Information Technology for Development: Evidence from African-American and Native-American Owned Micro-Enterprises

Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) have often been touted as a means of enabling people to make their way out of poverty. While there are success stories of people in Africa who have been able to access and use mobile and Internet-based Technologies to build businesses that give them better livelihoods, it is unclear how these technologies are being used by African American and Native American entrepreneurs in the United States. Pockets of low connectivity and lack of awareness or technical skills mean that some entrepreneurs are unable to take advantage of the opportunities provided by ICTs in the United States. This research project investigates the digital divide in micro-enterprises owned by African-Americans and Native Americans in a midwestern metropolitan area in the United States. Data collected through six case studies are analyzed using a model previously developed to arrive at the level of ICTs needed to support and sustain the micro-enterprises. Based on interviews from four Native American owned micro-enterprises and two African American owned micro-enterprises, Characteristics of ICTs, Personal Inequality, and Community Engagement are identified as key factors that lead to the adoption of ICTs. The contribution of this research is the identification of these factors, and in the ways in which they relate to each other. This research also offers a cyclical view of relationships between factors that influence Native American micro-entrepreneurs' adoption of information and communication technologies.