Introduction
"In a way, ownership frees you from the yoke of work ... work
is not just work. Entrepreneurial freedom creates a totally different
terrain for work"
Finnish owner-manager, cited in Wahlgren and Stewart (2003)
Much attention has been focused upon small and medium-sized
enterprises (SMEs--with 10 to 50 workers) which are acknowledged to
contribute vigorously to economic growth (Baldacchino, 2005). In
developing economies, the impact of entrepreneurship and
micro-enterprise can be enormous in aggregate. Detailed surveys in five
developing countries in Africa using panel, tracer, and baseline methods
showed that micro and small enterprises (MSEs--with 10 or fewer workers)
involved 17-27% of the total population aged 15 to 65; the majority of
all MSEs were found to be one-person enterprises; the majority of the
MSEs in the countries studied were owned and operated by women, often
home-based; and the great majority of workers were female. The surveys
also found that small manufacturing activities were a significant
component of the MSE sector, particularly in rural areas. Yet, using
criteria of success derived from larger firms, MSEs at the smallest end
of the economic scale have been characterized in negative terms as
"insufficiently evolved" because they seldom graduate into
larger-scale operations (Sleuwaegen and Goedhuys, 2002). It seems that,
by this criterion, the complex contributions of micro-enterprises to net
employment growth are undervalued. On the other side of the argument,
Mead and Liedholm (1998) suggest that the strong forces that impel small
enterprises to expand rapidly may be cancelled out by the equally strong
forces that cause many to close. It can be argued that on a small
island, with limited resources, small markets and a limited capacity to
absorb wastes, there are even more reasons to resist one-sided economic
development models promoting rapid growth without regard for context or
consequences.
From a small islander's perspective, household economic
activity blends seamlessly with local society and culture. Enterprises
that emerge, often despite considerable risks and hurdles, reflect the
local culture in which they are embedded. On many Pacific islands,
ownership of traditional knowledge and expressions of culture are based
on collective rather than individual rights (Fairbairn-Dunlop, 2000).
Cultural expression is fundamental for the creation and maintenance of
the identity, self-confidence and pride that are important for social as
well as economic success, and culture therefore helps to shape
commercial enterprise. In addition, families commonly pursue a suite of
options in order to cobble together a livelihood. This is typically a
mix of fishing, farming, handcrafts, boat- and house-building and market
sales (e.g. Novaczek et al., 2005). The small island people of the South
Pacific are, of necessity, multi-skilled and adept at multi-tasking. In
this context, as the following cases illustrate, the smallest firm can
find its niche and flourish for many reasons besides that of filling a
market need.
To better understand the full range of entrepreneurial activity in
small island economies, it is instructive to seek out and examine
micro-enterprises on their own terms. What conditions on small islands
help or hinder the development and survival of MSEs? In this paper we
examine micro-enterprises established and operated by women in
small-scale island societies. To what degree does the gender of the
entrepreneur matter?
Women entrepreneurs commonly toil under adverse circumstances
related to gender expectations and discrimination, but traditional
gender roles may also contain keys to success. The two cases reported
below feature women living in Melanesian Fiji and Vanuatu. Although
culturally and linguistically diverse, Melanesian societies are
generally organized around kinship, led by powerful "big men,"
and politically integrated at the village level (Eriksen, 2001:166).
These societies are marked by a rich religious life, male cults and
extreme forms of gender stratification (Lockwood, 2004: 11). Various
kinds of ceremonial exchange and resource redistribution are used by
competing men to achieve social prestige and political influence.
As we consider female entrepreneurship in this context, we ask:
Should micro-businesses on these small islands be encouraged to
"progress," that is, to become larger enterprises using the
traditional economic "take-make-waste" model (McDonough and
Braungart, 2002)? Or, should attention be focused on alleviating the
societal gender and class barriers, assisting these entrepreneurs in
following a more carefully controlled rate of business development that
is sustainable and suited to the cultural context? Significantly
different criteria of success may be required that recognize the value
of women's roles in traditional society and the need for
enlightened stewardship of unique cultural and biological systems on
islands.
