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The purpose of this paper is to explore the barriers to entry for Indigenous businesses into the Australian construction industry.

A national survey was conducted with 33 Indigenous businesses operating in the Australian construction industry.

The findings show that Indigenous enterprises face similar challenges to many small non-Indigenous enterprises wishing to enter the industry. These include adjusting to unique construction industry cultures and practices, breaking into existing business networks and building social capital and being under-cut by industry incumbents and competitors when tendering for projects. These barriers are similar to those faced by other non-Indigenous social enterprises, although Indigenous enterprises do appear to experience relatively greater difficulty in starting-up their businesses and in securing sufficient capital, finance and assistance to enable them to scale-up and tender for normal work packages at a competitive price.

The results are limited to Australian Indigenous businesses. The survey does not allow a comparison of non-Indigenous and Indigenous businesses, although comparison of results with existing non-Indigenous research into small to medium-sized firms in construction does allow some tentative insights. These need to be explored further.

These results indicate that there are significant barriers to be addressed within the Australian construction industry if government indigenous procurement policies are to achieve their stated aims of increasing the number of Indigenous firms in the industry. The results also have important implications for Indigenous businesses and for non-Indigenous firms operating in the Australian construction industry.

This is an important gap in knowledge to address if countries like Australia are to redress the significant inequalities in income and health suffered by Indigenous populations.

In countries like Australia, with significant Indigenous populations, governments are seeking to address persistent disadvantage by using new social procurement initiatives to create quasi construction markets for Indigenous enterprises to participate in the construction industry. While there is an emerging body of research into the barriers facing mainstream small to medium-sized enterprises and, to a lesser extent, social enterprises in construction, the barriers to entry facing Indigenous construction enterprises have been largely ignored.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a conceptual overview of linkages between buen vivir and social enterprise as emerging from a review of the literature regarding indigenous development approaches in Latin America. As reported in the literature such approaches aim to reduce poverty and affirm indigenous cultural identities through the sustainable use of natural resources.

The conceptual arguments build on a review of literature regarding social enterprise, mainly in its European conception, on social and solidarity economy according to several Latin American scholars, and on streams of literature related to indigenous development and indigenous entrepreneurship.

Against the failure of externally‐driven developmental policies, social enterprise can be considered as a useful vehicle for indigenous peoples to establish direct control and management of natural resources and territories that constitute an important step towards their self‐determination and self‐managed development.

An empirical validation of the presented argument is lacking in this paper and further empirical work is needed.

The paper is an attempt to provide a general conceptualization of social enterprise as a meaningful tool for the development of indigenous peoples in Latin America, bringing together different concepts borrowed from theories on social enterprise, social and solidarity economy and indigenous development.

Using an integrated framework for performance management of nonprofit organizations, this paper aims to present an analysis of the activities of an Indigenous social enterprise in the town of Yirrkala in northeast Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory of Australia. The evaluation focuses on the social effectiveness of the organization and its ability to help generate income and employment and drive social capital creation.

The analysis is informed by data derived from “yarns” with social enterprise staff and semi-structured interviews conducted with key informants who were selected using snowball sampling. Data were transcribed and analyzed thematically.

The analysis reveals that the organization provides a successful community-based pathway for increasing Indigenous economic participation on local terms at a time of regional economic decline and high levels of Indigenous unemployment nationally.

The measured effectiveness of Nuwul highlights the need for targeted policy support for Indigenous enterprises and that social entrepreneurship is far more likely to be successful in a supportive government policy environment, a critical need for government-initiated policies to encourage the formation of Indigenous social enterprises that are entrepreneurial and innovative in their solutions to poverty and marginalization. Such policies should not only aid the establishment of Indigenous ventures but also facilitate their long-term growth and sustainability.

Although Indigenous entrepreneurial activities have been found to be effective in addressing Indigenous disadvantage in Australia, little is known about their community impact. The article provides original empirically grounded research on the measurement of Indigenous entrepreneurial activities and their wider community impact. The data show, against the backdrop of mixed results of government efforts to drive Indigenous economic mainstreaming, that the entrepreneurial activities analyzed in this paper are an example of more flexible and culturally appropriate pathways for achieving Indigenous equality in rural and remote regions of Australia.

To explore the cultural context of Indigenous family entrepreneurs and to apply to them the concept of n-Culturals, thus contributing to validating the concept.

Interview data collected from Wayuu entrepreneurs in La Guajira region of Colombia and from Māori entrepreneurs in the Rotorua region of New Zealand were analyzed qualitatively. The analysis primarily focused on Wayuu entrepreneurs, with the results for Māori entrepreneurs used for comparison, to help to interpret the Wayuu data.

For Wayuu entrepreneurs, family members play a range of crucial roles in enterprise operations, with the family and the kin-centered local Indigenous community emerging as an informal organization surrounding the enterprise. Family is the source of Indigenous culture, while the mainstream culture is centered on global Western business culture, rather than the culture of the country. The Indigenous entrepreneurs integrate the values of the two cultures in managing their enterprises, thus acting as n-Cultural. Māori entrepreneurs who managed enterprises with a strong Indigenous character were similar in this respect to Wayuu entrepreneurs.

As n-Culturals integrating the values of Indigenous culture and the mainstream culture, Indigenous entrepreneurs develop valuable traits, becoming a valuable component of the human capital in their regions, even when their enterprises fail.

Existing research on multicultural individuals is largely limited to immigrants and expatriates. By characterizing Indigenous family entrepreneurs as n-Culturals, the present study contributes to validating the concept and opens the way for further research on how Indigenous entrepreneurs manage their multicultural identities.

