Forms of Capital in the Resistance, Renewal and Retention of Indigenous Communities: A Cross-National Exploration of Urban Indigenous Entrepreneurs

Scholars often talk and write about urban Indigenous Peoples as a perpetual underclass – under-educated, unemployed, reliant on social services and assimilated into the mainstream culture of the centers in which they live. This ignores not only a growing urban business community and expanding middle class, but the mechanisms through which it is happening and its impact on connection to community. Past work suggests that over and above accessing needed financial and human capital, social and cultural capital are valuable in business success – having diverse connections and cultural knowledge specific to a marketplace help in accessing opportunities and growing businesses. Using data from a mixed-methods study of 220 urban Indigenous entrepreneurs across three countries, this paper explores the role of Indigenous and non-Indigenous social and cultural capitals on business success in urban markets. Findings show that entrepreneurs build social and cultural capital needed to succeed as entrepreneurs in an urban marketplace and use their position and businesses to: (1) reinforce and strengthen their connection to Indigenous community networks and culture, and (2) provide support back to communities. A consistent theme shows that success is about more than profit – entrepreneurs consider promoting strong, positive images of Indigenous Peoples and helping community in a variety of ways as more important. Other cross-national similarities and differences are also discussed.