Smart township digital framework: Growing the township economy post-COVID-19 pandemic

Mathibe, MJMuchenje, TMasonta, Moshe TEniola, AAIwu, CGOpute, APP2023-05-122023-05-122022-12Mathibe, M., Muchenje, T. & Masonta, M.T. 2022. Smart township digital framework: Growing the township economy post-COVID-19 pandemic. In The Future of Entrepreneurship in Africa. A. Eniola, C. Iwu & A. Opute, Eds. S.l.: Routledge. http://hdl.handle.net/10204/12780 .978-10-0-321646-9https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003216469http://hdl.handle.net/10204/12780The Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic changed how people and businesses interact. Its impact severely impacted the global economy. As the governments of different countries imposed heavy lockdown regulations to curb the spread of the virus, an already struggling informal sector economy was the most affected. South African townships were not immune to the impact. Though the South African government introduced various financial relief through the R500 billion support grant, most township entrepreneurs could not access the government grant to sustain their everyday business operations. As a result, many livelihoods and informal businesses within the townships were severely impaired. Drawing on the experiences and good practice in the conduct and reporting of systematic review method, this chapter commenced by reviewing published journal articles and reports on township economy and digitalisation. The chapter then proposes a smart township digital framework for growing the township economy post the COVID-19 pandemic. The framework is built on four components: (i) last-mile connectivity; (ii) cloud & virtualisation; (iii) customers and end-users; and (iv) key enabling digital skills. To conclude, this chapter offers critical recommendations that will enable the implementation of the proposed framework. It is worth noting that critical research directions for developing knowledge in this domain have been flagged.AbstractenCovid-19Corona virusTownship EconomySmart township digital framework: Growing the township economy post-COVID-19 pandemicBook ChapterMathibe, M., Muchenje, T., & Masonta, M. T. (2022). Smart township digital framework: Growing the township economy post-COVID-19 pandemic. In A. Eniola, C. Iwu & A. Opute. (Eds.), The Future of Entrepreneurship in Africa Routledge. http://hdl.handle.net/10204/12780Mathibe, MJ, T Muchenje, and Moshe T Masonta. "Smart township digital framework: Growing the township economy post-COVID-19 pandemic" In THE FUTURE OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN AFRICA, edited by AA Eniola. n.p.: Routledge. 2022. http://hdl.handle.net/10204/12780.Mathibe M, Muchenje T, Masonta MT. Smart township digital framework: Growing the township economy post-COVID-19 pandemic. In Eniola A, Iwu C, Opute A, editors.. The Future of Entrepreneurship in Africa. [place unknown]: Routledge; 2022. [cited yyyy month dd]. http://hdl.handle.net/10204/12780.TY - Book Chapter AU - Mathibe, MJ AU - Muchenje, T AU - Masonta, Moshe T AB - The Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic changed how people and businesses interact. Its impact severely impacted the global economy. As the governments of different countries imposed heavy lockdown regulations to curb the spread of the virus, an already struggling informal sector economy was the most affected. South African townships were not immune to the impact. Though the South African government introduced various financial relief through the R500 billion support grant, most township entrepreneurs could not access the government grant to sustain their everyday business operations. As a result, many livelihoods and informal businesses within the townships were severely impaired. Drawing on the experiences and good practice in the conduct and reporting of systematic review method, this chapter commenced by reviewing published journal articles and reports on township economy and digitalisation. The chapter then proposes a smart township digital framework for growing the township economy post the COVID-19 pandemic. The framework is built on four components: (i) last-mile connectivity; (ii) cloud & virtualisation; (iii) customers and end-users; and (iv) key enabling digital skills. To conclude, this chapter offers critical recommendations that will enable the implementation of the proposed framework. It is worth noting that critical research directions for developing knowledge in this domain have been flagged. DA - 2022-12 DB - ResearchSpace DP - CSIR ED - Eniola, AA ED - Iwu, CG ED - Opute, APP J1 - The Future of Entrepreneurship in Africa KW - Covid-19 KW - Corona virus KW - Township Economy LK - https://researchspace.csir.co.za PY - 2022 SM - 978-10-0-321646-9 T1 - Smart township digital framework: Growing the township economy post-COVID-19 pandemic TI - Smart township digital framework: Growing the township economy post-COVID-19 pandemic UR - http://hdl.handle.net/10204/12780 ER -26598