Dissertation (MA Business Administration)The study is focused on the pull and push factors towards petty trade development in Tanzania, drawing data from Dodoma City. Specifically, the study informs of the pull or ambitious factors that influence people to engage in petty trade, the push or compelling factors that lead people to engage in petty trade, the challenges encountered by petty traders and the opportunities for future development. Using a cross-section design, the study generated data from the sample of 96 petty traders through questionnaires and interviews with the key informants. The data were mainly analyzed through the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) to develop the descriptive statistics. The analysis of the data generated revealed that petty traders generally obtain capital from families while shortage of employment is the main reason for people to engage in petty trade. Further analysis of the data generated revealed that there is a need to train people on petty trade and the means to create more income and win the market environment. From these findings, it is recommended that the Government through the Ministry of Trade should provide supportive environment in terms of capital and training to petty traders. The community should support the petty traders by buying their products. Dodoma City Council should plan to support petty traders in terms of reduced disturbances to their business and even provide premises for doing business.