IMPACT OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP MIND-SET ON YOUTH SELF-EMPOWERMENT IN KADUNA NORTH LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA

ABSTRACT

This study was conducted to find out the impact of entrepreneurship mindset on youth self-empowerment in Kaduna North Local Government area. A descriptive survey research design was used for the study. The population consisted of the staff of Kaduna Polytechnic Center for Entrepreneurship Development, Angwa Rimi GRA, Kaduna North Local Government area of Kaduna State and Panteka young men and women who have benefited from the center. The research questions that guided the study were: What is the relationship between entrepreneurship development and job creation in Kaduna North Local Government area? What is the relationship between entrepreneurship development and poverty alleviation in Kaduna North Local Government Area? What are the challenges that militate against sustainable entrepreneurship development in Kaduna North Local Government area? It was hypothesized that there was no significant relationship between entrepreneurship development and job creation in Kaduna North Local Government area; there was no significant relationship between entrepreneurship development and poverty alleviation in Kaduna North Local Government Area and that the respondent groups will not differ in challenges that militate against sustainable entrepreneurship development in Kaduna North Local Government area.  Mean was used to analyze the data based on the research questions. Research results showed that there is a significant relationship between entrepreneurship development and job creation in Kaduna North Local Government area as it helps in creating economic activity for the people, providing them with means of livelihood, helping them to discover areas of job opportunities etc. There is also a significant relationship between entrepreneurship development and poverty alleviation in Kaduna North Local Government Area as a result of creating daily income for the people, boosting economic growth in the area, creating the ability in the youths to utilize their skills etc. Results equally showed that different challenges militate against sustainable entrepreneurship development in Kaduna North Local Government area such as inadequate capital, inadequate technological facilities, irregular power supply, high taxes, levies and rents etc. While hypotheses 1 and 2 were rejected, hypothesis 3 was retained.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1     Background of the Study                                                                    

The fields of youth development and sustainable development sit at the frontier of new opportunities for research and practice, especially in developing nations. Poverty reduction and economic empowerment strategies have been part of measures deployed by the Federal Government of Nigeria to attaining and achieving sustainable growth and development in Nigeria (Ayedun, Durodola & Akinjare, 2011).Using the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (2014) indices, it is important to acknowledge the fact that good governance is sine qua non to the achievement of the three dimensions of sustainable development which are; economic, social and environmental. Youth empowerment is a significant strategy deployed at national, state and local government levels to achieving and attaining success as regards sustainable development. Consequently, much emphasis is increasingly being placed on empowerment policies in line with poverty reduction and increasing wellbeing in order to better the life of the citizens at large including the disadvantaged youth. Investing early in disadvantaged youths is more beneficial, both economically and socially, Burchard, LeGrand and Piachaud. (2002) posited that investment in human capital stimulates national growth and development. Furthermore, youth empowerment is indeed a key strategy to tackle the challenges created by rapidly changing social, economic, technological and demographic environments in Nigeria. Empowering young people as a promoter, has a greater effect and more long-lasting impact on the communities and national development (Fajana, 2000 & Garduño, Sawyer & Sawyer,2013).

Entrepreneurship development is considered as a way to tackle some of the socio-economic problems that bedeviled some countries presently, especially problem of high poverty and unemployment among the youths. More than a billion people, live in extreme poverty (Collier, 2007). Both scholars and policymakers have proposed that entrepreneurship is an effective means for economic development and poverty alleviation in impoverished and lower income regions of the world (Abubakar, 2012).

Entrepreneurship is seen as a process which involves the effort of an individual (or individuals) in identifying viable business opportunities in an environment and obtaining and managing the resources needed to exploit those opportunities. Entrepreneurship is seen as the function of being creative and responsive within and to the environment. He stated further that entrepreneurship activity is a destabilizing force, which starts the process of “creative destruction” which is the essence of economic development. Ogundele (2005) defines entrepreneurship as the processes of emergence, behavior and performance of entrepreneurs. He notes that a focus on entrepreneurship is a focus on the processes involved in the initiation of a new organization, the behavior of such organization and its performance in terms of profit made.

