ENTREPRENEURSHIP DEVELOPMENT: A TOOL FOR MICRO AND SMALL ENTERPRISES DEVELOPMENT IN NIGERIA
Steve A. Dabo
PhD Research Student,
Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology,
Nairobi, Kenya
Abstract
Entrepreneurship development leads to the emergence of micro and small enterprises in Nigeria. Micro and small enterprises are the bedrock of economic development in all nations. They account for a large proportion of the total employment growth and also increase the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). This paper looked at contributions of micro and small enterprises in Nigeria among which are self – sustainability and industrial development, raising the standard of living of the populace through employment provision and wealth creation, and supplying raw materials to medium and larger industries. The paper drew particular interest on small-scale poultry business. Despite the importance of micro and small enterprises, they face a lot of challenges such as: inadequate capital for business startup and expansion, poor infrastructural facilities, multiple taxes by different tiers of government and tax consultants, poor patronage of locally made goods, poor entrepreneurial and managerial skills in business and the effect of globalization and trade liberalization among others. The paper concludes and recommended among others that, micro and small enterprises should have adequate access to capital and the collateral security needed for loans Provision should be flexible, infrastructural facilities should be provided and there is need for harmonizing tax laws in the country so that micro and small enterprises should know how much it takes to operate an enterprise in Nigeria, also there is need for Nigerians to patronize made in Nigeria goods.
Keywords: Entrepreneurship, Micro, Small, Growth, Enterprises
Introduction
Nigeria is a country blessed with abundant natural resources but finds it difficult to discover her developmental bearing since independence. Infrastructuralprovision had remained a nightmare, micro and small enterprises sector among others had witnessed downward performance while the unemployment rate and poverty are on the increase. The National Bureau of Statistics cited in Adepoju (2012) reported that Nigeria’s overall unemployment rate amounted to 21.1% of the total labour force …………. CONTINUE READING