Howard Frederick

Aloha mai kākou,

As this is the first readings of scholarly text, the concepts and points that have been expressed about indigenous entrepreneurship has indeed continue to fill the pieces of this puzzle called life. To which may it be group discussions, random conversations with someone you may stumble upon, or whether its daily readings for class. For me, every little thing is helping me to find out what role I am to have in this life.

It almost feels like there are two halves of me, one that I have grown up to be, and the other, a responsibility for that of my Hawaiian culture. Growing up in Hawaiʻi, I feel that there is a common way of upbringing children, and spread throughout the islands, a set of values that for the most part we all abide by. Values such as respecting your elders, bringing something with you upon visiting a relative or friend, and the cordial way that we interact with one another. I have grown up in a western way with Hawaiian values and concepts, however it is not the same as that of my Tūtūʻs era.

In the article where they talk about indigenous societies, it says, "There is a growing social awareness that policies directed to re-igniting and/or developing new indigenous entrepreneurial activity has the potential to dramatically improve the economic and social positioning of its participants." It pains me to read this for  I feel that we already had all the necessary tools and resources to flourish economically. There have been so many changes to the economy that as a small state, It is rather expensive to live here. Now we are continuously scrambling to improve our economic and social standings.

As I read on, the term indigenous entrepreneurship was addressing both the social and economic goals of the community. Everything ties in together, and it is like that concept that what you do to one, will affect the other. The choices that you make has to be in this sense of entrepreneurship for the better of the community with a respective balance.

It is important and I think an advantage to know the culture, and the choices that you make will play a big role in the decisions that you set forth. By reading these articles, It is a great tool to see similar situations and how we could use it to benefit us in the decisions that we make.