3.3. The Adopted Methodology ............................................................................................................................................. 4 1
3.3.3. The Survey
The survey was the main methodological approach used in this study to investigate bath quantitative and qualitative factors or variables. Actual survey began in late June 1998 with the deployment of research assistants to the sixty enterprises previously identified and ended in early July 1998. It involved two types of interviews, namely, structured and unstructured. Structured interviews were based on the questionnaire as the primary tool survey. The questionnaire had bath closed and open-ended questions, with the latter designed to capture the range of possible responses that were never anticipated in the early phase of questionnaire design. With the collaboration of the assistants, interviews were undertaken in local languages and with enterprise owners, holders, or entrepreneurs, terms that are used interchangeably in this study.
Shortly after formai interviews ended, unstructured or informai interviews were conducted through total self-effort, and involved a quarter of the initial sample. In informai interviews, respondents had the opportunity to express themselves on issues which had not been included in the questionnaire but which (later) proved to have an important bearing on the study.
In the case of structured interviews, it was decided not to mail questionnaires to respondents. This is because educational levels among enterprise holders, had been presumed to be generally too low to enable them complete and return the questionnaires. Moreover, mailed questionnaires often face complications arising from high non-returns, expensive and time-consuming call-backs that this study tried to avoid. During the survey, information was collected on the following variables as surnmarised in tabular form below.
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3.3.4 Survey Data Variables and Structure
A vera ge monthly incarne of enterprise Items _covered by expenditure of enterprise
Direction of change of the business volume of the enterprise Pricing methods
3.3.5 Data Analysis
With the assistance of a qualified statistician at the Central Statistics Office (CSO) in Banjul, data was analysed using computer software called SPSS. The SPSS was developed to facilitate, among other things, the processing and statistical analysis of data obtained from social studies and field research.
Installed at the CSO, it has been used most extensively in information and data processing such as those obtained from national censuses and household surveys.
Database and dictionary was created first before being passed unto SPSS for analysis. A complementary software called IMPS Version 3-also located at the CSO-was used for this purpose.
3.3.6 Scope ofthe Study
Although the central theme in this study relates to the informai sector as a whole, the specifie focus is small enterprises involved in small-scale production and manufacturing activities, otherwise called the manufacturing sub-sector. The activities covered in the study are presumed to form part of the productive components of the informai sector, and whose potentials could be enhanced through judicious injection of funds and/or technical assistance. Finally, because it involves a specifie urban area, the study's coverage cannot therefore be considered as nation-wide.
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CHAPTER FOUR: PRESENTATION OF RESULTS & SURVEY DATA ANALYSIS
4.1 Introduction
This Chapter presents the findings obtained from the survey of the sixty small-scale production/manufacturing enterprises that constitute the study sample. It is divided into four main sections, each further sub-divided. In the first three sections, we simplify the analysis by identifying three sides to an enterprise by first giving a profile of physical attributes of the enterprise (re garding its age, labour force size, location, registration status, as well as the age, skills, and gender dimension of the labour therein, etc). Next, the profile of the entrepreneurs (whose home, educational and previous work experience among others, all tend to influence entry into and the way in which businesses are run), and lastly of the operational (i.e. beyond the physical) attributes or features ofthe enterprise in what becomes labeled as the business (here one looks at such areas as the capital and assets base of the enterprises, their incomes levels and spending, the modes of financing, input sourcing, production, and marketing). And finally, the fourth section brings out the typical problems and constraints identified from both the questionnaire responses and the field interviews.
4.2. Profile of the Enterprise
4.2.1 Age and Ownership ofthe Enterprises
As far as the age of the enterprises is concerned, it was discovered that 33 percent started operation before 1985; in fact a few at about the same period the Gambia became independent in 1965. This evidence therefore suggests that informality is not a recent phenomenon in the Gambia. The results indicate however that phenomenal increase, involving up to two-thirds of the enterprise, occurred after 1985 with the adoption of SAP in the Gambia to which the increase may in part be attributable.
Certainly a number of public and private sector workers lost their jobs as a result of retrenchment.
Moreover, SAP has led to dwindling opportunities for job seekers seeking formai employment. The
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evolving army of unemployed labour had no alternative but to seek solace in the informai sector ' swelling it up in the process.
RESEARCH FINDING: The informai sector is not a recent phenomenon in the Gambia. It gained rapid momentum though after 1985 with the adoption of SAP and a phenomenal increase in the number of enterprises. Meanwhile, ownership of the enterprises is of the single-owner type.
