789965 JAS0010.1177/0021909618789965Journal of Asian and African StudiesOteng-Ababio et al.
research-article2018
J A A S
Original Article
Journal of Asian and African Studies
‘Informal Exceptionalism?’  2019, Vol. 54(1) 88– 103© The Author(s) 2018
Article reuse guidelines: 
Labour Migrants’ Creative sagepub.com/journals-permissions
httpDs:O//dIo: i1.o0r.g1/107.171/0770/201029109069168187788999965
Entrepreneurship for Sustainable journals.sagepub.com/home/jas
Livelihoods in Accra, Ghana
Martin Oteng-Ababio
Department of Geography and Resource Development, University of Ghana, Legon, Accra
Augustine Tanle
Department of Population and Health, University of Cape Coast, Ghana
Samuel Twumasi Amoah
Department of Environment and Resource Studies, University for Development Studies, Ghana
Louis Kusi
Department of Geography & Resource Development, University of Ghana, Ghana
Enoch Akwasi Kosoe
Department of Environment and Resource Studies, University for Development Studies, Ghana
Ernest Bagson
Department of Governance and Development Management, University for Development Studies, Ghana
Abstract
Intra- and inter-regional migration is widely described. Prior studies have attribute varied reasons for this 
development including the quest for greener pastures and unequal development in northern Ghana. What 
has escaped critical scrutiny is some migrants’ ability to escape extreme rural poverty, albeit in harsh urban 
environment. Such a missing gap can potentiate high policy failures, hence the need for academic attention. 
Using a mixed method, we focus on two informal daily livelihoods as exemplars – exceptionalism – in Accra. 
We see their embedded organisational vitality and dynamic networks as illuminating for good livelihood 
practices, proper city governance and fostering economic empowerment. We call on city authorities to 
take cognisance of such complexities and heterogeneity of production–labour relations, failure of which can 
Corresponding author:
Samuel Twumasi Amoah, Department of Environment and Resource Studies, University for Development Studies,  
Wa Campus, Post Office Box 520, Wa, Ghana, XW0928. 
Email: atwumasi@uds.edu.gh
Oteng-Ababio et al. 89
spell doom for policies ostensibly initiated to curb migration, as they are likely to be underpinned by factual 
inaccuracies and may result in ill-fated interventions.
Keywords
Urbanisation, globalisation, trade liberalisation, migration, livelihood, Accra
Introduction
One key colonial footprint in Metropolitan Accra, Ghana administrative capital, has been its pole 
position as the veritable Mecca for most labour migrants particularly from northern Ghana (Asiedu 
and Agyei-Mensah, 2008; Awumbilla et al., 2014), but in recent times Kumasi and Sekondi-
Takoradi have entered the frail though not sufficient enough to win the competition (Haug, 2014; 
Porter et al., 2012). Theoretically, most earlier studies were tied in 19th century concepts and mod-
els (Massey et al., 1998: 432), and also were divided about the causes of population mobility. 
Among the assigned causes range from economic motivation (Oberhauser and Yeboah, 2011) to 
organised or ‘rhythmic’ movements, normally underpinned by a way of life such as pastoral 
nomads, fishermen with seasonal rhythm (Kwankye et al., 2007). Recent scholars criticise earlier 
theories as being ‘incoherent and isolated’ (De Haas, 2010; Hagen-Zanker, 2008). To them, con-
temporary migration patterns and processes demand complex theory that embody variety of per-
spectives. These debates have produced a ‘theoretical alternative’ or the ‘New Economics of 
Labour Migration’ theory, which seeks to redress both the excessive structural emphasis and the 
theoretical insufficiencies of the standard neoclassical framework (Hagen-Zanker, 2008). The pur-
pose is to allow for ‘a greater variety of outcomes than would have been allowed from either the 
single aggregation of individual decision making or from the unidirectional imperatives of struc-
tures’ (De Haas, 2010: 242).
Our objective here is not to dabble in the raging theoretical debates or provide exhaustive dis-
cussions on the varied causality of labour mobility. Rather, we want to contribute to existing litera-
ture on labour mobility outcomes by unveiling creative enterprises, often excluded from growth 
and development potentials and ‘trapped in external dependencies’ (Scholz, 2002 cited in Kulke 
and Staffeld, 2009: 25). We take as a point of departure, the fact that no country, community or 
economy can achieve its full potentials or meet the challenges of the 21st century without the full 
and equal participation of all its citizenry – women and men, girls and boys. We argue that although 
informal activities – or survival economies – are often associated with negative aspects including 
income insecurity and health risks (International Labour Office, 2003), some nonetheless do poten-
tiate great opportunities for some migrants to escape extreme poverty although these have received 
less academic and policy makers’ attention. Indeed. we concur with Maiti and Sen (2010: 2) that 
‘any regulations or laws introduced by the state or an attempt to recreate the informal sector as a 
mirror reflection of the formal sector is merely going to weaken the creative energies of the infor-
mal sector and bring the growth of informal enterprises to a grinding halt’. Using the experiences 
of some Kayayei1 and waste pickers as exemplars, we argue that some cohort of menial jobbers 
may ‘contribute little to the economy’ (Kreutzmann, 2006), others nonetheless present decent liv-
ing, and are indeed agents of change in local economies and beyond (Morrison, 2017; Oteng-
Ababio, 2018).
These are revealing, considering the recent anaemic performance of the Ghanaian economy, the 
sluggish labour market and the long queue for job seekers (in a recent recruitment exercise, at least 
84,637 people applied for a paltry 500 vacancies at the Ghana Immigration Service, with the bulk 
of applicants coming from the Greater Accra Region with over 15,000 people and consequently, 
90 Journal of Asian and African Studies 54(1)
sparking renewed interest in the unemployment situation in the country; Myjoyonline.com, 2018). 
The authors opine that, even casual and low-paid jobs may still be better than being unemployed 
and destitute, making migration one of the biggest trigger of individual social and economic pro-
gress. The authors further maintain that city authorities are duty-bound to ease the self-inflicted 
regulations that criminalises informality and thus making the transition to formal sector fraught 
with uncertainty. In situations where city authorities pervasively exhibit high-level uncertainty and 
disdain about creative enterprises, social policies become socially explosive, generate ‘hot situa-
tions’ and breed ‘urbanism controversies’ (Oteng-Ababio, 2016a, 2016b). Our paper is organised 
as follows. The next section expands the creative entrepreneurism debate and situates the paper in 
the broader literature on migration studies, focusing on how emerging migration patterns are facili-
tated and perpetuated by urban poverty. This is followed by a discussion on the research methodol-
ogy whereas the penultimate section discusses the research findings. The paper closes with 
conclusions on the potentials of informality, and recommendations on how policy makers can tap 
into these potentials to assist city in developing appropriate policy interventions.
