The geography of women’s informal entrepreneurial activities in urban Zambia: place, mobility and locational decision-making

Abstract

Informal entrepreneurship constitutes an essential source of income for women in sub-Saharan Africa. Research has indicated the importance of location to the productivity of informal enterprises, yet we know little about the geography of African women’s entrepreneurial activities and associated decision-making. This article studies how female slum dwellers in Lusaka organise their entrepreneurial activities spatially and how they justify associated locational choices. The study found a substantial variety in spatial arrangements although proximity to the home often took precedence over other business-related considerations. The ability to overcome or take advantage of geography when carrying out business was clearly bound up in wider relationships pertaining to gender, poverty and regulatory frameworks. Important factors contributing to satisfying business-related locational needs included a strong intra-household bargaining position, the ability to outsource reproductive work, social networks, access to financial resources and uneven regulation of space in the residential settlement. This article was published open access under a CC BY licence: https://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0 .