COVID-19 bailout nationalism: A predicament in saving small immigrant-owned businesses in South Africa

ABSTRACT

A B S T R A C T The small business sector has been identified as an essential component of the global economy, especially in the developing economies, where it plays a significant role in addressing Job creation and poverty. Keywords Immigrants, Immigrant-Entrepreneurs, COVID- 19 Bailout, Discrimination, Prejudice Introduction The incidence and subsequent rapid spread of the Coronavirus have devastated the world economy, nearly grounding it to a halt at the height of the pandemic, and the vestiges of this economic devastation remain in various countries to different extents. The small business sector has been identified as an important component of the global economy, especially in developing economies where it plays a significant role in addressing job creation and poverty. Immigrant entrepreneurship presents an important economic opportunity for South Africa in form of employment creation which has important implications for the reduction of poverty and inequality, as well as stimulation of economic growth in the country (Fatoki, 2014;Ngota et al., 2018).