Using “household microenterprises” (HMEs) to distinguish firms employing up to three people from other informal sector firms, this paper looks at this sector in five African cities – Accra, Lagos, Dar es Salaam, Lilongwe and Harare – using qualitative interviews and secondary literature. The paper argues that several concepts are useful for thinking about HME policy, including necessity versus opportunity entrepreneurship, indirect formalisation via HME networks and groups, the benefits to HMEs of agglomeration, the significance of “everyday politics”, and HMEs’ presence in formal firms’ value chains.