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Strategies for success of Indigenous businesses on customary land: case studies of three Itaukei (Indigenous Fijian) enterprises
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/11771801231193594#body-ref-bibr50-11771801231193594
Abstract
This article aims to examine crucial elements that provide a platform for the success of Indigenous businesses based on customary land, drawing on case studies from Fiji. A qualitative, ethnographic, three case study approach was conducted, and talanoa (discussion or talking together in groups or between two people) method was used to collect data guided by the Vanua Research Framework. Four significant themes unfolded from the study in terms of essential strategies for the success of the businesses on customary land: following protocols for safe cultural affiliation of the business; practices of people working collectively; making socio-cultural contributions to the community and contributing to employee well-being. The research implies that Indigenous businesses on customary land tend to define success from a cultural viewpoint that differs from how business success is conventionally defined.
Introduction
Indigenous enterprises on customary land in the Pacific define success and sustainability as fulfilling spiritual, cultural, social, and environmental notions of well-being rather than an end in itself (Scheyvens et al., 2020). This study builds on Scheyvens et al. (2020) findings, focusing on using Indigenous intergenerational resources and maintaining meaningful economic development practices that pay attention to customary obligations. We also refer to socio-cultural, economic, and environmental contributions that are essential if the sustainability of an Indigenous business is to be measured with indicators meaningful to Pacific communities (Scheyvens et al., 2017). Fulfilling these broader elements is described by Vunibola et al. (2022) as rethinking surplus distribution where surplus is in line with Indigenous forms of exchange based on reciprocal obligations inherent to the Indigenous communities.
Itaukei (Indigenous Fijian) is the sub-word of Itaukei ni vanua (the custodians of the land) or tamata ni vanua (people of the land). The word Itaukei has been used by many scholars to refer to Indigenous Fijians (Vave, 2021; Vunibola & Scheyvens, 2019). This is like the Māori (Indigenous people of New Zealand) notion of tangata whenua (people of the land), and Fiji is the derivative of the word Viti (Fiji), how Itaukei refer to their nation.
Researchers have noted challenges to the successful operation of Indigenous businesses, particularly in balancing the need to meet socio-cultural contributions with financial and other business management demands (Hailey, 1986). For this article, socio-cultural contribution refers to business support to the community either in culturally related instances, including gatherings or to support community development initiatives such as cash donations to the local school, which reciprocates the communally owned land where the business is established and harnesses its cohesion with the community. The challenge for Indigenous businesses is the tension that necessitates harmonising cultural, relationship-based values and the often-contrasting capitalist and market variables focusing on capital accumulation (Ransfield & Reichenberger, 2021). When economic development opportunities are deliberated at the Indigenous community level, profit is not necessarily the main driving force. Thus to understand how culture, aspirations, and the well-being of Indigenous peoples align with economic development, a more interdisciplinary perception of business and entrepreneurship is needed (Awatere et al., 2017).
This article will focus on the case of Indigenous businesses operating on customary land in Fiji, a country with about 300 islands and a large Indigenous population, making up of about 58% of the total population of Fiji. The focus will be on Indigenous businesses that have utilised customary land to operate their business and identify how they have achieved success.
Land and business tend to go together in the Pacific. Foreign investors are often focused on countries in the region due to the economic potential of the tourism, or the region’s abundant natural resources. All these activities depend on access to natural resources. Conventionally, land is seen as a commodity with certain price tags depending on location, commodities involved and market prices (Curry & Koczberski, 2013).
External commentators often see customary land and associated cultural practices in the Pacific as a barrier to economic progress and development. Most of these views are backed by potent groups interested in extractive development such as logging, mining, and commercial industries (B. Anderson & McFarlane, 2011; International Trade Strategies Global, 2006). In 2004, Hughes stated that: “customary land is the primary reason for deprivation in rural Pacific communities” (as cited in T. Anderson, 2006, p. 89). This comment was made in response to customary land and fishing ground ownership in the Pacific Island communities, an impediment to capitalistic excursion. As highlighted by Curry and Koczberski (2012), interested parties try to blame culture for lack of development: “within the Pacific Islands, there is little sign that culture, in whatever form, is seen as a resource but much more than it is seen as a brake on hopeful structures of development” (p. 122). Land can exist independently, but for Indigenous groups globally including the Pacific, people and culture cannot exist without their land.
