Title: Indigenous food entrepreneurship in Australia: Mark Olive 'Australia's Jamie Oliver' and Indigiearth

Authors: Vanessa Ratten; Léo-Paul Dana

Addresses: School of Management, La Trobe Business School, La Trobe University, Kingsbury Drive, Bundoora 3086, Melbourne, Australia ' Montpellier Research in Management, Montpellier Business School, 2300 avenue des Moulins, Montpellier, France

Abstract: Indigenous people in Australia are entrepreneurial by nature because of their ability to use their cultural heritage to create innovative solutions. Part of this creativity stems from indigenous peoples linkage with the land, nature and flora that inspires innovative cooking and food usages. Traditional lands are inseparable from indigenous people in Australia and it is this connection with native herbs, spices and produce that make the food unique. In order to improve the socio-economic development of their people, some indigenous entrepreneurs have started business ventures to capitalise on the international food trend towards locally sourced and grown produce. This paper explores the business development of food enterprises in Australia by focusing on Mark Olive and Indigiearth. These cases are important instances of indigenous entrepreneurship in Australia that highlights the association between the land, nation, families, individuals and communities.

Keywords: indigenous peoples; Australia; indigenous entrepreneurship; social entrepreneurship; development theory; food enterprises; culture; community-based entrepreneurship; small business; cultural heritage; Mark Olive; Indigiearth.

DOI: 10.1504/IJESB.2015.072391

International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business, 2015 Vol.26 No.3, pp.265 - 279

Received: 03 Jan 2015
Accepted: 08 Feb 2015
Published online: 12 Oct 2015 *

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