Author(s): Joseph Chikwendu Ezennia, Emmanuel Mutambara
African immigrant-owned micro businesses struggle for survival amidst many challenges in the course of their entrepreneurship in Durban. Notwithstanding these challenges, they have continued to strive beyond expectations. Hence, the need to investigate the factors influencing the sustainability and sustainment of the African immigrant-owned micro businesses in Durban, South Africa. A quantitative approach was adopted with a total sample of 368 participants. The use of questionnaire was employed for data collection and cluster sampling technique was used. A maximum number of 338 questionnaires were returned. The factors investigated were; sociological factors, psychological factors, innovation factors and the need for high achievement factors. Data gathered was analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS), version 25.0 and inferential statistics.
The results revealed that all four factors (sociological, psychological, innovation and the need for higher achievement factors) have positive significant influence on African immigrant-owned micro businesses in Durban, with innovation factors being more pronounced. The study contributes to the sources of growth and sustainability of small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs), especially the African immigrant-owned micro businesses in Durban South Africa, by highlighting the inherent factors influencing the micro businesses. The study therefore, made the following recommendations as measures to propagate the sustainment of the African immigrant-owned micro businesses, namely acquisition of managerial skills; education, training and development; identification of business opportunities generating innovative ideas, identification of suitable business locations and creation of enabling business environment, for African immigrant-owned micro businesses.