Methods and Objectives
Drawing first on published literature, the paper describes how
marine plants occupy a unique cultural and ecological niche on small
islands. This gives them a certain cachet, augments their economic value
in the production of health and beauty products, and makes them
particularly attractive as raw materials for women's
entrepreneurship.
In the second section, we present two case studies of
micro-enterprises established by female entrepreneurs in small-scale
island societies. Observations for the cases were made at first hand by
the first author during the course of research on edible and medicinal
marine plants at the University of the South Pacific and in
collaboration with local community development organizations between
1998 and 2004. Current information was obtained through correspondence
with the entrepreneurs in 2006. Discussion of these cases and their
context in the third section illustrates the types of obstacles and
opportunities encountered. Information was viewed through a gender lens
to see whether advantages and challenges were gender-specific, and
through an island lens to see whether factors were particular to small
islands.
In the concluding section, we consider whether or not these
micro-businesses are imminent precursors of larger SMEs or whether they
might follow a distinct course of development that is reflective of
women's cultural roles and appropriate to the limits of small
island ecology and society.
Seaplants as Resources for Small Island Enterprise
As natural products of coastal areas and islands around the world,
freely available seaplants have traditionally satisfied complex human
needs for healing, aphrodisiacs, spirituality and nutrition. Macroscopic
marine plants, often called macroalgae or, more commonly, seaweeds or
seaplants, have a long history of use as food and medicine in many
cultures.
Although published information is sparse, there is some knowledge
of the use of seaplants on tropical small islands. For example, in the
Caribbean, extracts from red seaplants are used to boost male virility,
while potions and baths containing seaplants have various medicinal uses
(Batista and Connor, 1986). Traditional knowledge and use of marine
medicinal plants is well developed in China, Japan and the Philippines.
Among the Central and South Pacific Islands, perhaps Hawai'i has
the best documented ethno-botanical lore. Abbott and Williamson (1974)
and Fortner (1978) documented edibility of seaplants as well as noting
ceremonial and medicinal uses. Sargassum, for example, provided a
poultice for open coral cuts, a peace offering to families seeking
forgiveness from neighbours, and a symbol of purification. Over 70
varieties of Hawaiian seaplants have been eaten or used medicinally to
treat conditions such as blotchy skin, miscarriage, mouth sores, asthma,
sprains and indigestion. Recent science confirms seaweed extracts as
medicinally effective. The online medical database PubMed, for example,
includes more than 900 scientific articles on the medicinal value of
seaplants and their extracts.
There are perhaps a hundred seaplant species in the South Pacific
that may be used either as food or for medicine (Novaczek, 2002). Yet in
many Pacific Island countries, with the exception of Fiji (South, 1993),
people have scant knowledge of marine plants as food or medicine
(Novaczek and Chamberlain, 2000). It seems there are many unrecognized
opportunities to develop cottage industries. The more common and larger
seaplant species are particularly suitable for commercial development,
being readily available, fast-growing and accessible from shallow water
habitats. Many useful nutritional and medicinal seaplant extracts are
water soluble and can be obtained using simple technology: a cooking pot
and a fire. Seaplants are particularly attractive raw materials for
women whose traditional roles include feeding families and caring for
the sick. The World Health Organization estimates that 75-90% of people
in developing countries use traditional medicine to meet their primary
health care needs (UNESCO, 2005). Furthermore, the shallow waters in
which the seaplants grow are typically used by women and children as
fishing grounds. Because of communal ownership and access arrangements
prevalent in the Pacific Islands, women in coastal communities have
preferential access to seaplant resources within the marine territories
attached to their village land base (Vunisea, 2005).
Women Entrepreneurs on Small Islands: Two Cases
The businesses described below were created by women entrepreneurs
who combined their traditional knowledge of medicinal herbs with modern
information on seaplant properties to develop unique health and beauty
products for local markets in Fiji and Vanuatu.
