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The purpose of this paper is to introduce the content of a special issue of Journal of Enterprising Communities focusing on indigenous entrepreneurs.

The paper provides a brief description of the six contributions to the special issue.

The papers are found to range over New Zealand, Australia, Hawaii, Sweden Samoa and Ghana.

The papers comprising this special issue are of value in increasing understanding of how uniquely indigenous political, economic and social systems can explain cultural, social and political factors that both inhibit and enhance indigenous economic prosperity.

This chapter discusses the sociohistories that shape the current existential realities for HBCU education in the Caribbean, particularly the University of the Virgin Islands. The distinction, Anglophone Caribbean (also commonly referred to as the British West Indies), is a way of naming the intentional displacement and conquering of the indigenous people of the islands. Following a theorization of colonization, the chapter discusses the politics of higher education in the Anglophone Caribbean that influence the existence of the only HBCU outside the continental US, The University of the Virgin Islands. This context is essential to understanding the university’s founding and modern existence.

This paper examines the models used to teach and encourage indigenous entrepreneurial activity, with a focus on indigenous entrepreneurship in a Maori context.

In particular, the paper explores the pedagogical challenges from the perspective of indigenous entrepreneurship understood from a Maori context and draws on an historical and cultural analysis of kin accountability within a tribal context to explore the pedagogical challenges faced when working with a new generation of aspiring entrepreneurially‐minded Maori. Three short case studies are provided as illustrative examples.

The paper finds that entrepreneurial models focusing on opportunity‐seeking potiki (aspiring younger individuals) will likely remain limited in application until they successfully integrate the genealogical check and balance of the potiki, namely the elder‐rangatira. This rangatira: potiki customary leadership tension has been Maori society's generative survival portal to taking advantage of new opportunities (potikitanga) for 100 or more generations. The paper suggests that while Maori ventures may adequately reflect what constitutes successful commercial entrepreneurship, such ventures also need to be further developed in terms of kin‐accountability beyond current social/economic entrepreneurial thinking if they are to legitimately benefit Maori society.

Although only one cultural context is examined, this paper demonstrates the potential benefit of a deeper understanding of the cultural genealogical setting when developing models to work with indigenous entrepreneurs.

Polynesian settlers arrived in Aotearoa (in te reo, or Māori language, “Land of the Long White Cloud”) about the 10th century. Aotearoa was visited briefly by the Dutch navigator Abel Tasman in 1642. However, it was not until 1769 that the British naval captain James Cook and his crew became the first Europeans to explore New Zealand’s coastline thoroughly. The word Māori meant “usual or ordinary” as opposed to the “different” European settlers. Before the arrival of Europeans, Māori, or indigenous Polynesian inhabitants of New Zealand, had no name for themselves as a nation, only a number of tribal names. The original meaning of Pākeha, the settlers, was a person from England. With time, Pākeha became the word to describe fair-skinned people born in New Zealand. We use the word Pākeha here in the sense of the New Zealand census as a European New Zealander.

The purpose this paper is to determine the impact that culture and social capital has on indigenous entrepreneurs' business networking.

A comparative case study analysis was undertaken on a three‐nation sample of indigenous entrepreneurs in Australia, Hawaii and New Zealand. The specific research questions investigated were: does culture influence indigenous entrepreneurs' networking, and does social capital influence indigenous entrepreneurs' networking? Participants were stand‐alone commercial operators.

Reduced social capital for indigenous Australians resulted in active social networking to be a necessity in the operation of their basic business functions, the role of the family was negligible to negative, they were dependent on racial acceptance, they experienced little diversity in their networking, their business relationships were often that of dependence with a distinct separation between social and business networking interactions. The Hawaiians displayed a solid cultural capital base with spontaneous drivers in the interaction of relationships, networks were culturally accepted, the family role was supportive, a dynamic networking interaction ensued, networking was diverse and well maintained, they took an avid interest in their networking relationship which for many was personal and their networking relationships were highly integrated between their social and business spheres. Maori displayed a solid cultural capital base. Networks were culturally accepted, the family role was supportive, a dynamic networking interaction ensued with strong economic motivators, networking was diverse and well maintained, they took an avid interest in their networking relationship which culturally supported and their networking relationships were highly integrated between their social and business spheres.

This research provides an increased understanding of the business environment for policy makers, NGOs, business support organisations and the indigenous entrepreneurs themselves. The relationship between culture and social networking which is stimulated or reduced by the presence of varying levels of social capital can and will assist the indigenous entrepreneurs in their business planning.

