Informality, pluralism, and entrepreneurial agency in sub-Saharan Africa: A TVET case study

Abstract

Mainstream entrepreneurship scholarship and policy discourse frequently treat informal enterprise as a transitional or deficient form of economic organization, one to be corrected through formalization. This paper challenges that premise. Drawing on a qualitative case study of seven informal entrepreneurs embedded in Nigeria's Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) ecosystem, and grounded in the theoretical frameworks of bricolage and effectuation, we argue that informality constitutes a coherent, contextually rational, and innovation-bearing entrepreneurial logic rather than a deviation from formal market ideals. The seven cases, drawn from sectors including fashion, agribusiness, cosmetics, carpentry, photography, and environmental technology, collectively demonstrate how informal entrepreneurs operate through means-driven decision-making, resource improvisation, social network reliance, and iterative adaptation under conditions of institutional weakness and resource scarcity. These behavioral patterns align closely with bricolage (the creative recombination of available resources to generate value under constraint) and effectuation (flexible, contingency-driven action that shapes opportunity rather than predicting it), while diverging markedly from the planning-and-optimization logic underpinning Western entrepreneurship models. The paper advances three contributions. First, it theorizes informality on its own terms, resisting the deficit framing embedded in neoliberal formalization agendas. Second, it situates bricolage and effectuation within institutionally weak and socially embedded African contexts, extending both frameworks beyond their original cognitive and organizational applications. Third, by analyzing the influx of university-educated professionals into informal TVET-linked trades, the paper challenges the assumption that informal entrepreneurship is driven exclusively by necessity or low human capital. The findings carry implications for entrepreneurship theory, decolonial epistemology, and the design of context-sensitive TVET and enterprise support policies across sub-Saharan Africa.