Research project
Entrepreneurial learning at the margins: developing enterprise skills in the informal rural economy - unlocking tomorrow's talent
- Start date: 1 January 2026
- End date: 31 December 2027
- Principal investigator: Dr Peter Gittins
- Co-investigators: Dr Selorm Agbleze, Professor Diane Holt
Description
This project is funded by the British Council through the International Science Partnerships Fund (ISPF), Application ID 2675. The project is led by the University of Leeds in collaboration with the University of Pretoria, with support from South Africa’s Agricultural Research Council.
Our project explores how entrepreneurial learning takes place within South Africa’s rural informal economy, focusing particularly on farmers, informal rural entrepreneurs, and agricultural stakeholders operating under conditions of constraint.
While entrepreneurial learning models are well established within mainstream entrepreneurship literature, far less is known about how these learning processes emerge in Global South rural contexts where formal institutions, training infrastructures, and market support systems are often weak or unevenly developed. The project therefore seeks to better understand how enterprise-related skills, knowledge, and capabilities are developed at the margins of the formal economy.
The research combines interviews, ethnographic engagement, stakeholder collaboration, and capacity-building activities across selected rural regions of South Africa. Alongside generating academic insights, the project aims to support practitioner and policy discussions relating to entrepreneurial learning, rural development, and enterprise support in marginalised rural contexts.
Research overview
The project will involve qualitative fieldwork across selected rural regions of South Africa, exploring entrepreneurial learning, informal enterprise activity, and rural livelihoods through interviews, stakeholder engagement, and ethnographic approaches.
Alongside the research itself, the project includes a strong capacity-building dimension aimed particularly at postgraduate and early-career researchers working in areas such as informal economies, rural enterprise, rural development, and entrepreneurial learning.
The project operates across two parallel strands:
- The development of qualitative research and associated outputs, including journal articles, blog posts, practitioner materials, and webinars
- A programme of collaborative capacity-building activities designed to support international networking and researcher development. These activities will include eight workshops delivered across the project, mentoring and knowledge-exchange opportunities, and a planned 2027 visit to the University of Leeds involving delegates from South Africa.
Publications and outputs
Events
- Interdisciplinary capacity-building workshop – “Funding Interdisciplinary Research: Learning from our British Council ISPF Funding Bid”.
The event focused on grant development and funding strategies for postgraduate and early-career researchers and was attended by researchers from a range of social science disciplines, including business, sustainability, sociology, geography, and law.