Fisher’s research highlights how informal businesses, baking at night, crocheting goods for export, running a mobile beauty salon, or renting out a spare room, often thrive on “social capital”, the networks of trust, support, and connection women build daily.
“These businesses, born from necessity, talent, intuition and care, are hidden in plain sight, yet they thrive on something powerful called social capital,” Fisher said.
Design thinking, a five-step process widely used in startups and innovation labs, is often followed instinctively by women entrepreneurs: empathising with customers, defining problems, generating ideas, prototyping, and testing solutions.
Fisher illustrated this through a simple case: a homemade rooibos balm created to help a friend’s child with eczema. The maker listened to the problem, refined the product based on feedback, and grew interest through her community, mirroring the design thinking model.
Fisher offers a practical checklist for turning side hustles into structured businesses:
“The bottom line is that women who have side-hustles already know how to do this,” Fisher said. “You already have what it takes.”
