Markets and capital accumulation can advance Indigenous emancipation.

There are ~370 million Indigenous people, across 70 countries worldwide. It is recognised that Indigenous peoples practise traditions unique to their cultures, and that they retain social, cultural, economic, and political characteristics, which make them distinct from the majority cultures in lands that have been colonised. Histories of Indigenous peoples have highlighted the negative impacts of those majority cultures, most notably through conquest and colonisation. The ability of Indigenous peoples to survive and flourish, despite these impacts, often rests on the enterprises they create to achieve their goals for social change and social justice.

Indigenous entrepreneurship is a foundation for understanding Indigenous enterprise, for it is often Indigenous entrepreneurs that create and operate such entities. Indigenous entrepreneurship has been defined as, ‘the creation, management, and development of new ventures by Indigenous people for the benefit of Indigenous people. The organisations thus created can pertain to either the private, public or non-profit sectors’ (Hindle & Moroz, 2010: 363). Hindle and Moroz developed a framework for Indigenous entrepreneurship research that highlights the relative importance of communities rather than individuals, and which emphasises culture and social norms over resources and profits.

Peredo, Anderson, Gailbraith, Honig, and Dana (2004) acknowledge that Indigenous peoples strive to plan and control their own development, their rights over resources, and to rebuild their communities. However, Indigenous development founded on Indigenous culture and society has proved problematic, as Indigenous entities struggle to exist in the economic and organisational systems of the dominant culture. In a similar vein, Peredo and McLean (2010) discuss how Indigenous peoples around the world have turned to entrepreneurial endeavour to improve the conditions of themselves and their communities. They suggest that ‘Indigenous communities act collectively as both entrepreneur and enterprise, with profit-making subordinate to social outcomes’ (2010: 614).

For Cahn, ‘In Indigenous societies throughout the world “business” and economic activities are embedded in cultural and social aspects, creating unique styles of entrepreneurship, which are often community-oriented, and with diverse livelihood outcomes’ (2008: 1). Her focus is Indigenous entrepreneurship, culture and micro-enterprise in Samoa. Cahn found that, ‘where micro-enterprises blend well with fa’aSamoa1 , an “Indigenous” style of enterprise develops, and fa’aSamoa is a motivating factor and asset, which enhances entrepreneurial activity’ (2008: 16). Further, she found that whilst cash was an important outcome of enterprise, so too was the social and cultural capital, ‘that was developed through actively engaging in the values and expression of fa’aSamoa’ (2008: 17).

In their definitive text Dana and Anderson note that, ‘there is a rich heterogeneity among Indigenous peoples, and some of their cultural values are often incompatible with the basic assumptions of mainstream theories. Indigenous entrepreneurship often has non-economic explanatory variables… We propose that entrepreneurship opportunity recognition and evaluation is therefore culturally determined: however, we note that culturally determined opportunities for entrepreneurship are often disrupted by entities external to Indigenous peoples’ (2007: 601).

Further, Henry, Dana, and Murphy (2017: 5) argue that Indigenous entrepreneurship differs from the dominant theoretic themes of mainstream research into entrepreneurship, which tends to focus on the characteristics of individuals. The literature from Indigenous scholars, on the other hand, often focusses on the emancipatory nature of entrepreneurial actions and intent. They write, ‘The approach is different because it focusses on how entrepreneurs and communities can surmount unique social and environmental constraints that apply to them’.

Herein lies one of the conceptual overlaps between social innovation, cultural capital, and Indigenous entrepreneurship. Aramburu and Saenz (2011) note that an organisation’s ability to innovate is linked to its intellectual capital, or new knowledge. This paper argues that an organisation’s innovation capabilities are also linked to its cultural capital, which Throsby defines as ‘an asset embodying cultural value’ (1999: 3). Throsby adds that culture should be added to the three traditionally acknowledged forms of capital – physical, human, and natural – because it enriches economic analyses. The Indigenous entrepreneurship literature also highlights the significance of both social and cultural capital. Light and Dana (2013) recognise that social capital assists Indigenous entrepreneurs in terms of the social, networking and others resources it brings and the strategic relationships it generates, whilst Henry, Dana, and Murphy (2017) link cultural capital to environmental context, personal identity and self-efficacy, which have been found to enhance entrepreneurial intent amongst Indigenous peoples.