Year: 2026 | Month: September | Volume: 13 | Issue: 9 | Pages: 524-540
DOI: https://doi.org/10.52403/ijrr.20260949
Overcoming Challenges of Shortage of Coins in Subsistence Entrepreneurship. An Exploratory Study of the Coping Mechanisms of Subsistence Micro-Entrepreneurs in the Mobile Telecommunication Industry in Cameroon
Njomo Louis Mosake1, Belinda Mbah Njomo2, Bissa William Natacha3
1Advanced School of Economics and Commerce (ESSEC) University of Douala
2School of Business, Kazek University Institute of Technology and Management (KazekTech)
3Advanced School of Economics and Commerce (ESSEC) University of Douala
Corresponding Author: Njomo Louis Mosake
ABSTRACT
Micro-entrepreneurs in developing economies frequently operate under persistent resource constraints that can affect business continuity, profitability, and customer relationships. While existing research has examined financial constraints, entrepreneurial bricolage, social networks, and mobile money, limited attention has been given to shortages of coins and small-denomination currency as an everyday operational constraint. This study examines the coping mechanisms adopted by micro-entrepreneurs in the mobile telecommunications industry in response to coin shortages in Limbe, Cameroon. The study adopted a qualitative research approach and an exploratory research design. Data were collected through semi-structured face-to-face interviews with 28 micro-entrepreneurs involved in mobile money services, airtime sales, mobile phone-related services, and related telecommunications activities. Participants were selected using snowball sampling, and the interview data were analyzed using content analysis. The findings indicate that coin shortages constitute a persistent transaction-level resource constraint. Entrepreneurs reported transaction delays, lost sales, reduced profit margins, and customer dissatisfaction when appropriate denominations were unavailable. To maintain business continuity, participants relied on several coping mechanisms, including borrowing and exchanging coins with neighbouring entrepreneurs, conserving available coins, adjusting or rounding transaction amounts, absorbing small financial losses, and encouraging customers to use mobile money. These findings demonstrate that micro-entrepreneurs engage in entrepreneurial bricolage by mobilizing social relationships and other immediately available resources to overcome currency-denomination constraints. However, the coping mechanisms also transfer part of the cost of the constraint to entrepreneurs through lost time, reduced margins, additional effort, and potential customer conflict. The study extends the literature on subsistence entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial bricolage by highlighting coin availability as a neglected micro-level resource constraint and demonstrates that entrepreneurial resilience involves continuous adaptation to everyday operational difficulties. The study recommends stronger denomination-distribution mechanisms, wider adoption of appropriate digital payment alternatives, and collective resource-sharing arrangements among micro-entrepreneurs.
Keywords: subsistence entrepreneurship; micro-entrepreneurs ; coin shortages; entrepreneurial bricolage ; resource contraints ; mobile money ; entrepreneurial resilience; Cameroon.
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