Educational Background

An examination of the educational attainrnent of the entrepreneurs reveals that 29 percent of them only have elementary/primary school education. This in the Gambia means not more than six years of formai education. A further 26 percent stopped at secondarylhigh school education, while 5 percent (all of them reportedly non-Gambians) had post-secondary/college education (Table 4.11). These statistics therefore show that a good majority of the entrepreneurs had attained sorne level of formai

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education and not completely illiterate, although however, many had dropped out of school at sorne point which raised questions about the extent of literacy level among informai sector entrepreneurs.

At the same time an alarming 40 percent of the entrepreneurs never went to school, and could neither write nor read. Y et illiteracy is certainly a binding constraint to upgrading product quality and diversifying production, bath of which are needed to survive in the sec tor.

Table 4.11: Distribution of the Educational leveVAttainment of the Entrepreneurs by Type of Activitv ( in percentage)

ACTIVITY GROUP

Type of Education TOTAL

Carpentry Metalworking Tie-Dyeing Tailoring

Primary Level 17 38 30 20 29

Secondary/High Level 43 16 50 20 26

College/Uni versi ty 0 5 0 20 5

None 40 41 40 40 40

GROUP TOTAL 100 100 100 100 100

SOURCE: The Survey

RESEARCH FINDING: Although more than half the entrepreneurs had sorne formai educational background, there still is an alarming number of them who never went to school at all.

4.3.5 Source of Skills and Years on Training

Equally important as the entrepreneur's formai educational background is the (type and amount of) formai vocational training he had received. Indeed bath are important for starting and running an activity in the informai sector. However, from an examination of the results obtained on this, (see Table 4.12 overleaf) an overwhelming 95 percent of all the entrepreneurs ( excluding of course, the female entrepreneurs in carpentry workshops who as noted, do not themselves run the enterprises) never received any formai training which is obtained from attending a formai vocationaVtechnical training institution. Accordingly as Table 4.12 reveals, the classic apprenticeship training tends to be the largest of all the conduits through which all entrants into the informai sector could acquire the basic skills and know-how needed to work in, start, and operate an enterprise. The other two

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important but less common sources from-where informai entrants acquire their training are formai based training institutions and the secondary schools. Only about 5 percent (ali in metalworking) and just 3 percent of ali the entrepreneurs have received sorne formai training from either a vocational center and/or from a past secondary school attended.

Table 4 12· Distribution of the Source ofEntreoreneurs' Training bv T:x:ne of Activitv (0;( o-age) Type/Source of Training

The results also reveal that the period of apprenticeship training may not be significantly more than five years. As Table 4.13 below shows, over two-thirds of the sixty entrepreneurs in the sample had at most five years of apprenticeship training while about a third, mostly reported among metalworking enterprises, went beyond five years of the training.

Table 4 13· Distribution showing Years SQent on Training bv T:x:ne of Activity (Qercentage)

ACTIVITY GROUP

Number of years Carpentry Metalworking Tie-Dyeing Tailoring TOTAL

Five Y ears or Less 72 27 100 67 68

More than Five 29 73 0 33 34

GROUP TOTAL ^{100 100 100 100 100}

SOURCE: The Survey

According to evidence from desk research, the average time usualiy devoted by the master to training his apprentices varied between 8-13 percent of the total working time (lLO, 1985). Applying this to the present sample, where enterprises work an average of nine to ten hours each working day, the results indicate that the time the master spends on training the apprentices is just about an hour for

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every working day. One may therefore hazards a guess that five years of training is not too long a training period indeed.

RESEARCH FINDING: Acquisition of the basic skills required to start and run an informai sector enterprise is largely obtained informally via the sector's apprenticeship arrangement. At most five years is needed to complete the apprenticeship.

4.3.6 Past Employment Record

An examination of the past jobs experience of the entrepreneurs reveals that about 33 percent of the entrepreneurs had worked before in formai employment; 63 percent never had (Table 4.14) which suggests that as far as this category is concemed, the informai sector had been the first best option/place to find a job. The results also"indicate that around 4 percent ofthe entrepreneurs work in both the informai and the formai sectors, and are therefore said to be moonlighters seeking additional income from perhaps the less permanent of the two activities they do simultaneously.

Table 4 14· Distribution of the Job Historv/ Record of the Entre.Qreneurs (in _Qercentages) Em.Qloment Record Public Sector Private Formai Grou~ Total

N ev er Worked 74 52 63

Had Worked 22 44 33

Working* 4 4 4

GROUP TOTAL 100 100 100

Source: The Survey

*This indicates the extent of moonlighting practices in the informai sector Other jobs done by the entrepreneurs include farming

The importance of one's job experience is that like his educational background, an entrepreneur's formai job experience enables him to find and create for his enterprise market outlets for its products particularly in the formai sector (Abumere et al1998, p65; Hakam in lLO, 1985 p.26). A finding in a study in Ghana by Hakam showed that entrepreneurs that had work experiences from the formai sector were more dynamic in establishing business contact and are more innovative than their counterparts without ( emphasis added). Also such a persan is more likely to bring into the enterprise,

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training, skills and expertise that could be of help to the enterprises in very many obvious ways, including as shown, the possibility for creàting market outlets for the products of the enterprise.

RESEARCH FINDING: Less than a third of the entrepreneurs had formai employment experience.

For the rest (two-thirds) without that experience, it is obvious that the informai sector was the only place to geta job.

4.4 Business Profile of the Enterprise