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Top1. Introduction
One of the major challenges facing developing countries is poverty and microenterprises act as a means for employment which may support alleviating poverty leading to sustainable livelihoods (Duncombe, 2006; Donner & Escobari, 2010). Microenterprises are business organisations with less than five employees (Donner, 2006; Kamal & Qureshi, 2009). They are common form of business organisations in developing countries because they require few resources for start-up (Esselaar, Stork, Ndawalana & Deen-Swarray, 2007). Nonetheless, microenterprises have short-life span due to challenges such as lack of business skills for the owners, limited support and recognition from society (Wolcott, Kamal & Qureshi, 2008). ICT are perceived as an enabler that may mitigate some of the challenges for microenterprises. Access to ICT in microenterprises remains problematic in context of developing countries due to disparities in access to ICT among the population (van Dijk, 2006). However, with the growth of use of mobile technologies such as cell phones the situation is improving. South Africa had a mobile phone teledensity of 134.8% as of 2012 (ITU, 2012). It is likely that some microenterprises are also using ICT to support their livelihoods (Duncombe, 2006).
Microenterprises with adequate resources are able to acquire simple technologies for use in their business activities while those with limited resources in some cases they may use ICT informediaries or business support organisations (Duncombe & Heeks, 2002). ICT may help microenterprises to access information that addresses their information needs (Moyi, 2003). Further, ICT and information support the analytical and functional roles in supporting the livelihoods of microenterprises (Duncombe, 2006). A livelihood as a means for living involves use of resources or capabilities and strategies to reduce risks and vulnerabilities (Ellis, 2000). Analytical role of information support assessment of evidence to understand the context of livelihoods. The functional role of information supports strategies and actions that may result in positive livelihood outcomes such as improved well-being, more income and reduced vulnerability (DFID, 1999).
Government and development agencies initiate interventions aimed at supporting the growth of microenterprises (Duncombe & Heeks, 2002; Singh, Molla, Karanasios & Sargent, 2008). Nonetheless, there are challenges in implementation of such interventions. One of the problems is communication gap between microenterprises and business support organisations (Moyi, 2003). Business support organisations are not fully aware of the common means of communication for microenterprises to effectively target their services to the microenterprises. As a result, majority of the microenterprises are not aware of the services offered by business support organisations. This challenge had been highlighted in a number of studies (Brown & Brown, 2009; Luiz, 2002; Mitrovic & Bytheway, 2009; Wolcott, Kamal & Qureshi, 2008). However, there is lack of detailed studies on the interactions patterns between microenterprises and business support organisations. This study was aimed addressing part of this knowledge gap.