Entrepreneurial Development in Nigeria: Significant and Severity

ABSTRACT

The paper demonstrates measures on entrepreneurial development in Nigeria, significant and severity of it. Consequently, it posits that the measures have terrible implications for employment, investment, development, poverty reduction, revenue generation and growth in Nigeria. The paper indicates that measures such as low power supply, infrastructural decay, corruption, inadequate skills, inadequate credit facilities, government policy and security must be addressed quickly in order to create enable environment for SMEs and other business corporations.

The success of the various responses by government agencies towards managing and mitigating the impact of entrepreneurial development in Nigeria. This investigation tries to argue that there is serious need now, more than ever before, to re-assess the path taken so far by the Nigerian government towards entrepreneurial development. The federal government through its agencies like SMEDAN (Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria), NERFUND (National Economic Reconstruction Fund) and the National Directorate of Employment among others should increase the level of awareness about government’s policy on entrepreneurship. 

 INTRODUCTION

Scholars, international development organizations, and policy makers have identified entrepreneurship as a panacea to the economic development challenges facing developing countries (Acs & Virgil, 2010, United Nations, 2014). Much research has been conducted to facilitate a better understanding of entrepreneurship and its effects on economic development in both developed and developing countries (Wennekers & Thurik, 1999; Van Stel, Carree, & Thurik, 2005).

However, an emerging area of inquiry in the field of entrepreneurship is entrepreneurial growth, specifically, research detailing what factors influence entrepreneurial growth, how entrepreneurial business growth occurs (Gilbert, McDougall & Audretsch, 2006; Wright & Stigliani, 2013), and how best to measure business growth in research practice (Achtenhagen, Naldi, & Merlin, 2010). Despite increased research interest in entrepreneurial growth, only a few studies have investigated entrepreneurial growth in developing countries (Nichter & Goldmark, 2009) and a smaller subset of studies exist that explore how entrepreneurs learn to grow their business in developing countries such as Nigeria.

Entrepreneurial Development in Nigeria: Significant and Severity

This qualitative study explored how successful entrepreneurs in Nigeria learn to grow a business and the knowledge, skills, and abilities needed to facilitate business growth. In addition, the study explored the factors that influenced business growth. My interest in these issues stems from my experience practicing entrepreneurship. While I was obtaining a Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy, two mandatory courses about entrepreneurship were introduced at the tertiary level of education in Nigeria to help students acquire knowledge about entrepreneurship to start and be successful in a business enterprise. These mandatory courses about entrepreneurship at the University focused on teaching students about entrepreneurship and presenting entrepreneurship as a viable alternative to paid employment.

The Concept of Entrepreneurship

The interest in entrepreneurship derives from the mystique around the activities of the entrepreneur. How these activities lead to lucrative success in a capitalist economy and ultimately economic development has been a topic of interests for scholars across different fields, including economics, management, and human resource development.

Further, the concept of entrepreneurship has been studied from multiple perspectives; and yet, it remains elusive because it is multifaceted, which has resulted in the complexity involved in defining the entrepreneurship phenomenon (Audretsch, Kuratko, & Link, 2015). This complexity stems from the reality that entrepreneurs appear as outliers in the world of business and economics, and their actions, development, successes, and failures have been described as chaotic, non-linear, and discontinuous by many scholars (Bygrave, 1993; Howorth, Tempest, & Coupland, 2005).

Getting a clear understanding of the concept of entrepreneurship involves carrying out a review of the development of the concept and understanding how it has been viewed from different fields of academic research. Economic historians, such as Schumpeter (1947), were one of the earliest to identify and highlight entrepreneurship as critical to the growth of the capitalist economy.

Entrepreneurial Development in Nigeria: Significant and Severity

Measures Responsible for Entrepreneurial Development in Nigeria among others include;

1. Power: This is a very important factor within the domain of entrepreneurial development anywhere in the Entrepreneurs and those willing to engage in entrepreneurship in Nigeria should not encounter series of challenges in the course of their business due to epileptic power supply. Entrepreneurs seek alternative sources of power supply in order to meet up their targets due to the poor nature of power supply in Nigeria. Once the Federal Government in conjunction with the private sector are able to settle the issue of power, then the cost of doing business in Nigeria will reduce and this will have a positive multiplier effect on prices and

efficiency.

