Supporting tomorrow’s talent by exploring entrepreneurial activities and innovation in the Kenyan informal economy

Description

Across the roadsides and homes of the Global South, millions of micro and small enterprises serve as vital sources of income for some of the most vulnerable individuals in society. Many of these businesses operate within the informal economy, a sector that accounts for over 61 percent of global employment and nearly 86 percent of employment in Africa (ILO, 2018).

Existing research shows how informal enterprises typically engage in licit economic activities but often remain unregistered, lacking formal regulatory compliance in areas such as taxation, labour rights, and business licensing.

Despite these challenges, the informal economy plays a crucial role in local and national economies, offering livelihoods to those with limited access to formal employment. International development agendas, including the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), highlight the importance of understanding and addressing the dynamics of informality.

In Kenya, the informal economy is deeply embedded in economic and social structures, with estimates suggesting that up to 60 percent of formal businesses rely on goods and services from informal enterprises. This sector is so widespread and institutionalized that it is commonly referred to as Jua Kali, a Kiswahili term meaning ‘hot sun’. Given the prevalence and significance of informality, many Kenyan and African scholars are actively researching its complexities.

This project - Supporting Tomorrow's Talent - seeks to foster collaboration among academics and practitioners to explore entrepreneurial activities and innovation within the informal economy. It comprises two components. The first is the development of a global community of scholars interested in informal economy entrepreneurship, alongside associated knowledge exchange activities. The second component undertakes a joint research project that focuses on key actors, particularly women entrepreneurs running micro-bakeries, that aims to provide new insights into the challenges, opportunities, and ecosystem dynamics shaping informal entrepreneurship.

This project is funded by the British Council and the International Science Partnerships Fund (ISPF).

Research overview

This collaboration between the Universities of Nairobi and Leeds initiates research and a capacity-building research network that shines a light on entrepreneurial activities amongst the most vulnerable in society, who operate within what is known as the informal economy.

This is the unregulated, untaxed economy most Kenyans interact with on a daily basis for income generation or sourcing everyday items.

Understanding the nuanced dynamics of these entrepreneurs and their businesses is vital in working towards SDGs such as decent work or poverty alleviation. This collaboration extends prior activities to facilitate the development of "Tomorrow's Talent" in a co-created manner, of a unique network of informal economy researchers from within Kenya, across Africa, and globally.

It utilizes a hybrid approach that mixes online capacity building and collaboration-building activities that facilitate widespread inclusion, with targeted developmental activities for Kenyan academics through in-person workshops, mentoring, staff exchanges, and knowledge exchange.

The team will co-create new knowledge and theory on informal economy entrepreneurship through a set of fieldwork activities. The main element of this uses access to a unique group of women entrepreneurs who operate micro-bakeries in the informal economy. It researches their entrepreneurial ecosystem, experiences, and facilitating factors to make critical contributions to our existing knowledge and theory base on entrepreneurship and innovations in such marginalized contexts.

Working with this community also offers opportunities to explore aspects of food security in these vulnerable contexts.

The programme will have an impact in both the short and medium term, on individuals, policy, or practice, either directly through the targeted developmental activities or through impact generated through the research outputs of the collaborative team and the wider network.

Joining the network

If you are interested in the project and being part of the global informal economy research network, join our mailing this by filling in this form.

Contact

Professor Diane Holt