Labour mobility and creative entrepreneurism
The literature on the burgeoning urban population appears to be a tale of messianic hope and 
dejection, with some residents welcoming the new opportunities (Morrison, 2017), whereas oth-
ers remain virtually chased away by congestion, pollution, squalid housing conditions and unem-
ployment (Songsore, 2017). Such narratives see city management through developmental lens, 
generally defined in the narrow sense of economic growth and access to social services (De Sato, 
2000) and the assumption that with development would come prosperity (or poverty reduction). 
The new opportunities are seen only as those enterprises that are largely represented as positive, 
wholesome and virtuous endeavour; and the entrepreneur as a hero (Burns, 2001; Cannon, 1991).
This stereotypically portrays labour mobility (such as rural–urban migrants) as generally com-
prising uneducated, unskilled labour who remain glued to live and work manually and informally 
for survival (Kwankye et al., 2007). These migrants are seen as unable to break through the barriers 
of social and legal marginalisation that trap them in cliental forms of political incorporation and 
contribute very little or nothing at all to the urban economy (Meagher, 2011). Such conventional 
approaches to, and mythical narratives about labour migrants’ entrepreneurial acumen are divorced 
from local realities, largely ignoring and undervaluing their contributions by city planners’ privi-
leged rational-modernist model of enterprises based on capital-intensive technologies (Gough and 
Langevang, 2016). Regrettably and as rightly noted by Williams and Nadin (2010: 443), this has 
been glossed over for a long time, leading to a situation where
[…] those types of entrepreneurship that contradict this ideal-type are either located outside the boundaries 
of entrepreneurship, ignored, portrayed as temporary or transient, or simply asserted to have little or 
anything to do with what is viewed as mainstream entrepreneurship […] legitimate entrepreneurs.
Additionally, such misconception leads to huge opportunity losses in understanding, appreciat-
ing and integrating informally different approaches, strategies and contributions as service provid-
ers in socio-technical systems (like collecting and recycling urban waste), as economic actors 
(critical to the value chain), as political actors (furthering social inclusion through collective action) 
and as drivers of social change (providing a source of income generation for less disadvantaged 
communities). In recent times, some ‘small tributary of entrepreneurship literature’ has been high-
lighting the indispensability of the informal sector if governments are to meet the United Nations 
Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) by 2030 (Gough and Langevang, 2016; Morrison, 
Oteng-Ababio et al. 91
2017). Governments are being urged to unpack and understand the realities of migrant labour 
enterprises and experiences on the ground by profiling their connectivity and value chains (Oteng-
Ababio, 2017). The concept of livelihoods offers a promising lens, and as aptly articulated by Dias, 
(2016), it encapsulates a broader term than mere income generation, but includes
[…] gaining and retaining access to resources and opportunities, dealing with risk, negotiating social 
relationships and managing social networks and institutions within households, communities and the 
cities. (Dias, 2016: 376)
A focus on livelihoods involves ‘highlighting the importance of human capabilities and agency’ 
as well as enabling the conceptualisation of different models ‘that are more in line with addressing 
critical dilemmas of our times: social inclusion and environmental protection’ (Beall et al., 2011). 
This is in sync with the conceptualisation of Chambers and Conway (1992) of a livelihood as capa-
bilities, assets and activities required for making a living that are derived from a ‘sustainable liveli-
hood’ perspective, which privileges the means of living that are resilient to shocks and stresses, and 
do not adversely affect the environment. Consequently, individual asset status is fundamental in 
determining livelihood options, strategies to be adopted, outcomes to be expected and the level of 
vulnerability. Additionally, each individual has some capabilities (personal characteristics) and 
assets (including social capital and networks) that motivate him/her to move out of poverty and in 
so doing, contribute towards achieving the UN SDGs, particularly Goal 11 (Tanle, 2014).
Essentially, the visible lack of appreciation of the entrepreneurial role of labour migrants in the 
urban economy cannot be allowed to fester any longer, particularly when recent studies have abun-
dantly shown that poverty, which has for long been uniquely rural has become urbanised, a trend 
that is unlikely to be reversed (UN-Habitat, 2009). The paper condemns such conceptualisation of 
entrepreneurial stint (role) of labour migrants’ by proposing an integrated and inclusive city gov-
ernance model with labour migrants as key stakeholders. We concur that short of proper planning 
within the remit of the socio-economic realities, poverty in sub-Saharan African cities will persist 
and perhaps, worsen access to social infrastructure and increase urban poverty, with disproportion-
ate impact on women and compromising the attempts to eradicate poverty by 2030 (Gillespie, 
2015; Turok, 2016). This case study presents enough evidence to suggest that most present-day 
labour mobility is no longer a desperate jump into the unknown, but rather a purposeful movement 
of networks of relatives, with improved courtesy transport and communication means, from low-
wage to high-wage areas to ‘test the waters’ (Oteng-Ababio, 2016a). We see labour migration as 
part of the overall urbanisation process where members of an informed family strategically live 
and work geographically, decidedly informed by comparative advantage as a way of escaping 
poverty. This theoretically may not be an ideal family situation, but it nonetheless enables impov-
erished families to reduce their risk of the loss of urban employment or a poor harvest.
Agbogbloshie: Throes of informal exceptionalism
The paper is partly culled out of a bigger research project (E-waste processing, Health and Food 
Security at Agbogbloshie Market in Accra) funded by the Global Development Network, and the 
Office of Research, Innovation and Development (at the University of Ghana) and conducted in 
Accra’s ‘concentrated camp’ – Agbogbloshie, the largest informal settlement in Ghana (see Figure 1). 
The initial fieldwork took place between 2013 and 2014, and involved the use of both qualitative and 
quantitative methods to explore e-waste scavengers’ livelihoods strategies (see Grant and Oteng-
Ababio, 2016; Oteng-Ababio et al., 2015). The open-ended and closed questions were structured to 
elicit information covering economic, political and social factors influencing respondents’ migration 
92 Journal of Asian and African Studies 54(1)
Figure 1. Map of the study area showing the two research locations – Agbogbloshie and Tema Station. 