Many Indigenous businesses in the Pacific operate on customary land but often face multiple barriers to business success (Scheyvens et al., 2020). The question explored herein is, then, what factors contribute to the success of Indigenous businesses based on customary land in Fiji? This article will examine the meaning of and challenges to Indigenous entrepreneurship and review related literature on culturally embedded businesses. Following this, the research context and research methodology are discussed. Finally, we discuss the findings and implications for both the practice of economic development for Pacific Indigenous businesses.
Literature review
Indigenous entrepreneurship: definition and challenges
Indigenous entrepreneurship has gradually become a common concept, and many seen this as a tool for Indigenous people to share benefits from economic development. Henderson (2018) and Jack and Anderson (1999) concentrated on some essential characteristics of Indigenous entrepreneurship. The critical contribution of culture in business management was noted, along with accountability to multiple stakeholders. Emphasis was on the significance of the dual skills of managers and employees—both technical and cultural, to be effective in the business (Padilla-Meléndez et al., 2022). Other vital elements include emphasis on communal well-being, collective decision-making, and sustainable practices due to the Indigenous spiritual connection to their customary or ancestral land.
Some authors have concluded that Indigenous entrepreneurship involves maintaining a balance between economic and social goals with assurance of local retention of benefits rather than delivering mainly to the so-called “far-flung, faceless shareholders” (Henderson, 2018, p. 262) and affiliations (Peredo et al., 2004). These descriptions are closely linked with Kaupapa Māori (Māori approach) entrepreneurship in New Zealand, whereby the business activity is underpinned by the collective community’s moral economy and social objectives (Cant, 2007; Macpherson et al., 2021; Mika et al., 2019; Wolfgramm et al., 2020). Foley (2000) further asserts that self-determination is essential for Australian Indigenous entrepreneurship.
Peredo et al. (2004) discussed three elements of Indigenous entrepreneurship: social capital and relational networks for recovery or access to traditional land, initiatives related to community-based economic development, and economic factors of enterprises are inseparable from broader cultural and political factors. This is supported by Padilla-Melendez et al. (2022), suggesting Indigenous entrepreneurs’ roles as cultural ambassadors through integrating and promoting cultural values in their business activity and business opportunities using natural resources that enhance economic development and resolve social disparities in their communities. The symbiotic existence of the businesses and communities is exercised through how surplus is reciprocated in contributions and support from enterprise to community and vice versa (Vunibola, 2020; Vunibola et al., 2022). The mentioned qualities of Indigenous entrepreneurship are highly relevant to how Indigenous communities in the Pacific perceive a business established on their customary land.
Customary land and its meaning to Pacific peoples
Collectives of Indigenous peoples as in tribes, clans, or extended family groups own customary land and administer it according to their customs and conventions. Thus, land is far more than a commodity. (Li, 2014) noted that: “land is not like a mat, you cannot roll it up and take it away, it has a presence and location, it has diverse array of affordances, uses and values including the capacity to sustain human life” (p. 589). Others look at land more like an assemblage of diverse components, including physical substances, technologies, discourses, and practices (B. Anderson & McFarlane, 2011).
Customary land is central to this research as the basis of identity, life, nourishment, and a base for entrepreneurial undertakings (H. Steven & Vunibola, 2022). However, questions have been raised in development discourses on whether customary land can effectively support economic development (Dana, 2007; Nicole, 2018). Criticism of customary land has led to published research by researchers who identify as Pacific people (Cahn, 2008; H. Steven & Vunibola, 2022; Vunibola & Scheyvens, 2019). This research has helped to challenge the negative discourses on customary land as a barrier to hopeful development.
Pacific peoples’ understanding of the land is holistic, and composite, making it prejudicial to look at land from a narrow economic perspective. T. Anderson (2006) said that customary land is where people attain food security, where culture is reproduced and practised, enhances social connections and fosters ecological management for sustainability. Spirituality encompasses people’s connections to a place, where ancestors are laid to rest. Across several countries in the Pacific, the land is represented as a placenta, a source of life, and a connector of generations to the holistic understanding of land, for example whenua for Māori, enua in the Cook Islands, fonua in Tonga, and vanua for Itaukei (Manu’atu et al., 2016; Porter, 2014). “Concomitantly, the birth of a baby is a spirit of love embracing the lives of the parents and the extended family” (Manu’atu et al., 2016, p. 128). Liotta (2009) purports that a sense of belonging occurs between people and places with the idea of developing roots or umbilical cords, and even if resettled in the case of migrants, the connection remains. Climate crisis is regarded as the highest security threat in the Pacific region, and in some cases, people’s cultural and spiritual connections to customary land provide a sense of solidarity to stay with dignity and adapt (Jarillo & Barnett, 2022).
