Across South Africa, entrepreneurship pulses in taxi ranks, township streets, rural markets, and roadside stalls. It’s in the everyday hustle of informal traders, spaza shop owners, street vendors, and small service providers that the real economy lives and breathes.
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These entrepreneurs feed communities, create jobs, and drive the culture of resilience that defines South African enterprise.
“South Africa’s informal economy is full of innovation and hard work - it just needs access,” says Thulani Ngwenya, founder of AltarPOS, a locally built digital payment platform.
“Our mission has always been to make digital tools simple enough for anyone to use, no matter where they live or what they sell. Whether you’re running a small shop in the loxion or trading from a rural village, you deserve access to the same safe and transparent systems as any formal business.”
For many traders, access remains the biggest challenge. Cash dominates townships and rural areas because it is immediate and familiar, but it carries hidden costs: theft, lack of records, and barriers to broader financial inclusion.
For small entrepreneurs, relying solely on cash often means remaining invisible to formal institutions, unable to build a credit history or access loans to grow their ventures.
As South Africa moves toward a digital economy, the question is not whether small businesses can adapt, but whether technology can meet them where they are.
Locally developed solutions such as AltarPOS are part of this transformation, offering business owners a way to accept payments digitally without expensive infrastructure. Using only a smartphone, traders can create a personalised payment page linked to a QR code, which customers scan to pay instantly.
The simplicity removes barriers, saves time, and reduces the risks of handling cash.
The benefits extend beyond convenience. Traceable transactions give small businesses visibility. Digital records allow a trader to prove income, apply for microfinance, or plan stock purchases with greater confidence. For entrepreneurs long excluded from traditional banking systems, this opens doors to new opportunities and pathways to growth.
South Africa’s informal economy is built on relationships - trust, word of mouth, and reputation. Any digital system that succeeds here must preserve that spirit. Platforms like AltarPOS recognise this, embedding the philosophy of ubuntu - “I am because we are.”
Whether contributing to a family gathering, supporting a neighbour’s business, or helping with school fees, money in these communities is often an expression of care and solidarity.
Digital tools that respect this reality do more than modernise transactions; they strengthen community bonds. When someone in Johannesburg can send money to a small vendor in Limpopo, or a street trader can receive payments from customers abroad, the boundaries of possibility expand.
Technology becomes a connector rather than a divider, bridging tradition and modernity.
The path to an inclusive digital economy will not be easy, but it is essential. Small and micro businesses make up the majority of South Africa’s entrepreneurial landscape, contributing significantly to employment and local development.
Ignoring their needs in the digital transition would leave a vital part of the economy behind. The more entrepreneurs are empowered with tools that understand their world, the stronger and more inclusive South Africa’s economy will become.