Source: Authors’ Construct, 2018.
decision and the driving forces shaping their working conditions, local challenges and institutions 
that hinder their activities. Apart from its mixed methods, the research instrument was designed by 
the research team in conjunction with some members of the informal enterprises. This enabled an 
assessment of the key drivers – both positive and negative – that affect their lives, work conditions 
and coping strategies.
A later complementary study of the activities of Kayayei and e-waste collectors adopted a 
systematic qualitative investigation, relying on in-depth interviews and participant observa-
tions carried out through a non-continuous six-month period, between July in 2014 and January 
2015. The observational methods allowed for gained insights into their modus operandi, power 
relations (formalised and tacit) and others, while in practice, a careful attempt was made to 
keep the field records focused and systematic in order to generate comparable data sets to aid 
the analysis. A total of 23 in-depth interviews with Kayayei were conducted using the snowball 
sampling technique because our interests lie in the experiences of interviewees who had been 
in Accra for over a year. Aside the fact that responses after the 23rd respondent were becoming 
too repetitive, the target population itself are characteristically homogeneous (that is gender, 
place of origin, same business, and so forth) and was more socially well-connected. The inter-
viewees provided insider perspectives into their activities and ‘governance’ structure. Consistent 
with interview methodology (see Dunn, 2010), the semi-structured interviews were composed 
of the same primary set of questions, with prompts nested below each one, and follow-up ques-
tions to informants’ varied responses. Generally, the interviews lasted between one and two 
hours in length, mostly when the interviewee’s responses were seen to have reached saturation 
point and were no longer yielding novel insights, became redundant and were only reinforcing 
previously collected data. Further, a total of two focus group discussions (FGDs) were con-
ducted, one each for identified livelihood and these helped bridge the gap between the observed 
actions, motivational values and governmentality that underpinned some of their activities 
(Oteng-Ababio, 2016a).
Oteng-Ababio et al. 93
Generally, the initial visits and contacts revealed quite clearly that the respondents exhibit signs 
of research fatigue. Hence, to earn their trust, the researchers invested lots of time in the leaders of 
Greater Accra Scrap Dealers Association, an umbrella organisation of squatters in Agbogbloshie. 
This complemented the many years of mutually beneficial relationship the lead author has estab-
lished with the association, which figuratively opened all doors to the socio-economic spaces – 
Kayayei and e-waste scavengers – who hitherto appear hermetic to ‘intruders’. This unfettered 
opportunity enabled the conduct of the life histories’ interviews. The responses were recorded with 
the interviewee’s consent and approval and later thematically analysed and incorporated in the 
general discussions. These did not only give valuable insights into their raison d’être and liveli-
hood strategies of the respondents but provided information regarding their personal experiences 
and life stories. The analytic focus on livelihoods, along with macro-economic forces and the wider 
policy context for the Accra economy, allowed for a deeper understanding of the multiple dimen-
sions of their activities, and the strategies of the working poor in improving their lives.
Informality: Scourge of city authorities and salvation of struggling 
migrants
As already stated, this paper focuses on the motivation for and outcomes of intra- and inter-regional 
migration in Ghana. The findings indicate that the majority (about 90%) of the respondents migrate 
to seek greener pastures, and today, make more money on the basis of which they can lay claim to 
decent life, and stay much longer without disconnecting themselves from their native regions. 
Although Kulke and Staffeld (2009: 25) highlight two perspectives of the informal sector,2 we 
restricted ourselves to, and sampled from, among the ‘survival economy’. Informing the logic of 
our model are the economic experiences of those who cover the lowest ebb of the prosperity ladder, 
who appear to have suffered different kinds and forms of exclusion; and how their activities illus-
trate the interplay between formal and informal sectors. The two case studies provide a microcosm 
of how economically challenged and struggling migrants mostly from the north are ‘rationally 
motivated mainly by economic considerations and gains’ (Kabeer, 1994: 97). To protect the iden-
tity of our respondents, pseudonyms have been employed in the discussions below.
Case Study 1: The ‘Kaya business’
Being a Kayayoo is seen as the short-term cost to be paid for a long-term gain – change to better occupation, 
marriage, or the purchase of capital goods necessary for training for a better occupation. (Agarwal et al., 
1997: 257)
The interactions, interviews and participant observations revealed the kaya business as an 
immense source of hope for female migrants in particular, with some conspicuously scaling-up 
the prosperity ladder. This is in sync with earlier gendered studies that revealed head porterage as, 
almost exclusively, an occupation province women adopted to leap off the poverty train (Hart, 
1973). Although the dearth of statistical data constrained attempts to estimate the number of 
Kayayei active in Accra, their visibility in the Central Business District is unquestionably con-
spicuous (Morrison, 2017). Among the 23 head porters interviewed, 13 (57%) were aged between 
11 and 17 and had been in the trade for less than three years. A further seven (30%), aged between 
14 and 23, had been in the trade for at least three years but not more than seven years whereas only 
three (11%), who happened to be in their late 20s or early 30s, were over seven years in the busi-
ness. Of the 13 early-stage respondents, 11 (85%) reported that head portering is their sole liveli-
hood while the remaining two claim to offer occasional janitorial services to some stores for a 
supplementary fee. Additionally, all the seven respondents who had spent about seven years in the 
94 Journal of Asian and African Studies 54(1)
‘kaya-trade’ were engaged in other multiple livelihoods with head porterage acting only as a 
safety net – a last resort when other options are less lucrative. Unsurprisingly, all the participants 
who had been in the ‘kaya-trade’ for more than seven years had transcended the practice, and were 
engaged in other ‘businesses’ only remotely related to the ‘kaya-trade’.
The findings suggest that a significant proportion of the early-stage female labour migrants 
operate solely as head porterage with marked temporal livelihood entrepreneurial variations. 
