Mobile phones, informal markets and young urban entrepreneurs in Zimbabwe: An Exploratory Study

ABSTRACT This study of the uses of mobile phones by Zimbabwean youths engaged in unregulated informal trading in Central Harare shows that mobiles create socio-culturally embedded virtual and non-virtual ‘markets’. The study describes the novel and creative appropriations of mobile phones as informal traders navigate small-scale business opportunities. The theory of social networks and collective action was used to shed a light on how mobile phones help informal traders to create functional networks and virtual infrastructures through which reciprocal and mutual relations are established without the need for face-to-face contacts. The study demonstrates that these mobile virtual infrastructures not only create closely knit communities resembling traditional African ‘collective cultures’ but also help informal traders to access micro-credit, market intelligence among peers and mobile payments integrated with traditional banking platforms.