The role of entrepreneurship is to promote prosperity by establishing new jobs, decreasing the level of unemployment and increase economic growth and development of a region (Kareem, 2015). They also increase productivity by introducing new innovation and speed up structural changes by forcing existing business to reform and increase competition which, by extension could lead to youth self-empowerment (Baron, 2017). Entrepreneurship development contributes to poverty alleviation when it creates employment through the start-up of new entrepreneurship or the expansion of existing ones and they increases social wealth by creating new markets, new industries, new technology, new institutional forms, new jobs and net increases in real productivity, increases income which culminates in higher standards of living for the population (Simon, 2005), then it is logically to state that if the number of entrepreneurs of any given country increase, the poverty indicators will decrease and vice verse. Entrepreneurship remains the gateways to sustainable wealth creation in Nigeria (Ogundele 2000).  Matanmi and Awodun (2005) advocated that if Nigeria desire to move out of the high level of unemployment and ravaging level of poverty, adequate attention must be giving to the growth of entrepreneurship.  The poverty situation in Nigeria has indeed assumed a crisis dimension. Records from the Bureau of statistics show that about 67% of Nigerians live below the poverty line (Ajegi, 2002). The Nigeria government, through most of her policies and programmes, has made tremendous effort towards changing the scenario in the country.

Despite the enormous natural resources, Nigeria ranks low on the human development Index with 160 percent income distribution gap at the household level that suggests a bias against rural and uneducated households (Human Development Report 2010). This is consistent with rising poverty data, which increased from 54.4% (in 2004) to 69% in 2010 according to official government report in “the Nigeria Poverty Profile 2010”. According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) more than 100 million citizens earn less than $1 per day, thereby further widening the inequality gap. Following the increasing rate of poverty, majority of citizens, mostly unskilled and poor, with low level of education and lack of asset control are therefore confined to the informal sector for survival due to necessity. The informal sector, which largely comprises trade, agricultural businesses and services related to repairs, is estimated to provide 80% of non-agricultural employment and 60% urban jobs. Unfortunately, this category of business remains at the subsistence level, constrained to the poverty corridor due to poor motivation.

The importance of the informal sector in boosting employment generation and consumption activities in a developing country like Nigeria cannot be underestimated. The informal sector, which is characterized by informal activities and absence of government regulation, is inclusive of transactions not accounted for in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the country. Though the informal sector, to a larger extent provides jobs to a great number of households in Nigeria, the main policy challenge according to Ajayi and Ademokun (2010) is supporting the informal sector to promote more employment opportunities, productivity, and income for the poor. Akintoye (2008), also suggested that poverty and unemployment be reduced through a well-managed and supported informal sector.

In Nigeria and other African countries, poverty is described as a socio-economic problem that affects growth and development in the region. The government of these countries have designed and embarked on several measures to reduce the degree of poverty and improve the social well-being of the people. In Nigeria, the federal government has initiated several ensures and policies to reduce the level of poverty among the masses. Entrepreneurship is one of the measures embraced by the government to reduce mass poverty and unemployment in the country. This study is not established to evaluate past measures of poverty reduction in Nigeria, but aim at investigating the effect of entrepreneurship development on job creation and poverty alleviation. Entrepreneurship development entails philosophy of self-reliance such as creating a new cultural and productive environment, promoting new sets of attitudes and culture for the attainment of future challenges (Arogundade, 2011).

1.2     Statement of the Problem

One of the major challenges facing developing and underdeveloped countries of the world is youth unemployment, moral degradation and lack of self-empowerment. It has been so endemic as a result of the high socio-economic downturn that has become the major characteristic of the developing and underdeveloped countries of the world (Ayedun, Durodola & Akinjare, 2011). Poverty still remains the major obstacle to the success of the struggle for the optimum utilization of human resources for both social and economic development of nations.

