Abstract

CRUSH, Jonathan  and  MCCORDIC, Cameron. Comparing Refugee and South African Migrant Enterprise in the Urban Informal Sector. AHMR [online]. 2017, vol.3, n.2, pp.820-853. ISSN 2410-7972.

Comparisons between the informal business operations of South Africans and international migrants are increasingly common. The conventional wisdom is that survivalist South Africans are being displaced by entrepreneurial migrants with a long tradition of informal enterprise. This paper is the first attempt to explicitly compare the informal enterprises established by refugees and South African migrants in urban areas. The paper is based on a comparative analysis of over 2,000 refugee and South African informal enterprises. The stereotyping of refugees in public discourse as undermining and destroying South African competitors is far-removed from the reality. The idea that refugees have a competitive advantage as experienced entrepreneurs is also clearly fallacious. Refugees are extremely motivated, hard-working and dedicated, and employ a number of legitimate business strategies to achieve success. To suggest, on the other hand, that South African migrants are poor business people is equally fallacious. While refugees seem able to access greater amounts of start-up capital (although neither they nor South Africans can access formal bank loans), both groups are seemingly able to grow their businesses. Thus, there is a need for much greater nuance in policy and academic discussions about the impact of refugee migration on the South African informal economy.

Keywords : Informal sector; business strategies; xenophobia; refugee entrepreneurs; South African migrant entrepreneurs.

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