Pacific values uphold practices that respect the land’s physical, social, and spiritual features. Diversion from appropriate values and ethos is deemed to have undesirable outcomes, affecting development opportunities on customary land. Thus, the ancient Rotuman (a Polynesian Indigenous ethnic group now part of Fiji) proverb used as title of a film directed by Vilisoni Hereniko, the land has eyes and teeth (Hereniko, 2013) speaks to the belief that vanua (following cultural protocols) is a living being that watches and manifests physical effects. The same sentiments were heard when the Momi Bay tourism resort in Fiji came to a halt, leaving half-built cottages and overgrown grass obstructing the FJ $20 million golf course (Scheyvens & Russell, 2012), pointing out to the mana (supernatural power) and of vanua (Tuwere, 2002). Alternatively, customary land can support appropriate development initiatives. Across the Pacific, such development ventures appear to have been more successful, from local perspectives, when they are socially embedded into the ways of the land and its people (Curry et al., 2012; Leweniqila & Vunibola, 2020; Toledo, 2001).
Socially embedded, place-based businesses
Alternative economic development thinkers have challenged conventional economic thinking by asserting the value of socially embedded or culturally embedded businesses operating on customary land in the Pacific. Socially embedded business, in this case, refer to Indigenous enterprises which also value contribution to socio-cultural contributions, as in traditional gatherings, gifting, Indigenous exchange, and reciprocity. Rather than viewing success exclusively from the capitalist perspective of profit maximisation, the focus is also on alternative forms of economy that people are engaged in within their communities. Research on Indigenous entrepreneurship in the Pacific stated that forming a business in the communities means fulfilling aspirations and well-being rather than just profit (Scheyvens et al., 2020; Vunibola et al., 2022). Thus Indigenous exchange, gifting, and reciprocity enrich the quality of life and people’s social status while still ensuring that the business can still operate while also contributing to the communities (Curry & Koczberski, 2013). Too often, the above activities have been seen as a distraction from business success.
A place-based economy is based on social embeddedness literature (Curry, 2003). It encourages rethinking development by focusing on locally based alternatives that contribute to people’s well-being; for example, place-based practices like reciprocity could be included in development discourses. A place-based economy portrays significant ideas for delivering better approaches to Indigenous people and their socio-cultural understandings of development (Hau’ofa, 1994; Vunibola & Leweniqila, 2021). This includes cultural values and ethos integrated into development planning or business initiatives suitable for specific Indigenous settings (Vunibola & Scheyvens, 2019). A successful business in this context needs to adhere to three crucial principles, according to Curry and Koczberski (2013): first, the communities are working collectively to enhance community well-being and quality of life; second, they pool labour and capital for the common good; and third, they take part in Indigenous exchange and meet socio-cultural obligations which enforce identity, a sense of community and quality of life.
According to Curry and Koczberski (2013), there is an increase in research interest in the hybridisation of Indigenous arrangements of businesses to account for the coming together of “economic logics and practices from different epochs and cultural histories” (Yang, 2000, p. 477). Thus, this can be understood as embedding economic development in a place’s social environment and values. Altman developed a hybrid economy conceptual framework when examining an Aboriginal economy in rural Australia (Altman, 2009). This captures individuals, households, and communities’ cultural, socially embedded and kin-based economies. The framework emphasises people’s multi-sectoral production and non-production engagements; thus, a family can, for example, engage in hunting, selling traditional artworks, receiving state welfare, and waged employment all at the same time (Altman, 2009).
The following section focuses on the context of Itaukei forms of entrepreneurship, showing how they are place-based and socially embedded, and introduces the case studies.
Research context
Fiji is an independent country in the South Pacific, of which 58% are Itaukei. Fiji presents an interesting context for Indigenous entrepreneurship as descendants of Indian indentured labourers to Fiji who owns and run most Fijian businesses. However, Vaughan (1995) and Dana (2007) note that there has been a lack of attention to Itaukei entrepreneurship since colonial times. For instance, from the mid-1890s to 1914, the banana industry became the second-highest export earner after sugar for Fiji due to many Itaukei farming this crop all over the country and for export to New Zealand (Nicole, 2018). He also stated that resistance in early colonial Fiji deliberated on the unspoken success of Itaukei in business. “Governor Sweet-Escott singled out the record banana export in 1914 for special praise. He made no mention, however, of the probable cause of this upsurge: the success of the Viti Kabani, an Itaukei business initiative” (Nicole, 2018, p. 86).