Characteristically, all the respondents were school dropouts and none of them were on the radar 
screen of the state. They collectively evoke an ethnic occupational niche for female migrants from 
northern Ghana, all of whom claimed they entered the ‘kaya-trade’ as a way of accumulating capi-
tal that would not have been possible in the place of origin, to later invest in other less arduous but 
presumably profitable occupations. A discussant in a FGD remarked,
In the north, it is very difficult to earn even 5 [cedis] a day. Back there [in the North], we all work for our 
parents on the family farm, which today due to poor rains, has become financially un-rewarding. Today, 
most crops wither before flowering. But here [Accra], but for ill-health, you make at least, 10 [cedis] a day, 
get what you will eat and send some home [place of origin]. (Sallah, 21-year old Kayayei)
Sallah’s comments, which resonate with many of her peers, also confirm the observation of 
Agarwal et al., (1997: 2) that
[Kayayei] exists within a socially occupational chaperoning context; an older sister, cousin, home town 
acquaintance or distant relative is involved in arranging accommodation, in ensuring that the girl child 
works and in enforcing savings activities on the part of the child in the interest of the larger family unit.
Another Kayayo, who has been in the trade for nine (9) years revealed,
As at[sic] now, I have about 15 girls from my home town under my tutelage. If you do not help them, the 
whole community will hold you responsible when they fail. In two or three years’ time, they will have 
gained their independence and will be expected to extend same assistance to others up and coming. (Hawa; 
with a 9-year experience as Kayayei)
Operationally, the Kaya-trade is quite diverse, pervasive and spatially defined, and participants 
work briskly between 4:30 am and 6:00 pm. Business is however more intense between the early 
hours (4:30 am and 5:30 am) when the long buses and cargo trucks arrive from the periphery. It was 
observed that those operating at Metro Mass Terminals starts operations around 5:00 am, exhibit 
artistry traits of vigilance, social cohesion and orderliness, with each making frantic efforts to be 
the first to sight an on-coming bus. Typically, the first to sight a bus shouts ‘No 1’, while her com-
patriots continue the counting numerically with one’s position on the roll-call consigning the one 
to a particular boot of the bus and its content therein in so far as the goods demand the services of 
a Kayayei. In terms of remuneration, from the results, a Kayayei earns between GH¢10 and GH¢20 
or US$2.50 and US$5, with some occasionally earning about GH¢80 or US$20 a day. With the 
country’s formal sector flailing and the fact that they live on less than one US dollar a day in their 
home regions, almost 87% saw their remuneration as overwhelmingly satisfactory. Even the three 
who dissented are those who are over seven years in the kaya-trade and are aspiring for a ‘more 
decent life’.
An interesting observation among the Kayayei is their high degree of social organisation. This 
manifests through the provision of working spaces and socio-economic support when illness 
strikes. We observed two financial savings units: the ‘susu’ and ‘noboa’ systems. The ‘susu’ 
describes an arrangement whereby an individual pays a daily contribution to an ‘informal banker’ 
(susu collector) who holds the savings in trust, usually for 30 days and pays them back the lump 
Oteng-Ababio et al. 95
sum, after a deduction of a day’s contribution as ‘administrative charges’. Although contributions 
are independently determined, most respondents (87%) averagely paid GH¢5.00 (US$1.0) as daily 
saving. The ‘noboa’ system, on the other hand, is a semblance of the block system or rotating box 
credit system. In this instance, members form a group of between five and 10 Kayayei and each 
contribute an agreed daily amount. Then, the total monthly contribution is given to a member in 
accordance with a turn-taking rule agreed upon, although in times of emergencies such as in the 
event of sickness, a member can be lifted higher in the queue.
Incidentally, the findings show that most Kayayei are staying longer than previously reported 
(see Kwankye et al., 2007). Nonetheless, they adopt complex strategies to remain deeply embed-
ded and be responsive to their kinsmen and obediently remit on demand (Agarwal et al., 1997). 
During the FGDs, some participants attributed this dynamics to their ability to engage in multiple 
livelihoods and diversify into ‘more respectable professions’ like operating food joints and mobile 
communication centres (which involves the use of mobile phones for commercial purposes and 
also includes the sales of mobile phone top-up cards), among others. Even those who give birth are 
able to send their babies to family members ‘for care’ when they are still toddling. To these ‘new 
entrepreneurs’, the improved transportation and communication services have been a great cata-
lyst. The experience of Abiba, a native of Walewale (a town in the northern region), and a Kayayo 
turned a popular Waakye (rice and beans) seller in central Accra, is a microcosm of the emerging 
dynamics. According to Abiba, at the age of 19, she joined the kaya business in April 2001, with 
the aim of making some quick money for the impending Christmas. However, she got pregnant 
before that December and that frustrated her dream. After giving birth in January, she sent the baby 
to her grandmother (her mother was deceased) when the baby was six months old and came back 
to Accra to work. In an interview, Abiba’s effusion, which is essentially the popular view of her 
peers (nouveau-riche) that we interacted with, smacks of Charles Dickens’ 1838 Oliver Twist-ian 
approach to ask for more.
I needed to send him home so that I can come to continue my business… I just have to make sure I don’t 
starve them since my grandmother is too old to farm, and this I do religiously […] I send her [grandma] 
vouchers [call cards] regularly so that they keep in touch […] I remit them regularly too. I currently live 
in a rented room; I own and drive [an] Ascona [Opel]. Better days are ahead. (Abiba, Personal Interview; 
July, 2015)
Equally promising emerging feature of the kaya-trade is how the use of mobile telephony has 
facilitated a continuum from purely commercial to purely social entrepreneurship, creating direct 
links between the Kayayei and some affluent housewives (loyal customers) affectionately called 
‘Madam’. During the FGDs, they recounted how their Madams could occasionally enjoin them 
through a phone call to do their routine weekly shopping on their behalf and send it to them in their 
respective homes (sometimes, with a hired taxi). A happy beneficiary reveals,
Your customer [Madam] can call and ask you to go to a particular trader for goods. When you get there, 
your Madam will speak to her [trader] and the goods will be parceled for onward delivery. Normally, the 
urgency of the situation determines the mode of transport. On arrival, you will be paid for your services. 
From there, you can go and “sleep.” Some friends have become house-helps and store assistants of their 
Madams.
