Indigenous Entrepreneurship and Venture Creation: A Typology of Indigenous Crowdfunding Campaigns

Abstract

Indigenous entrepreneurship is a process of drawing value from community-based resources (people, land, capabilities, culture, etc.) and contributing value back that is responsive to a community’s particular set of socioeconomic conditions (Colbourne, 2017a; Jack & Anderson, 2002; Kenney & Goe, 2004: 699). The advent of crowdfunding pointed to the potential of digital platforms to facilitate socioeconomic change through ameliorating disparities in access to entrepreneurial financing for marginalized communities. Thus, crowdfunding represents an opportunity for Indigenous peoples to access capital; showcase their ventures; and assert their right to design, develop, and maintain Indigenous-centric institutions. To investigate the emancipatory potential of Indigenous crowdfunding campaigns, we conducted a non-participatory netnographic explorative study that analyses over 1300 Indigenous campaigns launched between 2010 and 2020. Based on our findings, we develop a typology of Indigenous emancipatory crowdfunding across four orientations: (i) commercial, (ii) cultural, (iii) community, and (iv) activist campaigns.