Some studies of economic participation and enterprises in Fiji have been conducted but also need Indigenous perspectives (Dana, 2007). N. Reddy (1991), for example, saw the Itaukei culture as a barrier to success in business. Alluded reciprocity, communalism, sharing of resources, and attaining social aims were incompatible with commercial practices and entrepreneurial character (M. Reddy, 2007; N. Reddy, 1991). Similarly, Vaughan (1995) generalised that Itaukei lived a laidback life, owned vast tracts of land and were immersed in their culture and tradition. In contrast, the Indian descendants were an industrious and pragmatic group of people, the shopkeepers, the lawyers, and doctors (Vaughan, 1995). Thus, there is still a need to get insider perspectives from the Itaukei viewpoint (Dana, 2007). Williksen-Bakker (2002) and Gibson (2012) also documented the dichotomy of business and culture as a political and economic dilemma faced by Itaukei where business operations can be thwarted by the cultural elements, including kerekere or assisting kins financially and socio-cultural contributions. Instead, this study indicates that such contributions can support business operations on customary land as business success is defined so differently by Itaukei (Scheyvens et al., 2020). The dismissal of Itaukei entrepreneurship leads to the need for this research to provide a voice for Itaukei operating their businesses successfully on their customary land, on their terms.
Itaukei are formally registered to their tokatoka which is extended family, and mataqali referring to sub-clan or land-owning unit, generally administered by the Ministry of Itaukei Affairs Board. Fiji was colonised by the British, which established the Native Land Trust Ordinance in 1940 (Pacific Island Legal Information Institute, 1985), where all customary land is governed by a trust now referred to as Itaukei Land Trust Board. It was done to allow easy allocation of customary arable land under lease for commercial farming. Most of these lands were leased by colonial companies like Colonial Sugar Refinery, and later on, descendants of the indentured labourers were given opportunities to lease for sugarcane farming to date (Williksen-Bakker, 2002). Now foreign investors also lease customary land for commercial agriculture, tourism, and other businesses. Itaukei are reluctant to lease their land due to fear of alienation (Finau & Chand, 2022) but on the other hand, esteemed for developments which sit well with their identity and protection of their land.
The three businesses examined in this study are 100% owned by Itaukei. They comprise Tifajek Mud Pool & Hot Spring, Aviva Farms in Sabeto, Nadi; and Nayarabale Youth Farm of Vaturova district, Cakaudrove. Tifajek Mud Pool & Hot Spring is a locally owned family business established in 2012, and it operates in the tourism industry of Fiji. The land is leased from their tokatoka, based around natural thermal mud pools, hot springs, and a massage facility. Aviva Farms is a diverse business including agri-tourism, landscaping, plant nurseries, agriculture consultation, and horse racing. The business belongs to the Tora family and is managed by Livai Tora. The land was leased from the tokatoka. The Nayarabale Youth Farm is registered under the Ministry of Youth, and the members are the youth from the clan. This agriculture-based business has succeeded without any government assistance or mechanised systems. Everything used in their farming activities is traditional, from digging sticks to knives, and people provide the labour and grow multiple crops for the market.
Methods
Multiple case studies were chosen to increase the understanding of strategies for business success on customary land, and in-depth case studies on the three businesses above were conducted. Case study analysis could assist in unveiling interventions, structures, and negotiations by comparing patterns, themes, and systems in all cases (Stake, 2005).
The Vanua Research Framework, which is culturally aligned and context-specific (Nabobo-Baba, 2006), captures and appreciates the uniqueness of Pacific cultures (Sanga & Reynolds, 2017). The concept is central to identity and the quintessence of being an Itaukei. The framework allows researchers to follow cultural protocols based on relationality and reciprocity. For instance, entry protocols and consulting the elders and chiefs as well as living with the people in the community and their families. It allows one to get valid data and informs researchers to understand the people’s worldview by standing firm on trust. The researcher is Itaukei and has traditional ties with the two communities.