The results complicate earlier studies that stressed the immiseration that peasant migrant labour 
from the north go through (Awumbilah et al., 2014). It also runs counter to several other dominant 
conceptualisations of informality: as disorganised and deprived of agency (Davis, 2006; Kaplan, 
96 Journal of Asian and African Studies 54(1)
1994); as sites prone to violence at the conflation of urban poverty, insecurity around land, lawless-
ness and social tensions (Beall et al., 2011; Lombard and Rakodi, 2016); as arenas of socio-politi-
cal or economic homogeneity, or as occupied by those marginalised from globalisation processes 
(Williams and Nadin, 2010). This empirical study presents the Kaya-trade as part of the ‘formal 
transport structure’ whereby functions, performed by technology in other jurisdictions, are being 
performed by human energy due to the congested nature of the markets (Agarwal et al., 1997: 2). 
The case histories confirm the fact that today’s ‘economic migrant’ is earning more, not only 
focused on for bread and butter issues, but also in a search for a relatively better life.
Case study 2: Creating wealth from waste
The capitalist knows that all commodities, however tattered they may look, or however badly they may 
smell, are in faith and in truth money, [. . .], and, what is more, a wonderful means for making still more 
money out of money (Marx, 1976/1867, 256)
The above is a classic vignette of how the current covariation of wealth and waste characterises 
urban informal societies in the contemporary developing world, with the Agbogbloshie recycling 
site providing an apposite case. The case study presents an even more puzzling situation: although 
per their current modus operandi, we cannot discount potential health risks, nonetheless engaging in 
e-waste recycling is a great economic leap out of poverty for peoples whose qualifications are hardly 
sufficient for any decent life (Grant and Oteng-Ababio, 2016). The findings portray e-waste recy-
cling as a largely well-organised but ‘brittle’ activity, because each node in the value chain can be 
disrupted by state intervention and market forces (scrap metal price fluctuations, intermittent flows 
and intense informal competition) while formal firms entering the arena are intensifying pressures.
Be that as it may, the results present e-waste processing and collection activity as being under-
taken by low-paid, low-skilled urban migrants from northern Ghana, aged between 15 and 30 
years, who participate in the activities because they offer rapid cash flow as revenues materialise 
immediately (same day) when recycled elements are sold. Admittedly, the recyclers operate at the 
stage in the chain where profits are low, health risks high and occupational resources few. From the 
findings, the respondents were cognisant of this ‘injustice’, but their low education level and the 
allure of a starting wage that is upwards of five to seven times that of the monthly wages of a 
Ghanaian minimum wage employee is often too attractive to resist. Their work exceptionalism in 
regard to their contribution to the urban economy manifests itself to date in the public sector evi-
dence of Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE), with a collection rate that is only 
around 1% (Höeltl et al., 2017), whereas the ‘informal scavengers’ operate at 95% (Grant and 
Oteng-Ababio, 2016). We observed that e-waste enterprise has expanded beyond Agbogbloshie to 
secondary sites in Accra, Kumasi, Koforidua and Takoradi, with over 400–600 ‘firms’ operating in 
Accra; subsets of these firms maintain links to larger formal firms, whereas the informal recyclers 
rely on the intermediators (see Figure 2). According to the World Bank (2015, 41) the e-waste 
economy contributed an estimated US$416 million dollars in 2015 to the national economy, while 
Prakash et al. (2010, 38) quoted an equivalent of 0.55% of Ghana’s GDP.
Flowing from the findings, the ‘economic viability’ and vibrancy of e-waste enterprise is beyond 
disrepute. The results present the respondents as the breadwinners in their families, with remit-
tances ‘back home’ being a routine activity. Apart from these traditionally well-documented remit-
tances (Awumbila et al., 2014), we uniquely unveiled a new network of émigrés using their acquired 
resources – technical, social and economic – to create their own business in related sectors includ-
ing motor repairs, and Okada or ‘moto-taxi’ operations. Consider the case of Abukari, a 27-year 
polytechnic graduate who moved to Accra in 2008. Abu is a native of Savelugu (mainly a farming 
Oteng-Ababio et al. 97
Figure 2. Subsets of formal and informal e-waste recycling firms operating in Accra.
community), 7 km from Tamale, the northern regional capital. While in Accra, he initially worked 
as e-waste collector (recycler) for four years before setting up his personal refurbishing shop in 
Accra in 2013. Abu insinuatingly remarks,
[…] In life, the beginning matters…, but the end is the most important. Nobody wants to know how it 
started. Everybody talks about today as if there was no yesterday. (Abu, Personal Interview; July, 2015)
In 2015, Abu managed to establish another shop back home not only for fixing people’s faulty 
appliances but also offering refurbished and spruced-up electronics for sale. He has also set up a 
‘recording studio’ (with refurbished computers) where he duplicates music and films, albeit ille-
gally, for his clients at a fee. More significantly, because the community is yet to be connected to 
the national grid, ‘Abu’s corner’ virtually serves as a community rendezvous where community 
members gather to listen to music or watch European sports scores via multi-choice pay TV. He 
operates with a generator for energy supply where residents charge their mobile phones for a fee. 
Abu employs two assistants, who are going through apprenticeship and manning the shop while he 
(Abu) concentrates on the Accra outlet and occasionally visits ‘home’ to attend to ‘emergencies’, 
where difficult cases are referred for Abu’s attention. Abu’s story is not only one of the innovative 
strategies we observed in Agbogbloshie, it is also a significant departure from what is known in 
pioneering literature that highlighted just monetary remittances.
98 Journal of Asian and African Studies 54(1)
Thus, as the world hurtles towards its urban future, with volume and content of waste, critical 
scholarship is abuzz with promises and perils of e-waste recycling: a practice in pursuit of oppor-
tunities, which has ‘made’ Agbogbloshie, has assumed international notoriety (Oteng-Ababio, 
2016b; Prakash et al., 2010). From the study, much is known about the deleterious effects of 
e-wastes that are left behind and their drastic effects on environmental, aquatic and human health, 
and how it may have escalated cybercrimes (Warner, 2011). Despite an exploding rhetoric around 
e-waste, recent studies (Lepawsky, 2015) are increasingly recognising its strategic and lucrative 
nature, with Baldé et al. (2015) presenting WEEE recycling as part of the US$52 billion global 
industry. Ultimately, the creativity and contribution of e-waste recycling to livelihoods, its achieve-
ments in reducing the digital divide, and the spontaneous ways it links informal and formal econo-
mies and contributes economic output, is under-acknowledged.