Case 1: Cosmetics and Health Tonics in Fiji
The first case describes Liviana, a sole proprietor in Fiji, who
established SLITECH in 2003 for the production and marketing of health
tonics and hand-made cosmetics. She employs her daughter as a full-time
production and sales assistant, and provides work for coastal village
women who harvest her raw materials.
Business start-up. Liviana had run a small catering business from
her home for some years, delivering lunches to office workers. A healer
and a knowledgeable herbalist like many women in the Pacific, Liviana
served her family and community without any hope of payment beyond the
occasional good will offering. Liviana's contacts with the
Women's Association for Natural Medicinal Therapy (WAINIMATE) and a
local community development organization led to her being offered a
place in a training workshop for female entrepreneurs interested in
developing health products from seaplants. The intensive two-week
course, which involved traditional-medicine practitioners and
small-business women from a half dozen Pacific Island countries, was
held at the University of the South Pacific in 2002. The participants
were trained in basic small business management, seaplant
identification, sustainable harvesting methods, raw material management,
product development and sanitary practices. Liviana decided to switch
her business from catering to the cottage-scale production and sale of
health and beauty products that featured both seaplants and traditional
Fijian medicinal plants.
Production strategy and associated challenges. Liviana's
product line includes slimming tonic, cleansing tonic, seaweed-coconut
oil soap, massage oil, beauty cream, medicinal steam mixture, hair
conditioner and foot bath mix. Liviana continued to work out of her home
as before, and her initial market was the office workers for whom she
had previously prepared lunches. Her home kitchen facilities and
equipment were sufficient for initial production. With help from her
family, Liviana constructed seaweed drying racks and a roofed structure
in her garden where customers could sit on mats in the shade and wait to
be served, exchange information on the efficacy of various products, or
receive treatments.
Lacking a computer of her own, Liviana depended on a community
development organization to help her design and print out labels for her
products, brochures and business cards.
As demand grew and she developed a wider range of products, Liviana
was faced with a lack of adequate space in her kitchen for efficient
production. She needed a loan so that she could either rent a production
and sales space or renovate her home. However, as a woman of limited
means, even though she had the support of her husband, she could not
secure a bank loan or government grant. Seeking an external business
partner who might take control of her business was not seen by Liviana
to be a reasonable option.
Even though Liviana lives in Suva, the capital of Fiji, it is
difficult and expensive to source packaging and labeling supplies and
imported raw materials such as preservatives and fragrant essential
oils. Liviana also faces challenges in dealing with the women who
provide her with seaplants. Quality and reliability of supply continue
to be problematic.
Marketing strategy and associated challenges. Liviana's
promotional activity includes taking a basket of samples into downtown
offices to demonstrate products to office workers, then taking orders.
She and her daughter conduct sales from home and deliver telephone
orders to homes and offices using the bus system. She has no car or
driver's licence. Ads are placed in local newspapers, and on
occasion they have a booth at a local market or special event. Liviana
has consciously marketed products in high level government offices,
especially those dealing with business development, in the hope of
attracting influential clients. SLITECH products are also promoted
through the women's herbal practitioner network and a local
community development organization.
Much of her advertising is by word of mouth. People who find her
products beneficial are very willing to spread the news to friends and
extended family. After some months in operation, word had spread to the
other side of the island and Liviana then began to make marketing trips
to distant towns while her daughter tended the home sales. Liviana has
also developed an export strategy using her family links to the Fijian
community in San Francisco, California. She sends her products to
California for sale through informal networks and also fills orders from
customers in other Pacific Islands and Australia.
As Liviana's products were unique, initially there were no
direct competitors. However, in a small island community, nothing goes
unremarked and people are often jealous of success, especially when a
woman entrepreneur is involved. Women in Liviana's neighbourhood
soon noted the commercial activity at her home and mimicked
Liviana's products, luring her customers into their homes using
signage that suggested they were affiliated with SLITECH. Liviana had to
place newspaper ads warning people to avoid these copycat enterprises.