This paper provides the reader with a new perspective on how the existence of social capital impacts on networking for indigenous entrepreneurs.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate an entrepreneurial process with unusual characteristics, focusing on Sámi micro and mezo level entrepreneurial logics and terms.

The case study is a Sámi community in Sweden, where a gender equality project developed into involvement with global innovations systems, in advanced networking development. The paper builds on ethnological methodology and an interactive approach. Market signalling theory is applied, uniquely for this paper, to public funding decisions.

The paper found anticipation among Sámi of mobile ICT to take over the key role in herding, from the present mechanized and motorized era. The many‐faceted entrepreneurial process contradicts a fundamental split between survival and self expression mode for economic strategy taken for granted in, e.g. Richard Florida's theory on the creative class. Regarding public funding for research and entrepreneurial initiatives, the paper finds that the national level has made itself accessible, while the regional level administrator has pushed the initiative to “other” markets.

Conclusions cannot be but provisional based on one case. As very few cases of this type are known the findings are yet of value for the design of further research and policy.

Indigenous peoples' and women's roles in the information society are not self‐evident. The case shows fruitful possibilities. Turning to market signaling theory prepares for further development of quantitative evaluation, e.g. equal opportunity and inclusion policy implementation, and has not previously been done in relation to this case.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the personal profile and entrepreneurial activities of indigenous Ghanaian women and to provide updated research to raise awareness about the significant impact of the indigenous women‐run small to medium‐sized enterprises on Africa countries' economies.

The study employed a mixed methodology research design where both qualitative and quantitative methods were used. Mail surveys were used to collect data from 241 indigenous Ghanaian women and in addition, 20 of these women were purposefully selected and interviewed.

Indigenous Ghanaian women were found to exhibit many similarities with their counterparts in other countries in terms of their personality traits. However, they differed in other aspects such as their educational backgrounds and modes of entrepreneurial skills acquisition. Through their entrepreneurial activities the women have made substantial contributions to the economic growth of Ghana in terms of innovation, job creation, and reduction in poverty and unemployment.

The main limitation is the restricted locale of the sample. The sample however is a reasonably representative of all the ten municipalities and indigenous communities in Ghana, and as a result the findings can be generalized to all indigenous women entrepreneurs in Ghana.

The paper shows that the indigenous women's small businesses are very important to economic and social development. Indigenous women's entrepreneurship, properly harnessed, has great potential as a tool for transforming African economies.

This paper contributes to the literature due to the scarcity of publications about indigenous women's economic activities in Africa. The paper is useful for policy makers in Africa and researchers wishing to pursue indigenous entrepreneurship and gender studies.

The purpose of this paper is to highlight indigenous and endogenous components of community capacity development through a focus on enterprise with renewed vigour and fervency attributable to local power elites and local collaboration and cooperation.

The twenty‐first century identifies good practices in many aspects of bottom‐up planning and implementation in neoliberal political economies. New Zealand is for many reasons, due to scale, skills and education, an example of endogenous development that is used globally for best practice studies. This paper specifically identifies and explores the local responses to the challenge of democracy and opportunities for diversification through tourism services provision on the Chatham Islands.

The paper notes that community capacity and governance on the Chathams has been the subject of discussion in recent years and the focus has been directed to conflicts in governance and possibly inappropriate policy and practice coordination. Although the refocus on endogenous development, empowerment and devolution of responsibility has a long pedigree in the context of the neoliberal economy, insufficient attention has been paid to the skills, inclination, social and economic capital for indigenous enterprise, more so in an environment of isolation, relative deprivation and dependence.

This paper highlights indigenous and endogenous components of community capacity development through a focus on enterprise with renewed vigour and fervency attributable to local power elites and local collaboration and cooperation. A useful model of indigenous tourism development and its endogenous antecedents is considered at the conclusion.

The purpose of this study was to explore the impact of governmental support policies and socio-cultural influences on female entrepreneurship in rural Vietnam. As such, the study addresses an important literature gap concerning female entrepreneurship within rural communities in South East Asia.

Qualitative in-depth interviews were conducted with six female entrepreneurs and six female non-entrepreneurs in northern Vietnam to examine the influence of various environmental factors on female entrepreneurship in a rural setting.

The results suggest that government pro-entrepreneurship policies, together with private sector interventions, have had an impact on rural Vietnam. Yet females in rural and remote Vietnam are still constrained by societal prejudices, financial limitations, and limited entrepreneurship educational opportunities.

The paper's originality lies in its review of the circumstances confronting women in rural Vietnam and its findings concerning the impact of environmental factors on female entrepreneurship in this setting.