CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study
Entrepreneurship
stirs up ideas that could enhance enterprises. This perhaps informed why
entrepreneurship is fundamental to generating new ideas and developing new
business opportunities (Shanghai, 2001). Ayeduso in Osuala (2004) stated that
while the word entrepreneur describes the person or the actor, entrepreneurship
talks about the actions, efforts, abilities, skills, processes or sometimes the
business unit itself. Following the same opinion, Inegbenebor (2006) said that
entrepreneurship is about learning the skills needed to assume the risk of
establishing a business. It is about developing strategies and executing them
with all the vigour, persistence and passion needed. According to him,
preparing for entrepreneurship focuses on attitude and skill formation for the
identification of economic opportunities, feasibility analysis, business
planning and making arrangements for the sustenance and growth of the
enterprise. Similarly, the Small and Medium Enterprise Development Agency
(SMEDA, 2004) stated that entrepreneurship develops when a person organizes and
manages a commercial undertaking. SMEDA also noted that entrepreneurship
combines strong character of diligence, innovativeness, readiness to take risk,
ability to sense opportunity, ability to mobilize human and material resources,
being goal-oriented and focused, preserving and dogged for growth and
excellence. Entrepreneurship is certainly critical in economic transformation.
Entrepreneurship, according to Ray, Adams and McMilliam (1990) is being able to
discover innovations that can enhance marketing of goods and services, create
enabling business environment, staff training and deal with barriers to growth.
To
define enterprise, Hyper Dictionary (2009) stated that enterprise is a
purposeful or industrious undertaking, readiness to embark on bold new ventures
and an organization created for business ventures. In Nigeria, as in other
countries, many variables have been applied by agencies in the classification
of enterprises. Eneh (2005) recognizes micro, small, medium and large scale
enterprises. His classifications includes the size of employees, the amount of
capital investment, annual sales turnover, total assets or a combination of
these to classify enterprises. Medium scale enterprises are those with over 50
million Naira but not more than 200 million Naira or 101 to 300 workers.
Obitayo
in Eziama (2003) asserted that small-scale enterprises possess a total
investment of between one hundred thousand and two million naira. Similarly, Osuala (1993) viewed a small-scale enterprise as any
manufacturing or serving industry with a capital investment not exceeding N150,000
in machinery and equipments and employing not more than fifty workers. Again
Inegbenebor (2006) stated that micro or cottage industries are those with one
and ten workers, small scale industries with eleven and hundred workers, medium
scale enterprises with one hundred and one and three hundred workers while
large scale enterprises are with three hundred and one workers and above. Eneh
(2005) said that most enterprise jobs are in the service and manufacturing
sectors. They include soap makers, bakers, furniture makers, leather makers,
printers, welders, vehicle repair and maintenance, electrical services, fashion
designers, hotels, banks, textiles, plastic and pharmaceutical enterprises.
Emphasizing
on the importance of enterprises, Eneh (2005) stated that it is indisputable
that enterprises hold the key to national economic development because they
create jobs, wealth, alleviate poverty, promote equity, social security,
encourage the culture of self–help and self– reliance. He added that they promote
enterprises, productivity, provide opportunities for careers and skills
development as well as rural and community development. Similarly, World Bank
International Finance Corporation Report in United Nations Development
Programme (UNDP, 2007) maintained that enterprises are important because on the
average, enterprises comprise over 95 percent of the economy, the contributions
of the enterprise to employment and the countries’ gross domestic product (GDP)
are by no means trivial. UNDP still reported that close to 140 million
enterprises in 130 countries employed 65 percent of the total labour force.
Enterprises are the frame work for economic growth and innovation. Moreover,
Ike (2004) noted that enterprises respond positively to social and free markets,
creativity, innovation, promotion of individual and group initiative,
self-reliance and above all self fulfillment.
As
affirmed by Ecorys (2007) whether enterprises be multinational, large or not,
the nature and the growing importance of the competitive advantage afforded by
new technology, together with trade, capital liberalization and growing
pressures of competition are forcing enterprises to exploit both technological
knowledge and markets on an international scale. Entrepreneurship gives rise to
innovations.
Nagy
(2003) pointed out that investment in Information and Communication
Technologies (ICT) and use, can affect innovation. ICT according to UNDP
(2001), refers to the full rang of electronic technologies and techniques used
to
manage information and knowledge. In this study the term ICT is not referring
to all the media currently available but more restrictedly to the recent
computer technologies, internet, computer and cell phones.
ICT
have become the modern-day strategy to capture the market because of the
potentials it can offer to enhance entrepreneurship. ICT has enormous potentials
to assist economies in achieving specific economic development goals.
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