This paper analyses the determinants behind the formalization of immigrants’ informal entrepreneurship in Cote d’Ivoire and its effects on jobs creation. The data cover 400 informal business from the CAPEC/IDRC enterprises survey. The estimation of an instrumental variable model highlights, on the one hand, the barriers to formalisation and, on the other hand, the levers of formalisation. It emerges that taxes, the cost of registration, the ignorance of declaration procedures, family workforce and the narrowness of the market are the constraints to the formalization of immigrants’ entrepreneurship. On the other side, membership of a professional association, simplification of procedures and access to formal credit boost formalisation. In the same token procedures popularization and costs reduction are factors of formalization propulsion. However, the problem of access to the market is exclusively relevant for immigrants. Furthermore, the results show that the provision of formalisation increases jobs creation.
Keywords: Determinants, Informal entrepreneurial, formalization., jobs creation, migrants
