Drawing on the experiences of 18 Australian Indigenous female entrepreneurs (AIFE), we use a grounded theory approach to understand their entrepreneurial development in the face of adversity. Informed by the concept of adversity quotient (AQ), our findings reveal that Indigenous female entrepreneurs do experience a range of adversities stemmingfrom their gender and ethnic background. We examine the role that AQ – specifically, an individual’s ability to deal with adverse situations – has in allowing Indigenous entrepreneurs to leverage contingencies to establish a business. We findthat businesssuccess is enabled by Indigenous entrepreneurs seeking to control the situation through endurance and persistence andtaking ownershipto improve their situation. Wecontribute to the existing underdog entrepreneurship literature by developing a model of adversity encountered by AIFEs.