Hawker

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• Door-to-Door Salesman

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In a country where many people’s economic well-being is being jeopardised by the problem of unemployment, more and more people have to rely on their entrepreneurial skills to survive.

One such group of people is the Hawkers who sell a wide range of products on the streets or door-to-door. Most Hawkers are innovative salespeople with good entrepreneurial skills. They deliver an important service to the community.

Hawkers normally sell food, fresh produce, clothing or personal items. Food is either pre-prepared, e.g. samosas or cooked at the selling point e.g. mealies. Fruit and vegetables are bought in bulk at the fresh produce market. They are repacked in smaller quantities and resold at a profit. Clothing, leather items, toiletries or other novelties are normally bought from wholesalers for resale.

The Hawkers who cannot afford to buy these products can sometimes sell them on behalf of the distributor at a commission. Goods are offered on sidewalks in busy areas as the city centre, near stations and taxi ranks or at a traffic intersection on main routes.