Among microenterprises, light manufacturers, in particular, have above average incomes, employment, and growth. Also, they employ on average 3-5 staff compared to the sector average of 2. Black enterprises were found to be overwhelmingly microenterprises that employ fewer than 10 employees. Most new firms were created as a survival strategy for coping with unemployment. Women operate 62 percent of all microenterprises, and their firms tend to be in sectors with the lowest levels of profitability and growth in employment Seventy percent of firms are in commerce and trade, while only 17 percent are in manufacturing, usually food and clothing production.
Street vendors account for almost half of microenterprises.
Only about 7 percent are in light manufacturing. Few owners have worked in the formal sector, and most are unskilled and lack supervisory or managerial experience. Under apartheid, blacks were prohibited from owning land and thus had no access to collateral for loans. Today, access to formal lenders is scarce until the firm exceeds 5 employees and has been in existence for 3-5 years. Only 20 percent have received credit, and the major sources of funding are rotating savings clubs as well as the savings of the owner and of friends and family.