Examining Financial Accessibility and Business Growth of Street Vendors in Raymond Mhlaba Municipality, Eastern Cape, South Africa

South Africa’s high unemployment remains one of the major challenges for the government. The primary objective of this research is to investigate the financial accessibility and business growth of the street vendors in Raymond Mhlaba Municipality. Data was collected using questionnaires with a sample size of 50 respondents. Data collected were analyzed with SPSS using correlation techniques to explain the existing relationship between the variables. Additionally, the descriptive analysis was applied for the intention of analyzing the composition of the sample. The results indicated that there is a statistically significant positive relationship between financial support and the growth of street vendors. Further on, there is a statistically significant positive relationship between financial support and the purported benefits of street vending. The study thus recommends that the government of Eastern Cape should design course content that street vendors understand for re-investment and make the content area specific. In addition, they should create a street vending data base that has suppliers from local farmers and vendors from local town where they trade their products and services through negotiation and bargaining as to grow small farmers.