Micro-Enterprise: An Example

Micro-Enterprise: An Example

Spaza shops are informal conveniencestores that offer a variety of goods, largely consisting of snack foods and drinks. Shebeens are similar shops, but revolve heavily around alcohol sales.Spaza shops and shebeens offer valuable information in regard to what goods are commonly available in the community as well as pricing of products. This information proved to be particularly helpful when purchasing and pricing potential stock for the kiosk.

Although some shops are smaller and more informal, they offer a variety of services. (Photo credit: Van der Wath)

While these micro-enterprises provided great examples of how to lay the foundation for an informal business, there are some drawbacks.  For example, many of these enterprises are illegal which limits their ability to expand.  Our project team aimed to file all proper paperwork as well as follow all legal processes to lay the foundation for success.

A business model that is firmly established within Langrug and other informal settlements is a micro-enterprise. While this model was not considered for this project, there are important lessons that were learned from it. A micro-enterprise is an informal business that operates much like a small business, but on a smaller scale. Two primary examples of widely implemented micro-enterprise models are spaza shops and shebeens.