1. Education, Knowledge and Skills: Knowledge is said to be a major source of strength. However, most prospective entrepreneurs are unable to scale through while setting up businesses due to lack of requisite knowledge and skills. A thorough understanding of the business environment and its dynamics remain a veritable tool towards success. Current and prospective entrepreneurs must seek and continue to seek knowledge and requisite skills in order to excel in many positive

• Security: No meaningful development can take place without a stable and safe environment and entrepreneurial development cannot be achieved in a chaotic environment and as such it is important for government to create enabling environment for the actualization of these. Once an environment is safe and habitable, expatriates will come into the country leading to adequate knowledge transfer and the inflow of foreign direct investment will be

1. Government Policy: One of the major determinants of business success is government policy. It could boost or cripple the activities of entrepreneurship in any economy. It is important for entrepreneurs to understand the political, economic, socio-cultural and technological factors inherent in the country in order not to fall victim of Having adequate knowledge of a countrys legal environment will better the activities of entrepreneurs.
2. Availability of Credit facilities: Most entrepreneurs in Nigeria are unable to grow substantially due to lack of credit. Commercial banks are often times more comfortable with giant business conglomerates and small business owners find it very difficult to access funds. Government through the available microfinance institutions must put strategic structures in place with or without collaterals to avail funds to entrepreneurs either as individuals or

Entrepreneurship Development and its Role in Entrepreneurial Business Growth

Given the many contributions entrepreneurs make to the economic development of a nation, there is little wonder governments have sought to foster or develop entrepreneurship, with some countries like Nigeria even placing entrepreneurship at the heart of the national economic development plan (Ministry of industry, Trade, and Investment, 2014). However, there is not much clarity about the process involved in developing entrepreneurs at the center of economic growth. Thus, this section explores the meaning of entrepreneurship development, its components, and its role in facilitating business growth.

Reasons for Failure of Entrepreneurship in Nigeria

1. Inaccessibility to Capital

This is the major issue that is faced by Nigerian and African entrepreneurs in general. The more capital a potential entrepreneur is exposed to, the higher the chances survival chances of the business.  If banks and other organisations can be able to give out loans to entrepreneurs, the issue of lack of capital can be curtailed in a significant manner. Another issue in this is that many business owners avoid approaching banks for loans because of the exploiting rates the banks normally charge at the end of the whole transaction.

Entrepreneurial Development in Nigeria: Significant and Severity

Lack of Management and Organisational Skills

Before proceeding into any business, study the environment and know your potential buyers. Also know what and where the business will be in a few years and whether you have the required skills to keep it running till then. Some people venture into businesses without studying the secrets other successful people used in breaking through. Every business has secrets and it’s left over to the owners to discover them. This issue can be tackled by the provision managerial and technical training to young people through various training institutions, schools, industries, and business centers.

1. Inability of Entrepreneurs to Form Partnerships

No man is an island; we all need each other to survive even in the business world. A partnership is an arrangement where two or more parties, known as partners, agree to cooperate to advance their mutual interests. Partnership may involve individuals, interest-based organizations, businesses, schools, governments or even combinations. Many Nigerian business owners see it as a hard task to partner or create collaborative engagements with other business owners without knowing that these collaborations can strengthen the future of their businesses.

• Inability of Entrepreneurs to Identify Potentially Viable Project

Another problem that is facing entrepreneurship development in Nigeria is the issue of identifying the capable of a business to work successfully. Many entrepreneurs are faced with the issue of what to produce, where to locate the business, the target market, where to get the raw materials and more. However, this issue can be curtailed when the entrepreneurs conduct proper market researches before embarking on a business venture. The most important thing knows your customers’ choices, after all customers are always right.

1. Lack of Government Protection and Incentives

Many Nigerian entrepreneurs are exposed to economic predators because of the lack of the required government supplied incentives and protection. Even when these incentives are provided, cumbersome bureaucratic procedures like getting the license approved and getting of loans are usually faced.

1. High Level of Illiteracy

A good percentage of Nigerian entrepreneurs lack the knowledge of modern business strategies because of not being exposed to them in school. Many Nigerians are of the motive that education doesn’t matter so far you are rich forgetting that many there are also successful business gurus.
Conclusion and Recommendation

There are a number of entrepreneurship development programmes in Nigeria which are directed towards offering direct support to the government in the areas of employment generation. However the absence of a harmonized and well-focused national development programme agenda, which will get to every region, renders most of these initiatives ineffective.

It is obvious that entrepreneurship is the magic wand that can change the story of unemployment in Nigeria. The Nigerian government is yet fully exploring this avenue despite the increasing rate of unemployment in the country. The few entrepreneurs who have taken their destiny in their hands and have taken the initiative to start off a project ventures are faced with serious problems such as lack of capital and inadequate access to loan scheme needed for expand, lack of security of lives and property, lack of managerial prowess and absence of the zeal to take risk, etc.

Entrepreneurial Development in Nigeria: Significant and Severity

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