Business success. Liviana immediately found that her income
increased once she started selling seaplant products. Culturally,
indigenous Fijians have an affinity for anything that comes from the
sea, and they have a tradition of using seaplants as food. They did not
hesitate to try Liviana's inventions, which blended seaplant
extracts with traditional medicinal and cosmetic herbs. SLITECH's
current gross sales level is not known but it provides a modest income
with sufficient profit to allow Liviana to make significant
contributions to her church. One regular customer is a massage therapist
who consistently uses Liviana's products for treatment of persons
with injuries, with good results.
Despite her initial success, Liviana reports that her business
growth has stalled owing to her continued lack of capital for improved
production facilities.
Case 2: Charismatic Healing and Natural Health Clinics in Vanuatu
A second sole proprietor is Alice from Port Vila, the capital of
Vanuatu. Alice's Port Vila Natural Health Clinic was launched in
2001 with, as she reports, start-up capital amounting to about US$5. She
currently employs approximately 12 other persons on part-time or
full-time bases, and operates two natural health clinics featuring
seaplant remedies.
Business start-up. Alice is a talented and naturally
entrepreneurial woman who graduated from high school, worked as a
teacher, served in the New Zealand Peace Keeping force in Bougainville,
then worked in Vanuatu as a community development worker. Alice was
married for some time to a physically abusive man who left her
supporting her two young children.
Having learned about medicinal herbs from childhood, Alice always
served her community as a healer, operating out of her home. She used
prayer as well as herbs in her healing practice. While temporarily
employed with the Department of Fisheries in 2001, Alice was sent to the
University of the South Pacific to take a course in coastal resources
management. That was where she learned about medicinal marine plants.
Recognizing an opportunity, she attached herself to a marine plant
research project. Instead of returning home after her course, she
remained for two months, working as a research assistant. Upon returning
home, she immediately established a home-based natural health clinic
featuring seaplant products.
Up to that point, Alice had offered herbal treatments and
counseling to her family and community on a casual basis; but the
prospect of retail sales of seaplant products prompted her to establish
a formal enterprise and take on staff. Alice's subsequent success
was the inspiration for a 2002 training workshop for other prospective
entrepreneurs, in which Alice was a trainer and Liviana, a trainee.
Production strategies and challenges. Alice's products and
services include seaplant medicinal tonic, seaplant-coconut massage oil,
therapeutic massage, seawater therapy and life counseling. The products
were at first made in her home kitchen with basic kitchen equipment.
Once demand increased, she built an outdoor structure with a fire pit
where large batches of seaplant extract could be prepared, and then used
her kitchen for filtering, blending and bottling the final product.
When Alice effected a cure on a local chief who had been bedridden
for several years, he granted her free access and seaweed harvesting
rights along a stretch of coast close to Port Vila. This was a
significant advantage for Alice who otherwise would have had to
continually negotiate with coastal villages and pay for harvesting
rights.
As an independent woman, Alice faced resistance from her
small-island, patriarchal culture. In the Melanesian context, women are
expected to marry, bear and care for children and obey their husbands.
Wanting a father for her children, and with an eye to consolidating her
access to the coast, Alice accepted the advances of the son of the chief
who had granted her seaplant harvesting rights. This man turned out to
be violently abusive. He attempted to control the income from
Alice's business and eventually was jailed for beating her so badly
she needed to be hospitalized. Despite this setback, Alice, with help
from loyal staff, kept her business going.
Although her staff are loyal, they are also a significant burden.
In Melanesian culture, social status is gained not by accumulating goods
but by giving goods and money away. Both her staff and her extended
family members expect Alice to share her business income freely, making
it difficult to save money for investment in equipment or
infrastructure.
Alice sank what money she could into upgrading her production
space, consultation room and bathroom. Like Liviana, she was unable to
secure a bank loan because of institutional discrimination against
single women. Unfortunately, she did not own the house; she rented it.
She had an agreement with the owner to purchase the property but when he
suddenly went bankrupt, he decided to keep her downpayments and sell the
house to someone else who could pay the entire price in one lump. Alice
fought this in court but ended up being evicted in 2005 before the case
could be resolved. This meant she lost all the investments she had made
in renovations and had to start from scratch in another location.
