Entrepreneurship

The Effects of Entrepreneurship Development on Employment Generation

Abstract

This study investigates the effects of entrepreneurship development on employment generation. The research focused on youths of five selected and students of Lafia Local Government Nasarawa state, Nigeria. Data were collected using questionnaires from an infinite population of the selected Local Government. Samples of 133 youths were drawn from the population of the local government. A total of 200 youths and students were sampled for the study.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the study

There is no country in the modern world where an improvement in the material level of living is not regarded as a desirable goal by rulers and citizens alike. The growing acceptance of the need to do something for the poor can be noticed in the numerous poverty alleviation programs in Nigeria, the average Nigerian still lives subsist below the absolute poverty line. Amongst the challenges that confront Nigeria, a major contributory factor was the style and expectations of the development strategy that was pursued and faced with this failure; the need for a meaningful national development is not only necessary but also imperative. To this end, a lot of economic reform programs or strategies have evolved but recently special emphasis is being made on self-reliance via entrepreneurs and its numerous small and medium enterprises. The economic success of the countries of the southeast, Asia, and America is traceable to the contributions made by self-reliant individuals (entrepreneurs), through their numerous small-medium development depend on the entrepreneur who makes a living by creating new business new jobs, and new ideas. Entrepreneur means different things to different people. In other to appreciate this study more, some concepts that are associated with this study will be explained. According to Oxford Advanced Learner’s dictionary, it defines an entrepreneur is a person who starts or organizes a commercial enterprise, especially one involving financial risk. To an economist, the entrepreneur brings resources, labor, materials, and other assets into a combination that makes their value greater than before and who introduces changes, innovations, and a new order. Entrepreneurs are the risk-takers who create businesses; they assemble all the factors of production to start and operate a business and to make a profit. For Schumpeter “the whole process of economic change hung ultimately on the person who makes it happen–the entrepreneurs”. Entrepreneurship involves combining to initiate changes in production hence it is essentially the promotion of economic change, it is a process involving the entrepreneur and an entrepreneurial career. Hirsch and Peters in their text entitled entrepreneurship: describe this process as one of creating something difficult with value by devoting the necessary time and assuming the accompanying financial, psychic, and social risks and receiving the resulting, rewards of monetary and personal satisfaction. In Nigeria, many policies are constantly being implemented to ensure their survival which will, in turn, enable them to contribute maximally to economic development but their challenges were intensified more by the perennial energy crisis, weak infrastructure, poor import and export policies, tariff structure among others, which have prevailed in the country for some time now. These have inevitably led to the near-collapse and failure of the small scale enterprises. The government of this country should look into the modalities of solving these challenges. It is therefore against this background that this work sets out to evaluate entrepreneurship development in Lafia Metropolis, Nassarawa State, considering some small-scale enterprises.

1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

It has been observed that some of the problems associated with entrepreneurship development and job creation in Nassarawa state include but are not limited to Incompetence of Management: The major hazard of an entrepreneurship business is the incompetence of management. A small business owner may know all the management principles and theories; his management practice may jeopardize his business. He may not possess the leadership qualities, be unwilling to delegate authority, lack appropriate human relations ability, and may not possess the appropriate skills of management; such a business operated by this business owner is likely to fail. Inadequacy of Infrastructural Facilities: Water, electricity, access roads, and other means of communication are sine qua non to the efficient performance of entrepreneurship enterprise. Their absence or inadequacy affects negatively the efficient performance of entrepreneurial businesses.

Disaster: There are certain circumstances over which small-scale business owners may have little or no control. A natural disaster such as thunder, product or accident, or sudden death of the owner may adversely affect the operation of the small scale business enterprise. High Rate of Loan Diversion and Defaults: Loans obtained from the government, banks, and individual persons are used to promote personal aggrandizement instead of the corporate objective of the business, and hence failure to repay the loan plus interest affects the business. Inadequate Credit Control: A common problem facing entrepreneurial business owners is whether or not to extend credit. Some small-scale business enterprise possesses credit granting practices, credits extended to friends and relations are oftentimes too hard to collect in times of need. This, therefore, increases the financial predicament of the business owner. Inadequate Planning: Planning a business begins with gathering and evaluating data on resources requirements, operating costs, potential markets, sales, competition, supplies, relevant government regulations, etc. Unfortunately, however, many eager business owners push ahead impulsively, without paining attention to planning, and thus business failure sets in. Lack of the use of the modern method of gathering and analyzing data constituted a weak point in the small business strategies planning effort. Poor Business Accountability: The financial problem of small-scale enterprises is rarely only financial. Often it is only a symptom, the diagnosis of which reveals other weaknesses. Business finance and stress are mixed up with personal finance and stacks required for personal needs cash and slacks are taken at will for personal use whenever the need arises without accounting for such withdrawals. This makes it difficult to assess the operating results of the business and at times starves the forms of its liquid resources. Hence, the need for this study on the effect of entrepreneurship development on employment generation in Lafia Metropolis, Nassarawa State.

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