Fostering indigenous entrepreneurship amongst San people: an exploratory case of Tsumkwe

Abstract

This paper seeks to explore new ways to foster indigenous entrepreneurship amongst the San people. Policies such as the Harambee Prosperity Plan and Vision 2030 were designed to support the developmental agenda of Namibia. This study will follow an ethnographic approach, by making use of in-depth interviews, storytelling and participant observation. Combining the Western and African approaches to development is critical when we wish in improving the livelihoods of marginalised communities. Indigenous entrepreneurship is one way through which the San people can be empowered, as it has both economic and non-economic objectives. Improving the entrepreneurial propensity of the San people is important as it can aid in the development of the local communities and the overall growth of the national economy. This paper is one of the important studies in the context of indigenous entrepreneurship in Namibia. Studies with reference to indigenous entrepreneurship in terms of the San people of Tsumkwe are very few or nonexistent in Namibia.