Female indigenous entrepreneurs, culture, and social capital. The case of the Quechua community of Tiquipaya (Bolivia)

Abstract

Female indigenous entrepreneurs (FEs) in Latin America are facing several economic problems and social challenges when developing their activities. General society, community values, and individual traits have been signalled as the main factors affecting their development. In this paper, we explore the enablers and inhibitors of FEs of the Quechua community of Tiquipaya (Bolivia) and the role of social capital. As contributions, firstly, we found relevant enablers and inhibitors for the development of FEs at three levels, namely, society, community and individual. Secondly, we identified differences in the perceptions of those factors by FEs, non-indigenous intermediary organisations, and indigenous intermediary organisations. Thirdly, we discovered that the Quechua culture values of collaboration (Ayni) are not being applied by FEs in their business related social contacts, being the individualism more common. Therefore, FEs may be losing opportunities of development and progress and, as an additional problem, this is not considered by the support organisations. Relevant implications for policy and practice are included.