Marketing strategies and challenges. In Port Vila, sales were made
from a clinic established in a room of Alice's rented house; during
marketing expeditions to surrounding communities; and occasionally from
a booth at Port Vila's traditional market. Most sales were to local
islanders.
Being fearless and extroverted, Alice managed to get regular
coverage in newspapers and on local TV, was invited to national and
international health conferences and made a point of attracting leading
politicians and other public figures as customers. She also solicited
endorsements from her regular clients, particularly where her treatments
appeared to succeed in curing serious conditions. Alice also attracted
tourists as clients for massage therapy and this has led to her getting
orders for products from overseas. She has always wanted to develop a
website and do international sales by internet. However, this has not
yet been financially possible owing to the high price of computer
infrastructure and internet services.
As her reputation grew, Alice began to get referrals from the
hospital nearby. In particular, a Filipino doctor familiar with the
traditional use of seaplants as medicine sent her his terminal cancer
patients because her treatments could improve their quality of life.
It is important to note that marine plants have great cultural
significance in Vanuatu where the "evil eye"--believed to
cause disease--can be countered by the "good magic" inherent
in objects from the sea. In Port Vila, it was observed that because of
this cultural belief, prospective consumers were very receptive to using
innovative seaplant products. In this context, simple seaplant extracts
combined with prayer and the energy of a charismatic healer became
apparently miraculous curative agents.
There are no known local competitors for Alice's clinics to
date.
Business success. Because of Alice's charismatic personality,
energy and talent, her unique business took off quickly, affording her a
comfortable income and allowing her to hire staff. Her first helper was
an ailing widow who came to her for treatment and was allowed to remain
in the house while she regained her strength. She then stayed on to help
with child care and housekeeping, and graduated to production assistant
and then to production manager before leaving to establish a second
clinic on her home island of Santo.
By late 2002, gross sales had reached 100,000 vatu (US $913) per
week, affording Alice a good income by local standards. She not only
provided wages to her staff; several of them lived in her house and all
were fed their meals at the clinic.
By 2004, Alice's Port Vila clinic employed two part-time
seaplant harvesters, four female production assistants, one male
marketing manager/bookkeeper and one male general assistant. By that
point she had also established a second clinic on Santo Island. Alice
divided her time between Port Vila and Santo, often moving out into the
countryside to demonstrate and sell products in rural villages. Although
such trips are marginally profitable, Alice feels she has a mission to
promote her health products as widely as possible, as she is convinced
that they are beneficial for community health.
Discussion
Local Market Opportunities
As previously noted, as many as a quarter of all people of working
age in some developing countries are engaged in MSEs (Mead and Liedholm,
1998). Where rates of unemployment and underemployment are high,
micro-enterprise may be the only option for earning a living. However,
for women, profit is not the only motivation for micro-enterprise
development. In the case studies, Liviana and Alice were impelled also
by an urge for independence, a need to develop employment for dependent
family members, the attraction of producing goods for sale that promised
health benefits for the community, and increased ability to fulfil
church and domestic obligations. Entrepreneurship can offer an important
opportunity for women caught in shifting cultures, where traditional
ways are buffeted by globalizing forces of change. As these case studies
show, entrepreneurial women may already be employing their traditional
knowledge and skills to provide community services, and a training
opportunity may be enough to translate this into a microscale,
income-generating enterprise.
On islands and in coastal communities, where medicinal seaplants
are available as potentially sustainable raw materials, health and
beauty product businesses can be developed. Such businesses are
particularly well-suited for women, building upon their traditional
roles as caregivers and herbalists. With encouragement and support,
skilled, individualistic women such as Liviana and Alice can find the
creative energy to follow an unconventional path that resists cultural
pressures to engage in strictly family-oriented activities. Knowledge of
traditional ways, a pervasive spirituality, commitment to community
well-being and awareness of the natural environment can be harnessed as
resources in the creation of an independent livelihood that also
provides a community service.
