A Case Study of Black African Immigrant Entrepreneurship in Inner City Johannesburg Using the Mixed Embeddedness Approach

In inner city Johannesburg, South Africa, there is evidence that discrimination, previous ownership of a business in country of origin, and transnational networks play a significant role in the formation and growth of Black African immigrant entrepreneurships, but a careful analysis proves that the wider economic and institutional-political framework plays an important role. Consequently, this case study of Black African immigrant entrepreneurships illuminates these frameworks and regulatory regimes and their enforcement or lack of it, which influence these entrepreneurships. This complex space within which Black African immigrant entrepreneurships occur is best understood through the mixed embeddedness approach.