Talanoa (discussion or talking together in groups or between two people) was used with discussions recorded, translated, and transcribed. Triangulation processes were done on the field via field notes by confirming with multiple participants, after which thematically analysed into themes. Before each talanoa, prior consent must be sought from participants if recording devices are used during the talanoa. Vaioleti (2006) emphasise talanoa as a research method for Pacific people, which is a culturally appropriate method of data collection in Itaukei villages.
Ethics was applied through a Marsden-funded The Land has Eyes and Teeth project at Massey University; data were collected and thematically analysed to present how the business owners successfully build relationships and negotiate challenges to achieve economic, socio-cultural, and environmental sustainability. Preliminary case studies were conducted in 2017 after consultations during a conference and other point of connections, and in-depth study in 2018. These communities were revisited in 2019 to go through vakarogotaki lesu (informing and reporting back) and present and confirm the findings to the communities included in the study.
Findings
There are nine successful business strategies on customary land in Fiji discovered in this research. They are: following protocols for safe cultural affiliation of the business, drawing on solesolevaki (unpaid, collective communal labour), ensuring employee well-being, socio-cultural contributions to the broader community, balancing the business and community contributions, the business logic of environmental and climate sustainability, support from informal business networks, maintaining a clear vision and staying in control and finally, the roles of intermediary organisations. This article will focus on the first four elements, more strongly connected to the selected case studies.
Following protocols for safe cultural affiliation of the business
A business on customary land should forge relationships with and improve the land-owning community’s well-being, not the other way around. The customary land upon which the businesses are established is communally owned, and these communities need to be shown due respect. Anything that occurs on customary land needs spiritual and social-cultural support of the vanua. Vanua is spiritually connected to people, the mataqali, elders and chiefs, and members should be acknowledged and agree with the economic intervention. This can be done by following a range of cultural protocols.
The entrepreneurs leading Nayarabale Youth Farm, Tifajek Mud Pool & Hot Spring and Aviva Farms followed cultural protocols. As in presenting a tabua (whale’s tooth), and yaqona (Piper methysticum) to leaders for seeking approval. They also presented food to the wider clan as a form of reciprocity and thanksgiving afterwards. The entrepreneurs stated, “na i lakolako oqo e dodonu me da lako vata kece [this is a path that we must all rightfully take together].” Once the above cultural protocols have been followed, the entrepreneurs endeavoured to honour partnerships with the human and non-human elements through customary practices and meeting socio-cultural obligations. Also, as they became more economically sustainable, they helped others in the broader community by providing economic opportunities.
Remaining connected to the land-owning community by contributing to customary affairs and communal well-being is crucial for the business’s longevity. This may be different from how businesses are conventionally perceived since Indigenous businesses based on customary land need to continually contribute to socio-cultural responsibilities as reciprocity and support collective well-being. However, their notion of engaging in business is more holistic, business serving society, providing economic opportunities for families and communities and increasing community wealth and social cohesion. Thus, businesses are tools to achieve collective well-being and improved living standards.
Drawing on and building up social capital through collective work for the common good
Solesolevaki is integral to traditional Fijian villages where many share the responsibility to build the community they desire, which is common throughout Pacific communities with similar terms in their language (Cahn, 2008). This article presents solesolevaki as a form of cultural currency, agency and a success strategy for establishing businesses on their land.
Solesolevaki is one form of cultural capital that businesses in this research practised venturing into business based on veiwekani or kinship relations. These businesses are established on their customary land, but cannot be used as collateral for start-up capital from a bank. Without financial resources, the entrepreneurs use the cultural currency of solesolevaki by pooling resources and people together to start a business. The villagers of Nayarabale depended on clan members to provide the manual labour includes clearing the forest, digging, and planting crops. These are low-carbon emitting activities where ecological sustainability and climate-resilient productions are paramount. Crops like yaqona are harvested after 3 years, and the planting materials or seeds were gathered to expand and replant the next farm. In the early months of their operation, manual labour was done without monetary payment to the youths providing the labour. The farm grew, and currently (2019–2022), the Nayarabale Youth Farm was valued at FJ $25 million in 2016 (Ralago, 2016).
The Tifajek Mud Pool & Hot Spring was initiated when an extended family built a tourism business based on their thermal mud pools. As stated by Iliesa Susu, family members, and relatives worked together without payment: “We agreed that we need to work together to create a business opportunity on our land, even if we are not paid, everyone will benefit from it in the future” (personal communication, October 25, 2018). The group converted the bushland and swampy ground into a small, tidy venue with a few bure or traditional thatched houses, now a significant venue for tourist visiting Fiji. Solesolevaki describes family members’ synergy, cohesion, and contributions into the venture.