Revisiting informal livelihood exceptionalism
This study profiles the activities of some Kayayei and e-waste scavengers that straddle city 
authorities’ quest for a ‘sanitised city’ and respondents’ pursuit for survival livelihoods. This 
creates a conundrum – how the available resources can be used to create inclusive opportunities 
for all including the ‘poor’ who need more than just an expression of sympathy and solidarity 
to recover from abject poverty. The study generally sees the case studies not only as viable 
sources of livelihood but a potential ‘game changing’ option as well as a youth mentorship and 
esteem-building endeavour. Being de facto breadwinners of their respective families, most par-
ticipants work to overcome urban challenges in order to be ready to respond to emergency calls 
from home. By inference, we can tentatively conclude that our respondents engaged in their 
respective activities for reasons beyond just escaping out of poverty, but more importantly, as 
the easiest way of earning an income. Characteristically, the ‘Senior Kayayei’ like Abiba are 
diversifying their trade by retailing phone rechargeable vouchers and/or operating communica-
tion services. Similarly, although challenging, Abu and his cohorts engage in multiple liveli-
hood activities, forming expanded ‘income-generating portfolios’, which due to increased job 
insecurity, may be a form of risk diversification. These are clear cases where ‘hopelessness’ 
inspire ‘innovativeness’ – informal exceptionalism – in a contested urban environment – urban-
ism controversies – where official aspiration parallels migrant labour concerns (Oteng-Ababio, 
2016a). The respondents using their entrepreneurial skills are able to identify opportunities and 
invest in them accordingly.
The evidence overwhelmingly suggests that economic migrants’ motivations are based on their 
lived experiences in their places of origin and by their current economic stature and social respon-
sibility. The respondents actively choose to be self-employed and ‘managing WEEE’ rather than 
looking for wage labour to ‘become someone else’s donkey’. By implications, they evaluate oppor-
tunities available to them and take decisions, emphasising the thin line between deprivation and 
strands of entrepreneurism of the respondents. Put differently, informality may be more of a symp-
tom than a victim of urbanisation; it creates a platform for social integration and belongingness, 
and fills the void of state interventions (Obeng-Odoom and Ameyaw, 2014). Principally, informal-
ity assumes normalcy (offers better and greater earnings) than the public sector, which employs 
just about 20% of the active labour force (Ghana Statistical Service, 2008), where the government-
sponsored take-home pay ‘cannot take people home’ (a Trade Unionist, undated). Hence, the 
Kayayei and e-waste recyclers exploit economic opportunities within reach to make money and 
these have become an integral part of Accra’s economy, albeit with their own internal contradic-
tions. We concur that waste is a critique of modernity, but it nonetheless potentiates innovation, 
serves as a source of livelihood and creates environmental consciousness.
Oteng-Ababio et al. 99
The life stories of Abiba and Abu demonstrate varying degrees of commitment to their home-
land and kin; aside from helping their families, they do contribute materially to major community 
projects, and educating young members of their extended family, thus enhancing their prestige and 
social standing in their local community (Tanle, 2014). In other words, poverty may not be the sole 
motivation in the creation of a family welfare system. This study, although it may not represent the 
complete picture, exemplifies vibrant attempts by the marginalised to contest the failure of the state 
and its institutions, and their approaches are exceptional, conflicting the exit thesis of informalisa-
tion (De Sato, 2000). Their activities not only provide valuable services, they also exhume the 
poor’s entrepreneurial acumen, service to society and economic space, in which they articulate 
their rights and impact city governance. Their exceptional livelihood strategies provide a conceptu-
ally useful tool for re-thinking the stereotypical belief that migrants engage only in menial jobs, 
because that comes short of illuminating the complexities of motivations for their activities. This 
paper agrees that urbanisation presents job opportunities, greater independence and motivations in 
what people have to do with the instrumentalisation of surviving. From the findings, we see a right 
to be part of an urbanising city as being contingent on your ability to carve out an innovative entre-
preneurship, which normally abounds in the informal economy, which offers a ‘ready’ and ‘easy’ 
alternative.
Concluding remarks
Based on the findings from the case studies, accepting the depiction of informality as ‘survival 
activities’ may be too simplistic. The respondents revealed that they specifically moved to Accra to 
engage in Kayayei and waste scavenging, implying that the issue of being stuck is not a universal 
characteristic. Examining their stated earnings against the socio-economic realities in the country, 
the respondents are not engaged solely in menial jobs, but are demonstrating their creative entre-
preneurial skills and responding uniquely to the void of state provision of equal opportunities and 
access to basic urban services. The overall findings blur, complicate and raise legitimate questions 
about earlier supposed motivations for labour migrants to ‘cities’: Is migration being occasioned 
solely by climatic stress (van der Geest, 2011)? Chieftaincy conflicts or fear of certain cultural 
practices (Caldwell, 1969)? The results of the study sway heavily towards the new economics of 
labour migration model, which posits that in most cases, the decision to migrate is not an individual 
one, but rather one that is made by a group, such as a family or a household (Hagen-Zanker, 2008).
These results have significant implications not only for theorising livelihoods, but also for pub-
lic policy towards the informal economy. In terms of theorising creative entrepreneurship, it is 
often assumed that informal entrepreneurs are entirely unsustainable. They are depicted as ‘sur-
vival-seeking’ economic actors without choice. However, this is an a priori assumption. The tenta-
tive conclusion is that the assumption that entrepreneurs are purely uneconomically driven now 
needs to be transcended. This is not to say, however, that one should now argue that many informal 
works are economically sustainable. Rather, there is a need to portray hidden entrepreneurs as 
existing on a spectrum from purely commercial to purely social entrepreneurship, with different 
combinations of logics predominating in varying populations. These findings, nevertheless, are 
based on a limited dataset. What is now required are further evaluations not only of where on the 
continuum hidden entrepreneurs are clustered in different populations, but also the contrasting 
directions of change in various contexts.
The UN SDGs recognise that cities can lead the way towards economically, socially and envi-
ronmentally sustainable societies, but that a holistic approach to urban planning and management 
is needed to improve living standards of urban and rural dwellers alike. Our paper supports the 
position that sustainable urbanisation requires that cities generate better income and employment 
100 Journal of Asian and African Studies 54(1)
opportunities; expand the necessary infrastructure for water and sanitation, energy, transportation, 
information and communications; ensure equal access to services; reduce the number of people 
living in slums; and preserve the natural assets within the city and surrounding areas (World Bank, 
2015). To curb rural-urban migration and by extension, uncontrolled urbanisation processes, there 
is the need for a new, imaginative and bold vision tailored to this reality, one that brings opportu-
nity to every corner of the city and beyond – a new strategy that is as much about Accra as it is 
about Kumasi, Sekondi-Takoradi, Tamale and indeed, all other global South urbanised cities.
