Abstract
Many Afro-descendants residing in Medellin seek to have an impact on their territories to achieve and guarantee minimum economic conditions for a better communities’ quality of life and the preservation of their cultural identity. Using a propositional and qualitative approach, this chapter analyzes the process of inception and development of these black entrepreneurships, from the study of three specific cases. Entrepreneurship processes carried out by the Afro-descendant population of the District 13 in Medellin have been surrounded by an institutional context that these entrepreneurs have taken advantage of to develop their entrepreneurial activities. The entrepreneurs who participated in the study move continuously between the formal and the informal economy. While they look for opportunities to generate income through informal ways (subsistence strategies such as food preparation, cleaning, and masonry), they also use formal ways (participation in institutional programs of business entrepreneurship promotion).
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Notes
- 1.
It is a region located in South-Central Antioquia, Colombia, and whose capital is Medellín.
- 2.
Medellín is divided into zones and districts. The zones are a conglomerate of districts with different socioeconomic categories and the districts, in turn, are a set of spaces with similar economic characteristics. The district 13, San Javier, comprises 55 neighborhoods in which the middle socioeconomic stratum predominates (40.2% of the population, according to the Metropolitan Planning Report), followed by the middle-high stratum (27% of people) (Naranjo 1992).
- 3.
The Local Development Plan for the period 2014–2017 is a diagnostic document of the reality of each district of the city of Medellín. It provides real figures, although it is updated only every 4 years.
- 4.
Low-income users are classified in low socioeconomic strata. These users are beneficiaries of public utilities subsidies (DANE 2012).
- 5.
Operación Orión is the major and most violent military operation carried out in an urban area of Colombia. After these events, the District 13 was perceived as a battlefield in Medellín and the rest of the country. The excessive deployment of media, in many cases sensationalist, created in the mind of many inhabitants of the city an imaginary that associates this area with armed conflict, crime, and insecurity (Quiceno et al. 2007, p. 6)
- 6.
Colombia does not have a specific legal framework for non-profit organizations such as those studied in this chapter. Therefore, when these types of organizations seek to be granted their formal status, they are governed by the legal provisions for the formation of associations or corporations. In this regard, the Medellín-Antioquia Chamber of Commerce states that these are entities resulting from the permanent or stable association of two or more natural or legal persons, for altruistic or charitable and not-for-profit purposes, for a particular community, trade, or social group (Medellín-Antioquia Chamber of Commerce 2015).
- 7.
The Afrofest is an Afro-Colombian music, dance, food, and culture festival managed collectively to support music and dance groups, as well as other Afro-Colombian traditions within the territory. It is also a strategy for Afro-descendant communities to get involved and participate in a space where customs and the historical memory of this ethnic population are rescued. Five versions of this festival have been held in 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016, and its sixth version was held between October and November 2017.
- 8.
See details in Capriolo (2013). Rosa Parks: La lucha contra el Racismo. Vicens Vives, Barcelona. Retrieved from http://www.vicensvives.com/
- 9.
“Moreno” or “morena” are common colloquial ways to call Afro-descendants in Colombia.
- 10.
The purpose of strengthening the “Cultura E” program as a strategy for the business development of Medellín and Valle de Aburrá has been to transform values, attitudes, and competences in the population, through comprehensive actions that have an impact on all the entrepreneurial processes, from the simplest to the most complex, covering the aspects of education, training for work, support to business creation, strengthening of the existing business fabric, business formalization, financing, and innovation processes (Arboleda and Zabala 2011, p. 5).
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The authors acknowledge the contribution of the research assistant of this project, Melissa Gutiérrez Galindo.
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Prada, J.F.M., Miranda, D.R.G., Arcand, S. (2019). Being an (in)Formal Afro-Descendant Entrepreneur in Medellín, Colombia: A Case Study. In: Ramadani, V., Dana, LP., Ratten, V., Bexheti, A. (eds) Informal Ethnic Entrepreneurship. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-99064-4_18
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