The entrepreneurs in this study have captured local markets by
understanding cultural patterns and adapting marketing strategies to the
habits and preferences of customers. They exhibit what Kiggundu (2002)
terms "entrepreneurial competency": the total sum of
attitudes, values, beliefs, knowledge, skills, abilities, personality,
wisdom, expertise (social, technical, managerial), mindset and
behavioral tendencies needed--and have excelled in the art of the
possible. They target influential customers in their small island
societies and make their products accessible through both innovative and
traditional delivery methods. They demonstrate remarkable resilience,
proving that small-scale manufacturing businesses created by women can
persist and be lucrative, despite overwhelming odds.
Opportunities Abroad
These entrepreneurs have also engaged in export to a limited
extent, aided by contact with tourists and the presence of a diaspora
abroad. Further expansion of a customer base in the metropole is likely
to require significant investment, sophisticated strategy and
technological savvy. In metropolitan mass markets, small-scale seaplant
products may be unfamiliar to customers and easily lost in competition
with multitudes of better-known (although not necessarily superior)
synthetic cosmetics and medicines that are produced and distributed
globally by multinational corporations. Without some form of joint
venture to assist with marketing, the metropolitan market is difficult
to penetrate. For women in traditional small island societies,
especially where they cherish their independence and are wary of
engaging in partnerships outside of the family, this is a serious
challenge.
On the plus side, small-island products may be successfully
positioned as luxuries for their rarity, or use the cachet of island
romance as a marketing angle. Seaplant products have an added advantage
because, in specialty markets of North America, Europe and Japan,
seaplants are increasingly recognized as healthful, natural, organic or
wild foods. Also important is the growing consumer trend to seek out
"functional foods"; that is, foods that provide particular
medicinal or preventative health benefits. There are also western
consumers attuned to "fair trade" who will pay a premium for
products that claim to support marginalized Third World producers. These
are all angles available to seaplant product entrepreneurs if they can
get past the challenge of initial market penetration.
To tap into global marketing opportunities as well as those closer
to home, micro-enterprises require effective and dynamic organizational
arrangements including education and training opportunities,
participation in networks, effective joint action and sharing of
resources (Kiggundu, 2002). Moreover, access to technology,
sophisticated packaging, and dependable supply of pure raw materials are
critical. International and regional community development organizations
as well as government agencies can be catalysts for women in developing
their micro-enterprises. Although internet access may not be available
or affordable individually, women entrepreneurs aware of its potential
may gain access to it through these organizations.
Disincentives Related to Culture, Gender and Scale on Small Islands
Where women in small-scale, traditional societies who lack other
means of support are driven by survival instincts and traditional values
to provide for their families through micro-enterprise development, they
often struggle to retain their independence. Traditional societies may
expect them to return to dependence on a man at the first opportunity.
They often face economic and social barriers--including exclusion from
government support programs and bank loans--simply because they are
women. On small islands, in addition to the usual gender stratification
found in many cultures (Lockwood, 2004), women entrepreneurs must
compete with men for resources that are naturally limited by the scale
and scope of a small island economy. The competitors include fathers,
brothers, husbands, community leaders--all men who are more privileged
and powerful. These men, with their connections outside the home and
with the formal economy, are more often, more easily and more willingly
co-opted into the cultural and knowledge paradigm of the metropole.
On Melanesian islands such as Fiji and Vanuatu, both women and men
are under societal pressure to provide for their extended families,
staff and local community and thus gain status. This sharing of wealth
is a form of long-term insurance; in a time of need, the extended
family, staff and community members will reciprocate and provide
support. However, in the short term, the system dissipates capital that
is essential for investment in the growth of a small business. Thus,
despite entrepreneurial competence, women may be stymied by family and
community expectations, limited training opportunities and lack of
access to credit or transportation.
In the context of a male-dominated power structure, monetary
success by a woman may increase her risk of violence at the hands of a
male partner resentful of her new power, or greedy for her cash income.
