Spaza economy in South Africa essentially consists of small, unregistered businesses operating as street vendors and in-home businesses established on residential sites (often termed spaza shops or tuck shops in South Africa). This informal economy contributes about 5.2% to SA’s GDP and employs more than 2.6-million people, many of them women. Although no accurate data on the survival of spaza business is available, it is estimated that up to 50% of new competitors are unable to sustain their businesses for longer than five years.
Whereas the retail market in South Africa is dominated by big retailers and this formal retail sector provides formal employment to 3mn people, it is estimated that an equal number of jobs are created by the spaza economy and .that it contributes R9 billion to the economy per annum
Significant challenges faced by the Spaza economy include
Spazary is a digital transformation and aggregation platform for this informal economy – aiming to bridge the digital divide at the last mile of product market value chain. The platform offers:
Spazary, the digital platform for the last mile informal sector in South Africa, comes from a joint initiative between InQube Innoventures Limited, a digital transformation company based in the United Kingdom and Ghalas Technologies Limited, a strategy and technical consulting company based in South Africa.
Copyright © 2021 www.spazary.com All rights reserved.