In separate reports, the National Institute for Social Research (NISER) and the World Bank revealed that over 55 per cent of Nigerians of working age are unemployed, representing one in five adults. The World Bank report also indicated that only one in every ten graduates get a job while a recent report by the National Directorate of Employment (NDE) indicated that over 200,000 Nigerian graduates who completed the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) in the last five years, remained unemployed. Given the challenges that bedevil Kaduna State, this study advocates for the inclusion of entrepreneurship development at the forefront of its economic development agenda.

Several studies on entrepreneurship concentrate on the contribution of entrepreneurship to sustainable economic development, job creation, innovation and resource allocation, but there is a little attention on effect of entrepreneurship mindset on youth self-empowerment, especially in Kaduna State and particularly Kaduna North. The success of entrepreneurship mind-set  in youth self-empowerment depends on many factors including training and development, but these are often negligible. Also, most of the government efforts to reduce poverty in the country were not tailored towards entrepreneurship development and organization of training for the unemployed people in the society. These problems therefore triggered the need for the present study.

1.3     Objectives of the Study

The primary objective of this study is to examine the impact of entrepreneurship mind-set on youth self-empowerment in Kaduna North Local Government area. The specific objectives are to:

1. Find out the role of entrepreneurship mindset in enhancing youth self-empowerment in Kaduna North Local Government area.
2. Find out the contributions of entrepreneurship mindset towards poverty alleviation among youths in Kaduna North Local Government area.
3. Determine the challenges that militate against sustainable entrepreneurship mindset in enhancing youth self-empowerment in Kaduna North Local Government area.

1.4     Research Questions

The following research questions guided the study:

1. What is the role of entrepreneurship development in enhancing youth self-empowerment in Kaduna North Local Government area?
2. What are the contributions of entrepreneurship development to poverty alleviation among youths in Kaduna North Local Government Area?
3. What are the challenges that militate against sustainable entrepreneurship in enhancing youth self-empowerment in Kaduna North Local Government area?

1.6     Significance of the Study

This study seeks to examine the impact of entrepreneurship mindset on youth self-empowerment in Kaduna North Local Government area. No doubt, given the scarcity of job opportunities and the high rate of poverty in Kaduna State like other States of the federation, this study is quite relevant. Scholars, policy makers in the State, private organizations and the governments will benefit from the result of this study.

Entrepreneurship as a cornerstone of development strategies for emerging economies has garnered support among a broad spectrum of scholars, policymakers and governments. One of the basic significance of the study is that it will contribute a lot to existing body of literature and in-coming students and other researchers will use this work as a reference material for their own researches. They could refer to the methodology used, the methods of data presentation or the methods used in statistical analysis.

The study has the ability to assist policy makers in Kaduna State to formulate policies geared towards the promotion of entrepreneurship where youth will utilize their talents and skills to create profitable jobs for themselves which, by implication, will alleviate not only their poverty but that of their immediate family and immediate community. It is also significant because it is a requirement in partial fulfillment of the award of the degree of Bachelor of Science (BSc.)

The general public will be helped to see the relationship between entrepreneurship and job creation as well as entrepreneurship and poverty alleviation so that they could contribute their quota in enhancing the development of entrepreneurship schemes in the Local Government area under study.  

1.7     Scope of the Study

This study is to examine the impact of entrepreneurship mindset on youth self-empowerment in Kaduna North Local Government area. An examination of the role of entrepreneurship development in enhancing youth self-empowerment, the contributions of entrepreneurship development to poverty alleviation among youths as well as the challenges that militate against sustainable entrepreneurship development in enhancing youth self-empowerment in Kaduna North Local Government area fall within the scope of the study. The study is confined to only Kaduna North Local Government area of Kaduna State. Only questionnaire was used for data collection.

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