Declaration of conflicting interest
The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publi-
cation of this article.
Funding
The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publica-
tion of this article: The authors thank the Office of Research, Innovation and Development (URF/7/LMG-
006/2013-2014) of the University of Ghana, Legon and the Global Development Network (GDN Grant 
2012-13/023/AMC/UG) for the generous grant for this research. We are particularly grateful for the support 
from Ebenezer Amankwah Fokuo and Moses Masong Kansanga during the fieldwork.
Notes
1. Etymologically, the term kaya yo (plural kaya yei) is derived from two words, kaya, a Hausa word mean-
ing ‘wares’ or ‘goods’, and yo (yei), a Ga word meaning ‘a woman’ (or ‘women’). Therefore, the term 
kayayei refers to female commercial head porters or persons who transport goods on their heads for a 
small fee. Although the term ‘kayayei’ refers to women engaged in transporting goods, the term includes 
both male and female.
2. On the one hand is the ‘survival economy’, which basically consists of self-employed activities with the 
primary objective of generating enough income to survive on a day-to-day basis; and on the other hand, 
the so-called ‘growth-oriented’ informal economy, consisting of dynamic and competitive enterprises, 
which can hardly be separated from the formal economy.
References
Agarwal S, Attah M, Apt N, et al. (1997) Bearing the weight: The Kayayoo, Ghana’s working girl child. 
International Social Work 40(3): 245–265.
Asiedu A and Agyei-Mensah S (2008) Traders on the run: Activities of street vendors in the Accra Metropolitan 
Area, Ghana. Norwegian Journal of Geography 62(3): 191–202.
Awumbila M, Owusu G, Teye JK, et al. (2014) Urbanisation, Rural-Urban Migration and Urban Poverty in 
Ghana. Working Paper. Migration out of Poverty, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK.
Baldé CP, Wang F, Kuehr R, et al. (2015) The Global E-waste Monitor 2014. United Nation University. 
Available at: https://i.unu.edu/media/unu.edu/…/UNU-1stGlobal-E-Waste-Monitor-2014-small.pdf.
Beall J, Goodfellow T and Rogers D (2011) Cities, Conflict and State Fragility. Working Paper no. 85. Cities 
and Fragile States. Crisis State Research Centre, DESTIN, LSE, London, UK.
Burns P (2001) Entrepreneurship and Small Business. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan.
Caldwell JC (1969) African Rural-urban Migration: The Movement to Ghana’s Towns. Canberra, ACT: 
Australian National University Press.
Cannon T (1991) Enterprise: Creation, Development and Growth. Oxford, UK: Butterworth-Heinemann.
Chambers R and Conway GR (1992) Sustainable Rural Livelihoods: Practical Concepts for the 21st Century, 
Discussion Paper no. 296. Institute of Development Studies, Brighton, UK.
Davis M (2006) Planet of Slums. London, UK: Verso.
De Haas H (2010) Migration and Development: A Theoretical Perspective. International Migration Review 
44(1): 227–264.
Oteng-Ababio et al. 101
De Soto H (2000) The mystery of capital: why capitalism triumphs in the west and fails everywhere else. Basic 
Books, New York.
Dias MS (2016) Waste Pickers and Cities. Environnent & Urbanisation 28(2): 375–390. Available at: 
10.1177/0956247816657302.
Dunn K (2010) Doing qualitative research in human geography. In: Hay I (ed.) Qualitative Research Methods 
in Human Geography, Docklands, VIC, Australia: Oxford University Press ANZ, pp.99–137.
Ghana Statistical Service (2008) Ghana Living Standards Survey: Report of the Fifth Round. Accra, Ghana: 
Ghana Statistical Service.
Gillespie T (2015) Accumulation by urban dispossession: Struggles over urban space in Accra, Ghana. 
Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers 41: 66–77. Available at: 10.1111/tran.12105.
Gough KV and Langevang T (2016) Young Entrepreneurs in Sub-Saharan Africa. (Spaces of Childhood and 
Youth Series). Abingdon, UK: Routledge.
Grant R and Oteng-Ababio M (2016) The global transformation of materials and the emergence of informal 
‘Urban Mining’ in Accra, Ghana. Africa Today 62(4): 3–20.
Hagen-Zanker J (2008) Why Do People Migrate? A Review of the Theoretical Literature. Working Paper no. 
2. Maastricht Graduate School of Governance, Maastricht University, Maastricht, Netherlands.
Hart K (1973) Informal Income Opportunities and Urban Employment in Ghana. Journal of Modern African 
Studies 11(1): 61–89.
Haug J (2014) Critical Overview of the (Urban) Informal Economy in Ghana. Working Paper. Friedrich-
Ebert-Stiftung, Ghana Office, Accra, Ghana.
Höeltl A, Brandtweiner R and Müller R (2017) Approach to solving the e-waste problem - case study Ghana. 
International Journal of Sustainable Development and Planning 12(6): 1050–1060.
International Labour Office (2003) Scope of the Employment Relationship: Report IV, International Labour 
Conference, 91st Session. Geneva: International Labour Office.
Kabeer N (1994) Reversed Realities: Gender Hierarchies in Development Thought. London and New York: 
Verso.
Kaplan RD (1994) The coming anarchy. In: Globalisation and the Challenges of a New Century: A Reader. 
New York, NY: Penguin, pp.34–60.
Kreutzmann H (2006) Introduction. In: Kreutzmann H (ed.) Karakoram in Transition, Culture, Development, 
and Ecology in the Hunza Valley. Oxford/Karachi: Oxford University Press, pp.1–4.
Kulke E and Staffeld R (2009) Informal production systems – The role of the informal economy in the plastic 
recycling and processing industry in Dhaka. Die Erde 140(1): 25–43.
Kwankye SO, Anarfi JK, Addoquaye Tagoe C, et al. (2007) Coping Strategies of Independent Child Migrants 
from Northern Ghana to Southern Cities. Development Research Centre on Migration, Globalisation and 
Poverty Working Paper Series, University of Sussex.
