Rethinking Indigenous Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice · 2025 · Volume 49 · Issue 6

Abstract

Indigenous Entrepreneurship has been conceptualized as arising from and reflecting cultural characteristics common to Indigenous people internationally, yet this approach increasingly fails to capture its diversity. Drawing on a database of 19,530 Indigenous enterprises in Australia, we show that criterial approaches to defining Indigenous Entrepreneurship based on preconceived ideas about Indigenous ways of doing business do not adequately characterize Indigenous entrepreneurial activity. We propose an approach that analyses Indigenous entrepreneurialism as a strategic response to the challenges and opportunities encountered by Indigenous entrepreneurs, shifting the focus of study from expressions of indigeneity in entrepreneurship , to entrepreneurial responses to Indigenous contexts .

Keywords

indigenous entrepreneurship, contextualization, unconventional entrepreneurs, minority procurement policies, indigenous business

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