Solesolevaki is a social protection mechanism for communities, especially for young people. At this level, solesolevaki is like a school, it offers bridging courses for youth engagement in collective and communal work and aids in learning lifelong agrarian skills to benefit the collective. Ilimeleki Susu, Tifajek Mud Pool & Hot Spring director, stated “solesolevaki taught us a lot as it is based on the values of solidarity, reciprocity and compassion” (personal communication, October 25, 2018). It is a place where ethical life principles are encouraged for youth to achieve yalomatua (maturity) and become productive villagers as they work collectively with the guidance of their elders. The solesolevaki youth group who provided the workforce at Aviva Farms and Tifajek Mud Pool & Hot Spring were taught basic agronomical skills, later get permanent employment in these businesses and other hotels and firms in Nadi, Fiji. This provided lifetime opportunities and skills for unemployed youth, resulting in vibrant communities and lessening urban migration and related social issues.
Making socio-cultural contributions to the broader community
Businesses established on customary land in the Pacific need to be socially embedded, which can be achieved by making socio-cultural contributions. This includes financial contributions to the vanua (cultural ceremonies and gatherings), churches, and community development funds used to build infrastructure such as community halls and provide scholarships. Tifajek Mud Pool & Hot Spring, for example, contributed to building a new church, and footpaths in the village, and they renovated houses for family members. Nayarabale Youth Farm sub-divided funds specifically for education scholarships, villagers’ church levies, building a village hall, building members’ houses, and catering for expenses associated with traditional ceremonies and gatherings. The Nayarabale Youth Farm leader said “the main aim of our project is to come up with strategies that include everybody, the youth farm provided that platform” (I. Vakaruru, personal communication, September 20, 2018). This business support for such activities alleviates burdens on the family members and villagers who usually shoulder these responsibilities and manage their family affairs. A component of living in a Fijian village is for families to contribute to socio-cultural contributions, a complex issue due to the dependence on limited resources for supporting their families. The business understudy helped alleviate some of these challenges by making socio-cultural contributions on behalf of the people, which generally support collective well-being.
The businesses developed adaptive strategies associated with ring-fencing funds for the community’s cultural obligations to be financially sustainable. For example, one of the tour groups and a portion of the income from the massage operations on Sundays were assigned for socio-cultural obligations at Tifajek Mud Pool & Hot Spring. For every annual harvest at Nayarabale Youth Farm, a portion of income caters to their oga that refers to socio-cultural obligations. The entrepreneurs needed to balance business and cultural priorities to ensure the success of their businesses.
Ensuring employee well-being
These businesses provide employment opportunities for family members and the communities in the rural areas where such opportunities are scarce. Aviva Farms and Tifajek Mud Pool & Hot Spring belong to the tourism industry within the Sabeto area in Nadi, which employed front desk management, tour guides, crop and nursery workers, masseurs, and landscapers. Livai Tora the founder of Aviva Farms said, “our vision is for them not only to get employed but more on the understanding that we take care of them, and they go home to their families in good spirit” (personal communication, August 12, 2018). This study found that these businesses became a hub for nurturing workers through their training programmes, in partnership with a few organisations to certify workers. The majority of the workers do not have formal qualifications, so they need extra training. Workers trained within these Indigenous businesses later found other lucrative jobs and were replaced by other unemployed youths from the community. These employment opportunities provide regular income for the people in the rural, a careful people-centred community economic development.
Apart from creating employment and providing training opportunities, they provided economic opportunities for the broader communities. For instance, members of the Nayarabale Youth Farm are provided with free planting materials and labour for their family farms. Tifajek Mud Pool & Hot Spring allows community members to sell handicrafts, cooked food, fruits, and vegetables at the venue and community fundraising activities after working hours. They also allow employees and other community members to enjoy the Hot Spring facilities after hours. Customary land is owned communally, the entrepreneurs regarded it as their responsibility to give back and improve the quality of life of people in these rural-remote areas and provide economic opportunities where possible.
