Gender and Benefit-Sharing in Indigenous Tourism Microentrepreneurship

Indigenous entrepreneurship is not only driven by capitalistic ideas as inherent in Eurocentric microentrepreneurial thinking but also focuses on communal approaches where entire communities can gain social and/or economic benefits. The authors, who all worked at The University of the South Pacific in Fiji, share how they work and engage with students and indigenous communities involved in tourism microenterprises. Based on the authors' research and experience in the region, this chapter discusses the following two issues and their related best practices and implications. First, the balance and sometimes tensions between entrepreneurial self-benefit and benefit-sharing; and second, female participation and the related opportunities for empowerment of indigenous communities through tourism microentrepreneurship.