that impact on the growth of African immigrant-owned craft businesses in selected craft markets. The purposive and snowball non-probability sampling technique was deemed to be the best method to use in this study to select the respondents. The study utilized a mixed method approach to collect and analyze data. Questionnaires (quantitative) were administered to 122 African immigrant entrepreneurs, and in-depth interviews (qualitative) were conducted with the three municipality managers responsible for the four selected craft markets. The quantitative data were analyzed using the Statistical Packages for Social Sciences (SPSS) software, and face-to- face interviews were analysed by content analysis. Pushed by the need to survive and pulled by the many tourists in South Africa, African immigrant entrepreneurs turned to the craft business Seasonal and irregular nature of trade, competition, and xenophobia were noted to be the main growth challenges. Recommendations were made to the relevant stakeholders.

Keywords: African immigrant entrepreneur, business growth, survivalist businesses, craft markets, SMEs.
JEL Classification: M10, M13