The workers for the businesses understudy become part of a big family, and in addition to paying them, the entrepreneurs venture into other avenues that will assist the welfare of the employees. For Aviva Farms, a piece of land was given to the women’s group, for example, to conduct farming activities, and a buyer was arranged with the income shared among the women. At Tifajek Mud Pool & Hot Spring the entrepreneurs make an initial deposit in a savings account for each staff member and then use that account to help them save from their wages for Christmas. Thus, the businesses have contributed to employee welfare beyond employees’ wages, which create an amicable relationship for the business and the communities.
Discussion
This article aims to contribute to how success factors are understood for the case of Indigenous businesses based on customary land in Fiji. Three concepts extend how success is theorised by Scheyvens et al. (2020) based on case studies and literary analysis in this article. First, hybridity in practice involves how the enterprises successfully manage economic and customary obligations in the context of a postcolonial state. Second, the convergence of cultural and social capital in the concept and practice of solesolevaki. This convergence involved the contribution of free labour as a kinship obligation because of common ownership of customary land that was later reciprocated in multiple forms of material and nonmaterial benefit, including paid work, social support, community support, training, use of business facilities, ecological sustainability, land retention, community economic opportunities and other multiplier effects. Third, the reciprocal nature of collective well-being, in this case, is achieved by contributing human capital and cultural capital, which is reciprocated through individual and collective well-being contributions, including employment and community contributions.
This study has also shown that customary land is not necessarily a barrier to economic development in Fiji or for Pacific communities, even though it is portrayed (Gibson, 2012; N. Reddy, 1991; Vaughan, 1995; Williksen-Bakker, 2002). We, thus, refute the blaming of customary land, customary measures, and culture, which are said to impair economic development in the Pacific (G. Steven et al., 2004). These suggestions may be related to how socio-cultural contributions could put firms out of business and the complexities of navigating and balancing the philosophical aspect of business as a foreign ideology for capital accumulation and facilitating collective well-being. Generally, it does not mean that Indigenous culture in the Pacific cannot support business interventions. Studies conducted by Vunibola et al. (2022) indicated that reconciling Indigenous and western principles of entrepreneurship and the ability to balance business and socio-cultural imperatives leads to success. It has done so by articulating four strategies: safe cultural affiliation, building on social capital, socio-cultural contribution to build community partnership and ensuring employee well-being. All these strategies are closely embedded in culture, and they contributed to the success of these businesses.
The Itaukei businesses presented here are examples of successful enterprises based on customary land whereby culture, traditions, and kinship are used successfully as supporting systems. For example, customary land has been accessed for business purposes through customary means and abiding by appropriate cultural protocols, which creates a comfortable, reciprocal arrangement with chiefs and the wider community based on trust and support. Once the customary land is secured, there are established systems like solesolevaki support getting the businesses started. The notion of veiwekani or relationships and kinship has also played a significant role in the supporting structures for these businesses. Following this, the requirement that all Indigenous businesses on customary land give back through meeting socio-cultural obligations and offering preferential employment and other business opportunities to local people has ensured that the businesses continue to be accepted and supported by the land-owning communities. This enriches partnerships between the business and the land-owning unit members; in return, protection and support are provided to the enterprises. These actions contribute to broader spiritual, social, and environmental concepts of collective well-being (Spiller et al., 2011). According to the place-based systems and structures, the firms are directed and protected by social connections and traditions (Curry & Koczberski, 2012). These businesses understudy can become a testament of Indigenous innovation (Vunibola & Scobie, 2022) and become beacons for setting up productive businesses on customary land while also serving their communities (Scheyvens et al., 2020).
Some literature recommends that entrepreneurs dislocate from their land, kinship, and culture to attain successful entrepreneurial operations (M. Reddy, 2007; N. Reddy, 1991; Vaughan, 1995). That is, they should leave their village settings and relocate to towns and cities to be away from various cultural hindrances. This study found that Indigenous entrepreneurs can effectively negotiate the tensions, pressures, and challenges operating in their localities. For example, one technique was to have ringfenced money that looked after specific socio-cultural obligations and communal development, while the rest of the finances are dedicated to keeping the business afloat. This relieves the pressure from the primary firm handling all requests for contributions to various socio-cultural occasions. Another technique was for entrepreneurs to strengthen the financial literacy of staff members. Both Tifajek Mud Pool & Hot Spring and the Nayarabale Youth Farm support boost the personal savings and investments of those working for them. These arrangements lessen the friction families want to borrow from the entrepreneurs to meet family demands. Thus, since these communities are located in rural areas, one does not need to leave their land, culture, relatives, and identity to be a successful entrepreneur.