Islanders who live in the "dense psycho-social atmosphere in which
small-scale, social interactions occur" (Baldacchino, 1997) are not
immune to the "cone of silence" associated with domestic
violence (McLachlin, 2002). Progressive family law legislation and
supportive police may not exist. Social services for victims of violence
may be limited or non-existent in any rural community, but on a small
island the situation is typically worse. No matter where a woman runs,
there is little hope of avoiding an abusive spouse or his extended
family.
Growing Micro-Enterprises for Women in Small Island Communities
Female-owned micro and small enterprises are an important feature
of many developing country economies. At some point, micro start-ups
that develop viable products for paying customers will experience
pressures of growth and the need for expanded production capacity and
new markets. The transformation of an MSE to an SME, from an informal
organization to a more formal one, celebrates the triumph of the
business imperative where economics dominates social and cultural
factors. This in effect moves what may be a manageable and appropriate
family enterprise towards the Western industrial
"take-make-waste" model of development. Yet small islands may
lack conventional resource bases and mass markets, especially if they
are remote from a mainland where additional raw materials and markets
may be located. For them, the impulse to conform to the measure of
success applied to larger businesses on mainlands may be fatal. Small
island ecological systems are vulnerable in proportion to their
smallness of size, being especially at risk from natural disasters as
well as from ecological damage from human population pressure,
pollution, unsustainable resource extraction and industrial development
(Quammen, 1996). Small-island human cultures and economies are, to
varying degrees, also vulnerable to disturbance and extinction from the
relatively massive political and economic forces of colonialism and
globalization. Some Pacific Island analysts have concluded that the
globalized industrial development pursued by their governments has
already done more harm than good, particularly for women who bear the
burden of social and ecological costs but reap few of the financial
benefits (Emberson-Bain, 1994). They point out that what is needed for
sustainable economic development are differently scaled, ecologically
and culturally appropriate business models. Local micro- and small
enterprise development is one potential alternative.
The micro-businesses featured in this study not only provide
livelihoods; they also perform valuable services in the community's
social economy, providing affordable nutritional and health products
rooted in local culture and traditional knowledge. Nevertheless,
"success" of such an enterprise may equate to exhaustion for
the entrepreneur who is reluctant to relinquish her hard-fought
independence by taking on a business partner outside her immediate
family. Faced with an opportunity to expand, she may be unwilling or
unable to find a partner who will remain true to her cultural, social or
environmental values. She may not want to lose control over inherited
intellectual property, or lose some unique product quality that relies
on a small-scale, hand-crafting approach. Or, she may not want to put
more time into her business because fulfilling domestic obligations is
simply more important than increasing her income.
If, on the other hand, the female entrepreneur has an ambition to
expand the business, it should be recognized that success may attract
unwanted attention in the form of gender-inspired violence. Also, in a
small scale society where everyone tends to know everyone else's
business, copy-cat operations may be launched by persons whose inferior
products can threaten the reputation of the original enterprise.
Other barriers to women's entrepreneurship, well illustrated
in the case studies, include the lack of access to credit and funds for
the infrastructure and transportation needed to expand production and
enter larger markets.
The Fijian entrepreneur, faced with systemic gender discrimination
that makes it difficult to obtain financing, is stuck at a very limited
production level. The Vanuatu entrepreneur, in spite of similar
financial hurdles, created a larger micro-enterprise that was deeply
embedded in local island culture. In both cases, the local culture was a
source of strength and an inspiration for development of products and
services. In marketing, both entrepreneurs were able to take advantage
of being a "big fish in a small pond," a common condition in
small island societies. However, in Vanuatu, an attempt by Alice to
consolidate her position through a relationship that seemed to offer
secure access to resources turned into a near fatal disaster. In brief,
while these island women entrepreneurs have demonstrated considerable
entrepreneurial competency and business acumen, the environment in which
their micro-enterprises are situated can be toxic. Micro-enterprise
startups on small islands can succeed despite significant hurdles, but
resourcefulness, adaptability and resilience may not be sufficient to
sustain these micro-enterprises. At this point, both would benefit from
gender-neutral business development assistance. In the longer term, they
will also need support in the form of seaplant resource management to
ensure sustainable access to raw materials, a function usually provided
by government.
