Experiential Learning from the Khoi-Khoi (Namibia) and Maori (New Zealand) Communities

Abstract

Fostering a spirit of indigenous entrepreneurship is a courageous idea and envisages a multicultural and post-colonial world. As such, it deserves support from both indigenous and non-indigenous communities. From this perspective, the author considers two aboriginal communities, the Khoi-Khoi and the Maori peoples, arguing that the fostering of an entrepreneurial spirit in such communities may be realized in part through the exchange of ideas between them and a mutual learning of lessons. In particular, the paper focuses on the importance of culture in sustaining social capital and the emotional/social intelligence necessary for entrepreneurial motivation. Fostering a culture of entrepreneurship requires the sustenance of the social capital that culture identifies, whilst maximizing trading opportunities for societies to develop. Much can be learnt from indigenous practices in indigenous communities on how to recover and maintain this vibrancy in diversity. Entrepreneurial activity provides the primal leadership that results in a reorganization of disempowered societies. Moreover, local cultural tradition is a necessary component in establishing the networking and trust that will provide the solidarity required for the emergence of entrepreneurial activity for local self-determining development.