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Debt financing the capital requirements of South African informal market traders

South African Journal of Economic and Management Sciences | 2010

Paper Details

Authors:

DOI: 10.4102/sajems.v13i3.105

Journal: South African Journal of Economic and Management Sciences

Year: 2010

Publisher: AOSIS (pty) Ltd

Document Type: Article

Open Access: All Open Access; Gold Open Access; Green Open Access

Cited by: 2

Abstract

This paper describes a case study that was undertaken to determine whether formal sector personal debt financing might contribute to the funding of South African informal market traders. The case study was conducted at the Natalspruit informal market in Ekhurhuleni, Gauteng. Quantitative questionnaire surveys and a financial diaries project established that market traders in the market have capital requirements large enough to justify the use of formal sector debt financing, can generate sufficient operating profits to pay for formal sector debt financing and would be willing to utilise formal sector debt financing if given the opportunity. However, formal sector debt financing is most relevant to those informal market traders with the skills and motivation to utilise financing effectively and who are willing to inject more formality into their businesses.

Keywords

Informal markets; Informal trading; Micro enterprise finance