Essentially, the businesses become tools of land protection and retention for the people. It responds to the norm quick fix of leasing away customary land and later becomes enslaved as labourers for a foreign company on their land. Now this study is a crucial opportunity to avoid neo-alienation of customary land, and the income and services can continue to serve communities sustainably, which provides a good turning point and an answer to Indigenous people of the Pacific regarding land retention in the face of modern economic pressures and the debate on customary land and its life support systems (Raworth, 2017), thus upholding Indigenous land rights (Milne et al., 2017). It is also a shift in how place-based and socially embedded ventures are viewed regarding their contribution to protecting their land, identity, well-being, and the national economy.
Conclusion
Therefore, this article supports and extends the existing theory of how success is theorised within the context of Indigenous businesses in the Pacific by identifying the success strategies beyond market and economic variables as highlighted by Scheyvens et al., (2020). Entrepreneurs developed approaches for sustainably managing their businesses while remaining connected to their communities through contributions, engaging in culturally safe practices, enhancing employee well-being and using cultural agencies such as solesolevaki. The case studies exemplify how Indigenous firms develop business models and adopt place-specific, socially embedded, and kin-based principles which sustain the business (Altman, 2009; Farrelly, 2009). Vunibola and Scobie (2022) capture this as Indigenous innovation, a crucial aspect of Indigeneity, within-and-against, and beyond the market relations to support Indigenous aspirations and collective well-being.
The businesses also developed means to mitigate economic and social aims to support sustainability. The success strategies can also be applied to Indigenous enterprises based on customary land beyond these case studies. Such models need to be acknowledged by development agencies and policies as an effective alternative means of achieving economic development for Pacific Indigenous communities.
The businesses in this article were able to revive rural economies, and cultural agencies like solesolevaki promotes the concepts of resilience, social protection, and Indigenous well-being. Conducted through leveraging resources, labour, experiences, and skills. It is an integral component of the Itaukei culture, the Pacific, and beyond—a powerful instrument to achieve economies of scale through an upstream effect on the supply chain and reduce operating expenses at the source. This is more than collaboration as people are bounded and guided by intrinsic values of solidarity, community goodwill and active agents of reviving economic development and building holistic well-being.
This study reflects how communities engage in an economy that also recognise place-based activities as integral to their socio-cultural and economic well-being. In other words, for these communities, their businesses are not a means to an end but become practical alternative economic tools in retaining their customary land, sustainable and climate-resilient activities by integrating Indigenous knowledge systems. At the same time, they also revitalise community economies through community development initiatives and support socio-ecological justice. Indigenous businesses become fundamental components interwoven into society’s fabric, a way of rethinking economic development models for Pacific communities.
Acknowledgments
The authors are sincerely grateful to the members of the Fijian communities discussed within who made time to share their experiences and wisdom on this topic. We also acknowledge the Marsden-funded The land has eyes and teeth: customary landowners’ entanglements with economic systems in the Pacific project at Massey University (2017–2020), Institute of Development Studies. S.V. acknowledges the support of Distinguished Professor Steven Ratuva and the Pacific Ocean Climate Crisis Assessment Project (POCCA) (https://www.protectpacific.com/) at the Macmillan Brown Centre for Pacific Studies, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand.
Declaration of conflicting interests
The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and publication of this article.
Funding
The authors disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and publication of this article: Royal Society Te Apārangi Marsden grant.
ORCID iD
Suliasi Vunibola https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0453-9452
Footnote
Glossary
Fijian language
bure traditional thatched houses
Itaukei Indigenous Fijian
Itaukei ni vanua the custodians of the land
kerekere assisting kins including proving finances
mana supernatural power
mataqali sub-clan or land-owning unit
oga socio-cultural obligations
Rotuman a Polynesian Indigenous ethnic group now part of Fiji
solesolevaki unpaid, collective communal labour
tabua whale’s tooth
talanoa discussion or talking together in groups or between two people
tamata ni vanua people of the land
tokatoka extended family
vakarogotaki lesu informing and reporting back
vanua following cultural protocols; land; cultural ceremonies and gatherings
Viti Fiji
veiwekani relationships and kinship
yalomatua maturity
yaqona Piper methysticum
Māori language (New Zealand)
Kaupapa Māori Māori approach
Māori Indigenous people of New Zealand
tangata whenua people of the land
whenua land
Māori language (Cook Islands)
enua land
Tongan language
fonua land
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