4.2.2 Size
Regarding their size, the results confirm that informai sector enterprises are generally small in terms of the nurnber of workers they employ per enterprise. As shown in Table 4.1 below, just a little more than half of the enterprises (52 percent) h~ve five or less workers per enterprise. This is particularly most common among tie-dyeing and tailoring workshops. The rest of the sample by contrast, has more than five workers per establishment, with about half of the category having more than ten workers per enterprise. A close review of this information shows that the relatively more highly capital-intensive enterprises, ali observably in metalwork and carpentry, tend to require more workforce than the rest, in this case tailoring and dyeing workshops, where work is generally simpler,
and less technical or manual.
Table 4 1· Size Distribution ofEnteœrises by TYQe of Activi!Y
..
(in oercentages)SIZE ACTIVITY GROUP
Carpentty Metalworking Tie-dyeing Tailoring TOTAL
Pive or less workers 20 27 67 94 52
Between five and ten 33 40 27 6 26
More than ten workers 47 33 7 0 21
GROUP TOTAL 100 100 100 100 100
SOURCE: The Survey
RESEARCH FINDING: More than two-thirds of the sample have less than ten workers per enterprise. It appears that the enterprise has need for more workers, the more sophisticated the nature of the work is.
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4.2.3 Registration Status
On the issue of their registration status, the distribution derived and shawn in Table 4.2 reveals and confirms that up to 92 percent of the surveyed enterprises are unofficial. They do not hold a business permit or any other form of authorization for their operation. On the contrary, only 8 percent are said to have registered, although this is to be interpreted with sorne care. Given the ever-present suspicion between researchers and informai operators, the latter often give misleading responses to questions they consider as especially sensitive or implicative. In spi te of this passing observation however, the main point conveyed here is that: the overwhelming majority of the surveyed enterprises are not registered, and are not be en integrated with the rest of the economy.
Table 4 2· Registration Status of the Enterorises bv TYQe of Activity
..
(in gercentage)Status ACTIVITY GROUP
TOTAL
Carpentry Metalworkin Tie-Dyeing Tailoring
Registered 0 20 0 13 8
Umegistered 100 80 100 87 92
GROUP TOTAL 100 100 100 100 100
SOURCE: The Survey
Although there can be various reasons why informai sector enterprises do not register, five have been identified and listed in Table 4.3 overleaf. In other words, the choice of an informai sector enterprise to remain outside the control of the goyernment by avoiding registration is premised on sorne considerations. The first of these relates to a claim by 33 percent of the entrepreneurs with little or knowledge of the procedures for registration. This is followed by other explanations, including those in which time and cast considerations are over-riding. Sorne merely consider the process as an unnecessary, non-beneficiai burden. AU these however point to one important conclusion; avoidance of registration is largely regarded as an important cast-cutting element in the firms' profit-maximization behaviour.
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The importance of registration for an informai sector enterprise cornes through two studies. Abumere in his study of Eastern Nigeria, found that businesses that are registered with either a state agency or a cooperative, had a relatively strong and stable linkage with the formai and the rest of the economy (emphasis added). His choice of registration as a variable in a regression he carried out has been premised on the argument that registration confers on the enterprise sorne degree of formality, recognition, and reliability (Abumere et al, 1998. p65).
Table 4 3· Reasons for non registration .. - (in declining arder ofim,Qortance)
REAS ONS RESPONSE (%) MOST REPORTED IN Do not know how to go about registration 33 Carpentry
Expensive to register (monetary) 28 Tailoring
Registration is not necessary* 20 Carpentry
Business is financially weak to register 15 Metal work Fear the process takes too long to complete 4 Metal Work
TOTAL 100
SOURCE: The Survey
* Besides cost and time implications of registering one's business, sorne respondents felt the process rnight not bring them direct benefits in return from the state collecting registration fees.
RESEARCH FINDING: More than three-fourths of ail the enterprises surveyed have not registered with either the state or any other outside private cooperative. Many reported they do not lmow how to go about the procedure to registering one's business.
4.2.4 Location of the Enterprise
The results indicate that over two-thirds of the enterprises are located inside rented premises. As Table 4.4 overleafindicates, 68 percent fall into this category. They pay an average ofD325 (roughly
$33) as rent per month, which many regard as high and often problematic. The results further reveal that only 12 percent are located on the owner's premises. 17 percent operate on land owned by a relative while 3 percent, use a premise that no one in particular (perhaps the state or municipal authorities) owns, and may therefore be regarded as encroachers of municipal land which risk in turn
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to be encroached upon by the same municipal authorities in the name of city/town planning. In this way, many such enterprises may be said to be facing sorne significant degree of insecurity regarding their location.