Africa is a vast, immensely diverse continent with hundreds of local languages, traditions, values, and cultures that shape the lives of its people. The vast resources available on the continent present numerous opportunities for economic development and prosperity. The preceding chapters in this volume have explored many of these resources, highlighting the importance of indigenous knowledge in driving sustainable business structures across Africa. This chapter concludes with practical recommendations for implementing and sustaining indigenous knowledge on the continent and building a more equitable and sustainable future for Africa. We anticipate that these observations and recommendations will aid African researchers, government and non-governmental organisations, educators, business actors and leaders, legislators, and the general public in thinking globally but acting locally to advance indigenous knowledge in Africa.

This paper aims to contribute to indigenous entrepreneurship theory by identifying what constitutes an indigenous enterprise, focussing on Aotearoa New Zealand as a case.

This paper combines policy (quantitative survey) and academic research (qualitative interviews) to answer the same question, what is an indigenous enterprise in Aotearoa New Zealand?

The authors found a degree of consistency as to what counts as an indigenous enterprise in the literature (e.g., identity, ownership, values), yet a consensus on a definition of Maori business remains elusive. They also found that an understanding of the indigenous economy and indigenous entrepreneurial policy are impeded because of definitional uncertainties. The authors propose a definition of Maori business which accounts for indigenous ownership, identity, values and well-being.

The main limitation is that the literature and research use different definitions of indigenous enterprise, constraining comparative analysis. The next step is to evaluate our definition as a basis for quantifying the population of indigenous enterprises in Aotearoa New Zealand.

The research assists indigenous entrepreneurs to identify, measure and account for their contribution to indigenous self-determination and sustainable development.

This research has the potential to reconceptualise indigenous enterprise as a distinct and legitimate alternative institutional theory of the firm.

The research challenges assumptions and knowledge of entrepreneurship policy and practice generally and the understanding of what is the nature and extent of an indigenous firm.

This paper aims to study the Colombia Buen Vivir and how indigenous social enterprise strategies inform and contribute for achieving the sustainable development goals (SDGs) by reaching sustainability and the well-being in the community.

Using participatory video research (PVR), this work draws upon evidence from a multiple case study of five indigenous communities (Curripaco, Puinave, Yanacona, Misak and Wayuu). Ethical approval was obtained from the five indigenous social enterprises (ISEs) in Colombia.

What emerged from the findings is that the SDGs were addressed before the SDG Agenda in 2015. Moreover, the findings revealed that the cultural values of indigenous people had not been contemplated in the SDGs.

The cases respond to a particular context (Colombia); therefore, this invites us to be cautious when extrapolating the results to other regions.

This work addresses a research gap that points to the lack of studies that focus on ISEs and the SDGs in developing countries. Further, this work sheds light on the role ISEs play in the quest for communities to achieve sustainability and well-being.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is the first to explore whether the SDGs embed sufficient ways of knowing and doing by the Latin American Buen Vivir of ISEs.

Businesses have increasingly been urged to shift their emphasis away from a purely profit-driven economic perspective to a more sustainable approach to growth that holistically captures people, the planet and profits. Indigenous businesses are well suited to creatively integrate sustainability principles within their internal culture. This enables them to cope with the dominance created by non-indigenous enterprises while also promoting long-term business success. The Triple Bottom Line (TBL) concept has been applied to explore how indigenous businesses in Uganda manifest their best practices by incorporating sustainability principles for lasting economic performance. A multiple case study approach was adopted, and three well-established female-owned indigenous businesses were investigated using in-depth interviews. Integrating sustainability in the business is a fulfiling process if done holistically by embracing a range of interdependent variables that include environmental, social and economic dimensions. The author contributes an innovative culturally sensitive sustainability scope that reflects practical insights on how internal sustainability efforts can be streamlined for long-term economic prosperity without compromising the wider social and physical environment.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the function of an Indigenous commercial fishery at Norway House Cree Nation as a social enterprise, and to examine its potential to enhance community economic development.

The research was conducted in three phases, and the outcome of each phase was used as an input for the next phase. In the first phase, questionnaire surveys were administered among commercial fishing households. In the second phase, semi-structured interviews were conducted with key informants, and in the third, with fisheries experts, food development experts and government officials.

Norway House Fisherman’s Co-op functions as a social enterprise mainly because commercial fishers contribute to local food security by sharing fish, and the Co-op operates additional businesses which contribute to job creation and community economic development.

The study was carried out in only one community and commercial fishery from northern Manitoba, and the results will not be directly applicable elsewhere.

This research provides recommendations for further development of commercial fisheries at Norway House: fuller use of existing fish resources, value-added economic development and creative use of regulatory options.

The Co-op is identified as the engine of community development. It functions well, but there are additional opportunities for development, such as reducing the discard of lower value fish, which is consistent with indigenous Cree cultural values of not wasting resources.

The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the importance of taking into account contextual factors when building governing mechanisms, so that the subsequent processes and structures are appropriate and sustainable.

The paper utilises the singular case study illustration of Māori Maps, an indigenous social and entrepreneurial venture to illustrate the notion of contextualised governance. Considering this focus centres on notions of context, the case study method is most appropriate as it allows for a fuller explanation of the specific contextual factors relating to the study.

In taking into account the unique contextual factors relating to Māori Maps, the paper shows that they have incorporated culturally appropriate models and processes of governance.

This context‐specific case study illustration supports new governance research avenues that assert that context matters, and contributes to the body of evidence that suggests that traditional frameworks of governance cannot be applied to all organisations, with no regard being taken for varying contextual factors.

This case study illustration may encourage other groups in similar scenarios (but with varying contextual surroundings) to develop their own innovative models of governance which suit their surroundings.

The authors have utilised the Māori Maps case study previously in the context of innovation and entrepreneurship studies. The insights drawn from studying the intersection between governance theory and social entrepreneurship in this context are new.