Street vendors need strategic locations

JAKARTA: Most street vendors were able raise the funds necessary to start up business but lacked a strategic place to run it, according to the results of a recent study.

The research, conducted by the Public Institute (LPM) of the University of Indonesia, showed that the vendors had no problem raising capital as they were able to borrow money from relatives or friends.

Rusli Ramli, a professor at the School of Social and Political Sciences who presented the results of the research over the weekend, said that the most serious problem faced my vendors was the lack of a strategic place from where to sell their merchandise.

Consequently, vendors do not mind paying illegal fees as long as they are allowed to occupy a strategic spot, even though there is no guarantee against being evicted.

Street vendors also do not feel secure in their work, which explains why they do not have high motivation to develop their businesses.

Another problem of most vendors is that they do not have any organizational, administrative or accounting skills, according to Ramli.

Three hundred and fourteen venders were polled in the study. Most were former farmers from outside Jakarta would had moved to the capital to find work but had been forced to become street vendors when they could not find a job in the formal sector. --Antara