Extended deadline: March 22
Unlocking opportunities in entrepreneurship and sustainable livelihood through Indigenous Knowledge Systems in Africa
Chair of Panel: Dr. Samuel Ojo Oloruntoba :
IKS and policy on entrepreneurship in Africa: Connecting the past to the present.
Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS) have attracted the attention of many people across the world. As policies and legislative frameworks are developed, the importance of both identifying and protecting indigenous knowledge is receiving increased attention from policy makers in Africa. The Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS) policy provides an enabling framework to stimulate and strengthen the contribution of indigenous knowledge to social and economic development in Africa particularly from the lens of entrepreneurship.
The intersection of indigenous knowledge systems and entrepreneurship have gained significant attention in recent years as it provides a unique and innovative approach to entrepreneurship. The idea that most businesses are built upon the wealth of knowledge and wisdom that indigenous communities possess, embracing their traditional practices, cultural heritage, and sustainable ways of living is increasingly gaining momentum. By leveraging indigenous knowledge systems, businesses will be able to create economic opportunities while preserving and revitalizing indigenous cultures One defining benefit that indigenous knowledge systems hold for entrepreneurship is their ability to bridge the gap between traditional practices and modern solutions. Businesses/ventures modeled on indigenous knowledge systems often recognize the value of indigenous knowledge systems that have been developed over generations and adapt them to address contemporary challenges. Indigenous knowledge-based businesses or ventures can empower their communities by providing them with a platform to showcase their skills, talent and knowledge.
Therefore, in recent years, scholars and practitioners have sought ways to harness indigenous/local knowledge for entrepreneurship. They have challenged the externally imposed knowledge and policies developed by experts and have sought ways to create collaborative forms of knowledge that underpin more appropriate and sustainable programs that value indigenous ways of knowing, thinking, and managing a community’s local environment. Notwitstanding the diferent benefits that IKS has for entrepreneurship in Africa, current approach to entrepreneurship in Africa still take a western outlook where the structures and models of business are based on what the funders requires, who in this case are mostly from the global north.
Hence, this panel seeks to examine the prospects that indigenous knowledge systems hold for entreprenurship in Africa. We propose an entrepreneurial framework based on indigenous ways of doing and knowing. We also propose that there needs to be a rexamination of entrepreneurship in Africa from the current western -based model to be in accordance with African indigenous knowledge systems. Panel members are drawn from East, North, West and Southern Africa. They examine various aspects of the intersection between Indigenous knowledge systems and entrepreneurship among the Ogonis, the Basongoa, the Abathwa and the Maasai of Nigeria, Uganda, South Africa and Tanzania respectively.
Please contact me through my email soloruntoba09@gmail.com by March 15th.
This is a panel based on an ongoing continental project on Unlocking sustainable solutions for employment and entrepreneurship for African youths through Indigenous knowledge being undertaken by the African Indigenous Knowledge Research Network, Institute of African Studies, Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Members of the network are specially invited to submit abstracts for this panel. We hope to have five panel members based on this general call for proposal.