Lepawsky J (2015) Are we living in a Post-Basel World? Area 47(1): 7–15. Available at: http://dx.doi.
org/10.1111/area.12144.
Lombard M and Rakodi C (2016) Urban land conflict in the Global South: Towards an analytical framework. 
Urban Studies 53(13): 2683–2699.
Maiti D and Sen K (2010) The informal sector in India: A means of exploitation or accumulation? Journal of 
South Asian Development 5(1):1–13. Available at: 10.1177/097317411000500101.
Marx, K (1976/1867) Capital – A Critique of political economy. Vol; 1. London, Penguin.
Massey DS, Arango J and Hugo G (1998) Worlds in Motion. Understanding International Migration at the 
End of the Millennium. Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press.
Meagher K (2011) Informal economies and urban governance in Nigeria: Popular empowerment or political 
exclusion? African Studies Review 54(2): 47–72.
Morrison N (2017) Playing by the rules? New institutionalism, path dependency and informal settlements 
in Sub-Saharan Africa. Environment and Planning A 1–20. Available at: 10.1177/0308518X17730581.
Myjoyonline.com (2018) Over 84,000 people scramble for 500 vacancies at Immigration Service. Available 
at: https://www.myjoyonline.com/news/2018/January-5th/over-84000-people-scramble-for-just-500-va-
cancies-at-immigration-service.php
102 Journal of Asian and African Studies 54(1)
Obeng-Odoom F and Ameyaw S (2014) A new informal economy in Africa: The case of Ghana. 
African Journal of Science, Technology, Innovation and Development 6(3): 223–230. Available at: 
10.1080/20421338.2014.940172.
Oberhauser AM and Yeboah MA (2011) Heavy burdens: Gendered livelihood strategies of porters in Accra, 
Ghana. Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography 32(2011): 22–37.
Oteng-Ababio M (2016a) 2016 ‘The oil is Drilled in Takoradi, but the money is counted in Accra’: The 
paradox of plenty in the oil city, Ghana. Journal of Asian and African Studies 1–17. Available at: 
10.1177/0021909616677371.
Oteng-Ababio M (2016b) Was ‘Black Wednesday’ avoidable? The Melcom disaster in Accra puts a genera-
tion on trial. Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography 37(3): 401–417.
Oteng-Ababio M (2017) New wines, old bottles? Cities in the global South and the sustainable development 
goals. Ghana Journal of Geography 9(2): 175–196.
Oteng-Ababio M (2018) Crossing conceptual boundaries: Re-envisioning coordination and collaboration 
among women for sustainable livelihoods in Ghana. Local Environment 23(18): 1–19.
Oteng-Ababio M, Owusu G and Chama M (2015) Intelligent enterprise: Wasting, valuing and re-valuing 
waste electrical and electronic equipment. The Geographical Journal. Available at: 10.1111/geoj.12140.
Porter G, Hampshire K, Abane A, et al. (2012) Child Porterage and Africa’s Transport Gap: Evidence from 
Ghana, Malawi and South Africa. World Development, 40 (10), 2136–2154.
Prakash S, Manhart A, Amoyaw-Osei Y, et al. (2010) Socio-economic Assessment and Feasibility Study on 
Sustainable E-waste Management in Ghana. Accra.
Scholz, F. (2002) Die Theorie der, fragmentieren-den Entwicklung. Geographische Rundschau 54 (10), 6–11.
Songsore J (2017) The complex interplay between everyday risks and disaster risks: The case of the 2014 
Cholera Pandemic and 2015 Flood Disaster in Accra, Ghana. International Journal of Disaster Risk 
Reduction 26(2017): 43–50.
Tanle A (2014) Assessing livelihood status of migrants from Northern Ghana resident in the Obuasi 
Municipality. GeoJournal 79(5): 577–590.
Turok I (2016) Getting urbanisation to work in Africa: The role of the urban land-infrastructure-finance 
nexus. Area Development and Policy 1(1): 30–47. Available at: 10.1080/23792949.2016.1166444.
UN-Habitat (2009) Ghana: Accra Urban Profile. United Nations Human Settlements Programme, Nairobi, 
Kenya.
van der Geest K (2011) North-South migration in Ghana: What role for the environment? International 
Migration 49(1): 69–94.
Warner J (2011) Understanding cyber-crime in Ghana: A view from below. International Journal of Cyber 
Criminology 5(1): 736–749.
Williams CC and Nadin S (2010) The commonality and character of off-the-books entrepreneurship: A com-
parison of deprived and affluent urban neighbourhoods. Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship 
15: 1–14.
World Bank (2015) Rising through Cities in Ghana, Ghana Urbanisation Review Overview Report. 
Washington, DC. Available at: www.worldbank.org.
Author biographies
Martin Oteng-Ababio is an Associate Professor and Coordinator of the Urban Disaster Risk Reduction 
Programme in the Department of Geography and Resource Management, University of Ghana. He researches 
on urban and regional development, Urban Environmental Management and Urban Disaster Risk Reduction.
Augustine Tanle is an Associate Professor in the Department of Population and Health, University of Cape 
Coast, Cape Coast, Ghana. He holds a PhD in Population and Health, and his research interests include migra-
tion and refugee studies.
Samuel Twumasi Amoah is a Lecturer at the Department of Environment and Resource Studies of the 
University for Development Studies − Wa Campus, Ghana. He holds a Master of Science degree in Human 
Oteng-Ababio et al. 103
Geography (Urban and Regional Development), and his specific research interests include urban and regional 
development, and urban environmental management.
Louis Kusi Frimpong is a Doctoral candidate at the Department of Geography and Resource Development. His 
research interests include safety and security in urban areas, urban social policies and social organisation in 
urban residential areas.
Enoch Akwasi Kosoe is a Lecturer at the Department of Environment and Resource Studies of the University 
for Development Studies − Wa Campus, Ghana. He holds a Master of Science degree in Environmental 
Resource Management from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana. 
Mr. Kosoe’s research interest and experience is in water and sanitation, waste management and natural 
resource management.
Ernest Bagson is a Lecturer at the Department of Governance and Development Management of the University 
for Development Studies − Wa Campus, Ghana. He holds a MPhil in Development Studies and his specific 
research interests include governance and urban development.