ENTREPRENEURIAL DEVELOPMENT AND EMPLOYMENT CREATION

ENTREPRENEURIAL DEVELOPMENT AND EMPLOYMENT CREATION

ABSTRACT

Since the mid-1980s, unemployment has been a major issue in the Nigerian economy. As a result, in order to combat the unemployment problem, the Federal Government of Nigeria implemented a number of strategies and policies aimed at promoting entrepreneurial development in Nigeria. Entrepreneurship has been determined to have the ability to generate employment all over the world. Existing literature reveals that entrepreneurship is associated with the creation of self-employment. Despite this, literature shows that only a few studies on entrepreneurship in developing economies, particularly Nigeria, necessitating additional research. As a result, this study looked into entrepreneurial development and job creation in Oyo State, Nigeria. The study’s specific goal was to assess the ability of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to create jobs in Oyo State.

The study used survey research. design. The study’s population consisted of all 4,000 registered SMEs in Oyo State, as provided by the National Association of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises. The stratified random sampling technique was used to select sixteen of Oyo State’s thirty-three local government areas, as well as a sample size of 400 SMEs. The study area was chosen based on the size and concentration of SMEs. A self-created and validated questionnaire served as the research instrument. Cronbach’s alpha coefficients for the major variables in the questionnaire were as follows: Self Employment=0.86, Business Partnership=0.68, Business Inheritance=0.74, Government Employment Training Programme=0.67, and Entrepreneurship Development=0.93. A total of 455 questionnaires were distributed, with an 87.9% response rate. The data was analyzed using

Statistics for descriptive and inferential (multiple regression).

The findings revealed a significant relationship between self-employment and vocational skill acquisition (R2 =0.763; p=0.000). A significant relationship existed between the formation of business partnerships and the acquisition of managerial skills (R2=0.754; p=0.001). Similarly, there was a significant relationship between family business formation and technical skill acquisition through inheriting businesses (R2=0.713; p=0.002). Furthermore, there was a significant relationship (R2=0.693; p=0.000) between the government employment training program and self-employment. Furthermore, among Oyo State’s SMEs, bakery (125), business center (76), petty trading (63) and barbing (61) created more job opportunities than others.

According to the study, vocational skills and government training created job opportunities through SMEs in Oyo State, Nigeria. Furthermore, the formation of business organizations increased. the acquisition of managerial and technical skills. According to the study, the government and SMEs should prioritize the establishment of enterprises that create the most jobs. Furthermore, the government should provide adequate training for entrepreneurs, while entrepreneurs should provide adequate and ongoing training for employees in order to improve their technical skills.