**Empowering Namibian Indigenous People through Entrepreneurship: The Case from the Nama People Entrepreneurship: The Case from the Nama People**

**Empowering Namibian Indigenous People through** 

DOI: 10.5772/intechopen.69886

Wilfred Isak April, Daniel Ileni Itenge, Josef Petrus Van der Westhuizen and Lazarus Shimwaningi Emvula Petrus Van der Westhuizen and Lazarus Shimwaningi Emvula Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

Wilfred Isak April, Daniel Ileni Itenge, Josef

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.69886

#### **Abstract**

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104 Indigenous People

The challenge emanating from the colonial and apartheid regimes on the Nama people of Namibia have not only resulted in them losing nearly half of its population, but they also appeared to have lost their social identity. To that end we continually find convergences and divergences in clothing and accessories, food, traditional dances, homes, and traditional beauty cosmetics, between the past and present. This chapter seeks to explore whether the Nama people have always used money to acquire the aforementioned past? If not, what have they done right in the past to acquire all these items? These are one of the few questions this chapter seeks to explore and understand, and the role Nama entrepreneurial activities play for their own socio-economic advancement. Critical discourse can lead to a better understanding and appreciation of entrepreneurship among indigenous people in Namibia. This will in turn result in an enhanced understanding of the role entrepreneurship and culture can play in both a local and international context. After a brief introduction to Namibia and the Nama people, the cultural values and entrepreneurial initiatives of the Nama people are discussed, followed by discussions, recommendations and conclusions. Research methods employed were in-depth interviews and participant observation.

**Keywords:** indigenous people, Nama, self-determination, culture, values and Namibia

© 2016 The Author(s). Licensee InTech. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. © 2017 The Author(s). Licensee InTech. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
