This policy brief applies a gender lens to exploring innovation in informal businesses. A gender lens can help policymakers understand the innovation behaviour of both men and women-owned businesses towards the development of suitable targeted interventions. The analysis is based on data collected through the Centre for Science, Technology and Innovation Indicators' 2017-2018 Innovation in the Informal Sector Survey conducted in a peri-rural area in KwaZulu-Natal, Sweetwaters, Msunduzi KwaZulu-Natal is associated with relatively higher levels of emigration, poverty, unemployment, and inadequate infrastructure. The brief provides snapshots of the data to inform further research.