The study observes that, as regards the type of facilities found inside the enterprises, most, with the exception of those involved in tie-dyeing, had electric fittings. Only a few though had water or telephone, or both at the same time.
Table 4 4· Nature of the Location of the Enterorises bv TJ:2e of Activi:ty .. (in oercentage)
TYPE OF PREMISES ACTIVITY GROUP
ON WHICH LOCATED TOTAL
Carpentry Metalworking Tie-Dyeing Tailoring
Rented premise 80 93 7 93 68
Owner-occupied premise 13 7 20 7 12
Relative's land 0 0 67 0 17
Other 7 0 7 0 3
GROUP TOTAL 100 100 100 100 100
Ave. Rent Per Month D363 D334 D160 D298 D325
SOURCE: The Survey
RESEARCH FINDING: Over two-thirds of the enterprises are operating on rented premises and paying about D325 a month.
4.2.5. Age Structure of the Labour
With respect to the age structure regarding the labour found inside the enterprises, the results show that the overwhelming majority are below twenty-one years. Adult workers of ages above twenty were found in Iess than a third of the enterprises. It can therefore be concluded that a generally young workforce mans informai sector enterprises, on the basis of the study's sample. The risk associated with such an age structure is that many do _not work for the same enterprise for more than three years, either because they Iack the commitment to stay, or are often in sorne rush to want to establish a
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similar activity on their own. The latter expiains in part why the informai sector can be further replicated in many cities.
RESEARCH FINDING: Labour (workers) in over two-thirds of the enterprises are below twenty years old. This suggests that many of the entrants to the informai sector as weil as those that assist in the work are indeed very young.
Table 4 5 · The Age Distribution of Workers ( excluding entreoreneu ) b T
..
rs y Y2eo C lVIAGE GROUP ACTIVITY GROUP
Carpentry Metalworking Tie-Dyeing Taiioring TOTAL
7- 12 7 0 36 36 20
13- 19 79 64 43 64 62
20- 26 14 29 21 0 16
27 and above 0 7 0 0 2
GROUP TOTAL 100 100 100 100 100
SOURCE: The Survey
4.2.6 Skills LeveZ and Qualification
0
Of particular importance to the productivity of any informai activity is the quality of the skills available inside the enterprises. In this study however, it is discovered that only about a third of the overall workforce had already undergone, completed and acquired sorne form of technical training.
Not surprising perhaps because of their low age, about 96 percent of all such workers obtained the training informally as Table 4.6 shows. The results indicate on the other hand, that a Iarger proportion of the workforce has not yet reached the status ofbeing described as quaiified. In other words, around two-thirds of the entire workforce are trainees/apprentices. And it is precisely against this observation that one concludes here that not oniy are skills Iow and undifferentiated, the majority of the workforce have not attained the Ievei of skills considered sufficient for informai sector operations. In addition, there are sorne noteworthy criticisms against the very informai apprenticeship system through which skills are diffused and accessed in the informai sector. Certainiy, because apprenticeship training
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simply passes on known practices, the skills of its graduates tend to be based on emulation rather than innovation, a sure recipe for noncompetitive production.
Table 4 6· .. Distribution of the Source(s) of Training of the Alreadv Skill db T - e y YQe o fA C lVl V f t (o/c) 0
SOURCE ACTIVITY GROUP
TOTAL
Carpentry Metalworking Tie-Dyeing Tailoring
Formai Vocational 0 16 0 0 4
Informai Apprenticeship 100 84 100 100 96
GROUP TOTAL 100 100 100 100 100
SOURCE. The Survey
RESEARCH FINDING: Less than a third of the workforce inside the enterprises have completed training, almost ali via the classic apprenticeship system. The remaining two-thirds of the workforce have not completed training yet.
4.2.7 Gender composition of labour
In general, while women constitute a significant number in urban informai activities, the results obtained on the gender composition of labour suggest that production activities are male dominated.
Table 4 7· Gender Distribution ofWorkers by TYQe of Activitv
..
(in oercentage)GENDER ACTIVITY GROUP
TOTAL
Carpentry Metalworking Tie-dyeing Tailoring
F emale workers 0 7 87 7 25
Male workers 100 93 13 93 75
GROUP TOTAL 100 100 100 100 100
SOURCE: The Survey
As the Table above shows, female workers are found in only 25 percent of the enterprises alongside sorne male workers. The remaining 75 percent of the enterprises are entirely male-composed.
One possible explanation for the gender imbalance demonstrated above may be due to societal factors, which often artificially demarcate between the different activities that men an women can do.