Conclusion and Recommendations
Using a small-scale lens, it can be appreciated that MSEs on small
islands are often infused with creativity, emerging from a rich context
to satisfy specific local needs. Some factors underlying success, if not
exclusive to small islands, are at least prominent in a small island
context. These include appropriateness of scale, wide-ranging knowledge
and skills of the entrepreneur, resonance with local culture,
embeddedness in extended family networks, and easy access to politically
powerful people. On the other hand, small scale entrepreneurs face
significant hurdles on small Pacific Islands: the lack of congruence
between traditional culture and Western capitalism; limited and
ecologically sensitive natural resources; limited markets; expensive
transportation and so on. These challenges are compounded by the impacts
of gender discrimination when the entrepreneurs are female.
If favourable conditions such as reliable sponsors and appropriate
supports can be found, micro-entrepreneurs on small islands may
eventually be able to develop into classic, export-led SMEs. In light of
the potential for significant contributions of MSEs and SMEs to
employment and social welfare on small islands, entrepreneurs are
encouraged to:
1) Use locally available natural resources for raw materials.
Supply and transportation problems associated with small, isolated
territories can be overcome by using locally available raw materials
from land and sea, provided these are harvested in a sustainable manner
and incorporated into high-value products and services.
2) Incorporate traditional knowledge into products and services.
Traditional knowledge of indigenous culture adds significant value to
prized natural resources, resulting in demand from the diaspora as well
as from the local population. Conserving traditional products and
processes can also enrich contemporary lifestyles. The development of
unique products and services strengthens the "island" brand or
local identity, transmitting a positive reputation that, over time, may
extend far beyond the local economy.
3) Make use of networking. Local marketing on a small island is
facilitated by the "demonstration effect": for instance, news
of a successful treatment using seaplant products will flow rapidly by
word-of-mouth in a small, networked society.
Because of the particular challenges associated with women's
entrepreneurship on Pacific Islands, public policy-makers are encouraged
to:
1) Support women entrepreneurs. The entrepreneurial competency of
women should not be in doubt, but women with obligations of child and
elder care need carefully-targeted support programs that place value on
their social, care-giving roles. Assistance must be suitably scaled,
flexible and accommodating to allow women to work from home if they need
to. Being able to continue with care-giving roles that enhance their
social status can protect women in many ways from gender-inspired
violence, jealousies and discrimination. Support efforts should be
particularly focused on the types of micro-enterprises that draw on the
skills, traditional knowledge and available infrastructure of
home-makers, and that appeal to the sensibilities of women who take
pride in their traditional roles.
2) Provide appropriate business management training. Education in
the areas of sanitation, packaging and marketing; assistance in
developing sustainable harvesting and management systems for the natural
resource base; and easily accessible micro-credit are the types of
assistance most needed by entrepreneurs such as Liviana and Alice. One
model for such a program is the Women in Business Development Inc. in
Samoa (www.wibf.ws; see also Fairbairn, this volume).
3) Recognize low-growth or no-growth success. As micro-enterprises
become established, it should be recognized that some will want help to
reach goals of expansion and international marketing, while others
should be allowed to remain at the micro level that best fits with the
entrepreneur's family, cultural and ecological context. In the case
of micro-enterprises in the social economy--that is, enterprises that
provide community services to improve quality of life or
health--economic drivers may be weaker for the entrepreneur than the
socio-cultural drivers. Consequently, the entrepreneur may choose to
have the business remain comfortably at a very small scale despite its
potential for greater economic success. In the current global situation
of increasing ecological degradation linked to industrial development,
intentionally modest scales of enterprise should be welcomed and
supported as viable alternatives to the "take-make-waste"
paradigm, especially on small islands.
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Contact Information
For further information on this article, contact Irene Novaczek
(inovaczek@upei.ca) or Kathy Stuart (kstuart@islandtelecom.com).
Irene Novaczek, Institute of Island Studies, University of Prince
Edward Island, Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada
E. Kathy Stuart, Island Studies Programme, University of Prince
Edward Island, Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada