On Wednesday, March 25 International Brown Bag Lecture was held in the Shawnee Room of Memorial Union. Around 10 people were present in this lecture where Norma Juma, professor of management business, described the Harambee as an ongoing indigenous tradition that still influences entrepreneurship in ways that go beyond purely market-driven thinking.
In the beginning of the presentation, Danny Wade, associate provost for faculty development and student issues and professor of English, welcomed Juma introducing her and the materials she was going to present at the presentation.
Juma presented one of the studies conducted in Kenya, focusing on moving beyond traditional market perspectives to explore the hidden logic of entrepreneurship. Her talk was based on the lived experiences of entrepreneurs in Kenya, highlighting that entrepreneurship is often understood through a market-driven lens, but this perspective is not universal.
Juma emphasized that there are alternative knowledge systems that need to be uncovered, examined and presented to offer a more complete understanding of how entrepreneurship functions beyond just the market.
Johanna McDaniel, director of development for the school of law, appreciated the new ideas presented in the lecture, as they provided an opportunity to learn and grow. She also described how she personally balanced profit goals with social responsibility.
“I just try to make sure that it’s in line with what I want to do that’s responsible and what I’m making responsible choices for me and for my community,” McDaniel said.
Juma described how harambee challenged western models of entrepreneurship that prioritize individual profit maximization.
“So Harambe is more about communal pulling together. So it is an alternative lens, and we are not saying it’s better or it’s less,” Juma said. “It is a different way of looking at business. The market lens always thinks about business opportunity, business efficiency, in the return from the business. But the Harambe one thinks about who we can bring to the table to solve this problem.”
Juma also explained how policies or institutions better support relation entrepreneurship models like Harambee.
“Our argument in this paper is, if we are able to understand that the different knowledge traditions and bring all the knowledge traditions with equal equal attention, then we will be able to solve a lot of problems, because a singular lens in solving a problem tend to come up with very narrow definition and solutions to the problem,” Juma said.
The lecture concluded with a Q&A session. An upcoming International Brown Bag lecture will be held on Friday, April 3, at noon in the Shawnee Room of the Memorial Union, presented by Bill Fiander, a lecturer in political science, focusing on students’ perspectives on Cuba.
Edited by Stuti Khadka
