1.1 Introduction
Entrepreneurship as a process of creating something new of value by devoting the necessary time and effort, assuming the accompanying financial, psychic and social risks, and receiving the resulting rewards of money and personal satisfaction and independent (Hisrich, 2002). The significant role that entrepreneurship plays in creating new ventures, opportunity recognition, small business growth, employment generation has been well established empirically in the entrepreneurship literature (Aldrich & Cliff, 2003; Carland et al., 2004). Entrepreneurship is used to denote explorers and innovators in various fields. It has affected by economics, marketing, strategic management and human sciences. It is also considered as one of the important areas in the economies of developed industrial countries and developing ones.
As a prelude to other parts of this study, this chapter will discuss the background upon which this study was initiated, the statement of problems that led to this study, the Aim and Objectives of the study. Others are Significance of the study, Scope of work, Research hypothesis and questions, Limitation of the study and Definition of technical terms.
1.2 Background of Study
The worldwide economic depression of the early 80's caused a rapid deterioration of the Nigeria economy. The output shrank to an all time local and commercial activities, which were consequently reduced, leading to the loss of employment opportunities in the country. Therefore, by the end of 1985, the unemployment situation in Nigeria had increased its proportions and as such most Nigeria graduates were faced with hardship due to unemployment in the country. This situation therefore calls for entrepreneurship in Nigeria economy which also leads to entrepreneurial development in the higher institution. However, at this juncture a brief history of entrepreneurship in Nigeria will give more insight on the study. Statistics have it that Africa is the poorest and less developed continent in world. Many state-owned enterprises in Africa were created when it was believed that the fastest route to development occurred when the state took on the role of entrepreneur.
Although Nigeria was at one time characterized by such inefficiency, but has recently pursued entrepreneurship encouragement policies. And the initial indications suggest that the policies have been successful. In Nigeria, the state-owned enterprises traditionally clogged business opportunities and restructure private entrepreneurs from entering the market. However, in the mid 1980's Nigeria abolished it's marketing board, which prevented entry into certain industries and it's market to competition from domestic entrepreneurs.
Hence early entrepreneurs were characterized with production and manufacturing. In this case, the producers most often started with small capital. Early entrepreneurship started with trade by barter even before the advent of money. However, modern entrepreneurship in Nigeria started with the coming of the colonial masters, who brought in their wears and made Nigerians their Middlemen. In these way modern entrepreneurs was conceived. Most of the modern entrepreneurs were engaged in retail trade or sole proprietorship.
As a result, the higher education sectors are under immense pressure from governments, employers and parents to produce quality graduates that can be economically engaged at the individual, national and global level (Teichler, 2007). Such graduates should possess a combination of attributes that will enable them to take an adaptive and proactive approach to their careers (Bezuidenhout, 2011). While there is consensus worldwide on the importance of addressing employability within higher education, there remains some debate on how best this can be achieved (Harvey, and Morey, 2002).
Although many countries are faced with problems of unemployment in general (Adesina, 2013), the scope of this paper is limited to graduate employability. A graduate here refers to someone who has a bachelor's or higher degree from a higher education institution (HEI). The rationale for focusing on graduate employability arises from the realization that governments, employers and communities are increasingly interested in what HEIs have to offer as a source of recruitment and for the development of existing employees (Keech, 2006). In part, this has been driven by a growing awareness of the potential of HEIs in the development of knowledge based economies and driving innovation and national development (Escrigas 2008).
Therefore, in Nigeria where the research was carried out, the activities that was conducted is to know the Impact of Entrepreneurial Development on Economic Growth in Nigeria.
1.3 Statement of Problems
Investigation revealed that one of the possible causes for this lack is that the education in Nigeria addresses only output end of capacity development solving problem. When comparing entrepreneurship development in Nigeria with other countries like America, Japan, China etc, we realize that these countries started on the same platform as Nigeria started with trade by barter and then advanced to their present state of economic growth. In fact they are faster in their development of entrepreneurship than Nigeria. Why this differences?
This research work will find out to this effect the following:-
- The general problem encountered by entrepreneurs in Nigeria in establishing business.
- To find out the basic orientation that should be given to Nigerian entrepreneurs.
- To discover the rate of employment and find out the various business opportunities that will be of help to the Nigerian economy through entrepreneurship.
- To also find how government program has been of help to various entrepreneurs in the country.
1.4 Aim and Objectives of Study
The aim of the study is to scrutinize the Impact of Entrepreneurial Development on Economic Growth in Nigeria. In achieving this aim, the following specific objectives were laid out as follows:
- To assess the organization benefit from entrepreneurs in the area under study;
- To find out the government contribution towards entrepreneurs in the country;
- To examine the essence of Entrepreneurship in an economy; and
- To investigate the problems affecting entrepreneurship development in the area under study.
1.5 Research Questions
The study came up with research questions so as to be able to ascertain the above stated objectives. The specific research questions for the study are stated below as follows:
- Does organization benefit from entrepreneurs in the area under study?
- What is the essence of Entrepreneurship in an economy?
- What has the government done for entrepreneurs in the country?
- What are the problems affecting entrepreneurship development in the area under study?
1.6 Research Hypothesis
In order to pursue the objective of this study, the following generalized statements have been designed to guide and aids in obtaining the result for the experiment to be conducted. For this work, the null hypothesis will be represented with H0 while the alternative hypothesis will be represented with hypothesis H1.
Hypothesis One
- H0: Entrepreneurs does not encourage large scale production in the economy.
- H1: Entrepreneurs encourages large scale production in the economy.
Hypothesis Two
- H0: Entrepreneurial problems are not only in the level of Managerial skill and poor infrastructure.
- H1: Entrepreneurial problems are only in the level of Managerial skill and poor infrastructure.
Hypothesis Three
- H0: Organization does not benefit much from entrepreneurs due to Inefficiency of job performance.
- H1: Organizations benefits from entrepreneurs in organizational planning.
Hypothesis Four
- H0: Government plans towards the provision of credit facilities are not encouraging.
- H1: Government plans for entrepreneurs are to provide credit facilities to various entrepreneurs in the country.
1.7 Significance of Study
The importance of the study cannot be over-emphasized, since it is expected to affect our economy and also increase the creation of job opportunities in the country especially in Enugu state. However, this project when completed will be of immense benefits to the following:
- The Nigerian economy in general
- The small-scale industries
- The general public
- Creation of job opportunities in the country.
- Also there will be increase in the managerial skills.
This study will be of immense benefit to other researchers who intend to know more on this study and can also be used by non-researchers to build more on their research work. This study contributes to knowledge and could serve as a guide for other study.
1.8 Scope of Study
The scope of the research is focused on the Impact of Entrepreneurial Development on Economic Growth in Nigeria.
