The Role of Philippine Higher Education Institutions in Empowering Indigenous Communities through Enterprise Development: A Systematic Scoping Review

There is an emerging awareness of the role Higher Education Institutions play in promoting inclusive development through enterprise-oriented extension services, especially by Indigenous Peoples. This scoping review was guided by PRISMA framework and aimed to explore Higher Education Institution programs and initiatives related to enterprise development involving indigenous communities in the Philippines. The review included 20 published literatures from 2015 to 2025. Various literature types and sources were searched and considered, including journal articles, theses, government publications, and institutional reports. The inclusion criteria focused on enterprise program categories, higher education interventions, and outcome patterns. The result of the scoping review identified higher education's role in microenterprise development. It was found that HEIs contribute to livelihood and microenterprise development through interventions, capacity-building, enabling institutional environment, and research. Most interventions follow a skills-to-enterprise pathway, emphasizing participatory engagement, contextualized enterprise design, and alignment with rights-based and policy frameworks. Outcomes are strongest in capacity and skills development, participation, and early livelihood gains, while evidence on long-term enterprise sustainability remains limited.The study emphasized the need for sustained incubation support, market integration, and more robust evaluation designs to strengthen the long‑term impact of HEI-led indigenous enterprise initiatives.