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Abstract
The Entrepreneurial Ecosystem is a widely discussed area in the modern research scenario but not much attention is given to the entrepreneurial ecosystem of marginal sections of the society who take the role of street vendors or informal entrepreneurs. The National Association of Street Vendors of India (NASVI) is established to bring various street vendor organisations together to protect the livelihood rights of millions of street vendors in India. A national level institution was formed because of the socio-economic impact of street vending and considering the importance of informal entrepreneurship for those who find difficulty to enter into the formal sector. Moreover, Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act, 2014 was established to provide further protection to their rights. Informal Entrepreneurs are particularly important in promoting tourism industry as they sell indigenous goods in a way that attract tourists. The goods are also available at an affordable cost. However, the authorities find these vendors as a threat to the tourism environment of a destination. Ultimately the creation of an entrepreneurial ecosystem for the informal entrepreneurs is of paramount importance for balancing the needs of both the vendors and authorities. Being a Biennale City, heritage destination and tourist prone area with large number of street vendors, Fortkochi is selected as the study area. The major focus of the study is to understand the current entrepreneurial ecosystem of street vendors at Fortkochi, their role as entrepreneurs in tourism promotion of the destination and to suggest ideas for the creation of a better entrepreneurial ecosystem considering the predicaments of street vendors.