In the Gambia for example, while activities such as tailoring, carpentry and metalworking have long
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been male dominated areas. Similarly, tie-dyeing has ever been a female dominated activity. It does appear from the results therefore that societal influence is still a major player in limiting entry by one sex into an activity traditionally meant for the other. Beside this contention, it is obvious also that women prefer to work in activities that are doser to their home, and/or require very little use of physical or manual power. Moreover they also choose to work in activities whose produce (goods or services) mainly target a female dominated clientele.
RESEARCH FINDING: There are more male workers than there are females. This bias may be explained by different factors, not least societal factors which still seem influential at demarcating activities on sex lines.
4.3. Profile of the Entrepreneur 4.3.1. Age
An examination of the age structure of the entrepreneurs reveals that the modal age is forty years.
This involves around 68 percent of the entrepreneurs. According to the results, the youngest reported age among them is twenty-one. These statistics therefore paint a picture that shows an overwhelming two-thirds number of entrepreneurs who may not remain actively involved in running the enterprise.
The high modal age demonstrated in the sàmple has obvious implications for the enterprises' future as one asks this question: what will happen to the enterprise if the entrepreneur had left, through ill-health or death?
It is the view of this study that an informai enterprise could survive beyond its owner through two means: (i) sale to an outsider (here one should expect that entrepreneurs in the same industry or, entrepreneurs in general, will be on the 'look-out' for opportunities to expand their business by acquiring similar businesses), and (ii) passing on the enterprise by sale or bequest to subordinate workers. Y et, it is widely accepted that none of the two means seems to be happening to any great extent in the informai sector. And so many enterprises may demise after their owners.
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RESEARCH FINDING: The modal (most reported) age of entrepreneurs in this study is forty and slightly more.
4.3.2: Nationality
The sample reveals that 60 percent of the entrepreneurs are Gambians (Table 4.8) as against 40 percent who are non-Gambian from countries in the sub-region and most notably, Senegal, Guinea Conakry and Sierra Leone. This statistics therefore reveals that over half the enterprises are owned and operated by Gambians, which is the contrary of a 1980 finding by an ILO/JASP A study in the Gambia in which more than half the 222 informai sector establishments surveyed were owned by non-Gambian (see surnmary in OECD, 1991). In spite of this change however, a closer look at the distribution shawn in Table 4.8 reveals that there is still a significant amount of foreign ownership of informai establishments in the country. This seems particularly so within the metalworking and tailoring activities in which non-Gambians (Table 4.8) almost twice outnumber Gambian entrepreneurs.
RESEARCH FINDING: More than half the surveyed enterprises are owned and operated by Gambian entrepreneurs.
Table 4 8· .. Distribution of the Nationality of the Entregreneurs by TYQe of Activitv (%-age)
NATIONALITY ACTIVITY GROUP
Carpentry Metalworking Tie-Dyeing Tailoring TOTAL
Garn bian 73 40 93 33 60
Other West African 27 60 7 67 40
GROUP TOTAL 100 100 100 100 100
SOURCE: The Survey
4.3.3 Gender and Marital Status
Like in the case of their composition of the overall workforce, there are far fewer women entrepreneurs in manufacturing/production activities than men. This is drawn from the results, which reveals that female entrepreneurs own less than a quarter of all the enterprises in the sample (23 percent) as compared to male entrepreneurs found in around 77 percent of the enterprises (Table 4.9).
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A rather interesting discovery shown in the Table is that female entrepreneurs own sorne 7 percent of the carpentry workshops. However, it should be noted that the woman simply provides the capital and hires/employs a qualified male worker (usually a relative) to operate the workshop on her behalf.
Table 4 9· Gender Distribution ofEntreoreneurs bv TYQe of Activitv ( .. mQercen age t )
GENDER ACTIVITY GROUP
Carpentry Metalworking Tie-Dyeing Tailoring TOTAL
Male 93 100 20 93 77
Female 1 0 80 7 23
GROUP TOT 100 100 100 100 100
SOURCE: The Survey
Table 4.10: Distribution of the Marital Status of the EntreQreneur by TYQe of Activity
Marital Status of the GROUP TOTAL
Entrepreneur
Married 83
Single 17
GROUP TOTAL 100
SOURCE: The Survey
Regarding the marital status of entrepreneurs, the results shown in Table 4.10 reveal that 83 percent or about three-fourths of all the entrepreneurs are married with, as many have described it, significant
Regarding the marital status of entrepreneurs, the results shown in Table 4.10 reveal that 83 percent or about three-fourths of all the entrepreneurs are married with, as many have described it, significant