Management Dynamics

Takupiwa Nyanga ¹, Herbert Zirima ², Nhamo Mashavira ¹

Affiliations
1 Department of Human Resource, Management, Julius Nyerere School of Social Sciences, Great Zimbabwe University, ZW
2 Department of Psychology, Julius Nyerere School of Social Sciences, Great Zimbabwe University, ZW

Abstract

COVID 19 has shaken and destabilized the whole world and caused untold suffering of the human kind. It has caused serious business and social tremors that have resulted in several huge financial, materials, psychological and social losses throughout the world. The main thrust of this study was to explore the survival strategies that were employed by informal traders in Masvingo urban, Zimbabwe. A qualitative approach, which utilized a multiple case design, was utilized to carry out the study. The study population comprised all cross border traders in Masvingo urban. A sample of 15, 9 female and 6 Male, informal traders were selected using the snow balling sampling technique. All the selected participants were in the business of buying and selling clothes, electrical goods, groceries and foreign currency trading. A 13 item interview guide was used to solicit data from participants. Data was analysed using the thematic data analysis method. The study found out that flexibility and use online applications enabled informal traders to remain afloat during the COVID-19 disruptions. Traders sold their goods in foreign currency mainly the USD and South African rand, ICT aided trading systems. The other strategy adopted to survive included relocation of businesses to growth points and other business centres in rural areas and high density suburbs. Future studies should quantitatively assess the impact of COVID-19 disruptions on the informal sector.

Keywords

COVID 19, Informal Traders, Businesses, Coping Strategies, Lockdown.

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