Social media – gate way to informal business growth

 In the African continent over 85% are employed within the informal sector. In South Africa informal sector contributes 20% of total employment in the country. Young people make up the largest proportion of those functioning in the informal economy (95.8%, ages 15-24).

Although the informal sector is said to be largely made up of unemployed youth who enter this space as a survival strategy. When we flip the coin to the other side; we find that there is light at the end of the tunnel. Think about it for a minute; Mark Zuckerberg the founder of Facebook, started the social media  platform whilst at Harvard in 2004 at the age of 19 for students to match names with photos of classmates. This age group 15 – 19 could be the time for young people to start thinking outside the box and try different opportunities; then use social media to market their offerings. 

About 20 to 22 million people in South Africa use a smartphone, which accounts for about one third of the country’s population. The overall number of mobile connections is much higher though with more than 90 million. Most young people are on social media, but do not use it as effective for commercial benefit.

With more youth on social media, this could be a huge boost in advertising their offerings and building brand advocacy. YouTube for example has tutorials available for free, that can assist in building digital skills that will make the young peopleemployable in the future, is one way of taking advantage of having access to a smartphone device and internet connectivity. 

Using social media effectively to grow one’s informal business is also an opportunity to build a portfolio that may be used in the future when entering the job market. With the digital marketing industry constantly shifting due to new trends and newer platforms coming up, keeping abreast with the advancements and progress can be beneficial if the platforms are used to increase their market share in a particular geographic location. 

According to a recent ICT skills survey, South Africa has a skills shortage of around 77,000 high-value digital jobs and currently outsources 300,000 tech jobs to overseas workers. This shortage is impeding the growth of the economy and stifling innovation.

Using social media for advertising and marketing is not necessarily eCommerce, however, it is worth noting that in 2021 South Africa saw about 23.6 million people shop online. It shows that more and more people are turning to online shopping as a convenient and cost-effective way to purchase goods and services. And the sourcing food and fuel prices, not forgetting the impact of loadshedding, will see more people looking for cheaper options when it comes to eating out, buying goods and clothing. Thus, creating an opportunity for the informal sector to take full advantage of the current economic challenges.