Entrepreneurship and Rural Development in Edo State

Entrepreneurship and Rural Development in Edo State

CHAPTER ONE

In this part of the work, one is bound to state in concrete terms what is expected to be achieved at the end of the work. Based on the stated problem, the general objective of this study is to examine the problems associated with entrepreneurship in rural development. Specifically, the objectives of the study are:

• To identify the factors militating against the success ofentrepreneurship in rural
• To determine the level of government involvement in rural entrepreneurial
• To proffer possible solutions for the success of entrepreneurship in rural

CHAPTER TWO

Review of Literature

Gay (1981) in Egbule and Okobia (2001) defines review of literature as “… systematic identification, location and analysis of documents containing information related to the research problem”. In line with the above, this chapter will review documents related to the problem of the study in the following order.

Entrepreneur and entrepreneurship 

The two terms “entrepreneur and entrepreneurship” are used interchangeably by most students, practitioners, scholars and/or authors. There is need to draw an analogy between the two concepts for analytical reasons.

An entrepreneur is an important segment of economic growth. Entrepreneur is a person who takes initiative to bring new ideas, innovation and starts a new venture and act as a catalytic agent for a new project which creates wealth (Badi and Badi, 2006:8). Thus he becomes a change agent for socio-economic development. According to Ajagu (2005), an entrepreneur is anyone who owns a business enterprise for the purpose of making profit. Thus entrepreneurs include contractors, producers, investors, traders, industrialists, manufacturers, etc. Kiyosaki in Ajagu (2005) sees an entrepreneur as someone that sees an opportunity, puts together a team, and builds a business that profit from the opportunity. According to him, a tradesman or craftsman is someone who can produce a product or provide a service primarily by himself while an entrepreneur builds teams that take on products that no one individual can do on his or her own. Weihrich and Koontz (2005) captured the above by conceptualizing that entrepreneurs have the ability to see an opportunity, obtain the necessary capital, labour and other inputs and then put together an operation successfully. Anyanwu (1999) define an entrepreneur as the person who coordinates the other factors of production by assuming the associated risks and investing his resources in a business venture.   He is the person who plans, recruits personnel, organizes, directs and controls the business venture for the attainment of set goals.

However, the level of success of an entrepreneur depends on several factors which include his/her educational background, vision, organization, available funds, environmental condition, government regulation, availability of infrastructure, legal framework, information accessibility, cost control and management, quality of services/products, discipline and determination. While on the other hand, entrepreneurship encompasses all the product functions that are not rewarded immediately by regular wages, interest and rent and non-routine human labour. Entrepreneurship is the service that the entrepreneur renders. It is in accepting the risk of starting and running a business (Akanwa and Agu, 2005).

CHAPTER THREE

Methodology

Methodology is instrumental to the success of any research activity. Consequently, data collection, analysis and interpretation cum the way the entire work was carried out were considered in this chapter. However, the following are worth highlighting under the method and procedure of this research work.

Research design

According to Nachmias and Nachmias (1985) in Egbule and Okobia (2001), research design is the programme that is meant to guide the researcher in the process of collecting, analyzing and interpreting observations.   In line with the above, the research is a descriptive study of the problems of entrepreneurship in rural development and to suggest ways of improving rural entrepreneurship. Specifically, the research adopted the case study method. The problems of entrepreneurship in rural development in Egor, benin and Ovia-North Local Government Areas, all in Edo State were studied. The researcher used the questionnaire to obtain information from respondents in all the local governments selected for the study.

CHAPTER FOUR

DATA PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION OF RESULTS

The main purpose of this chapter is to analyze the data collected and to present the results based on the hypotheses and research statements formulated alongside a general discussion of the findings. The scoring instrument used was the Likert’s five point scale. The data collected from the sources was analyzed with the use of simple percentage and chi-square.

CHAPTER FIVE

SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION

This chapter summarizes the entire work. Research findings are itemized with the conclusions arising thereof. Finally, the chapter makes useful suggestions and submitted areas for further studies. For clarity, the chapter is organized around the following sub-headings:

• Summary of the study
• Conclusion
• Recommendations

Summary

The study was an evaluative analysis of the problem of entrepreneurship in rural development. Chapter one of the study comprises statement of the problem which stresses the several opportunities that exists for entrepreneurs in Nigeria, both in agriculture and industry and that the success lies in making them more efficient and progressive. As a patriotic Nigerian, the researcher wishes to investigate the problem of rural entrepreneurship which is one of the obstacles to national development. Three hypotheses cum three research statements were formulated and

tested which included: There is no significant relationship between the poor

 

state of social infrastructure/government’s inability to provide an enabling environment and entrepreneurship in rural development; there is no significant relationship between the entrepreneur’s personal idiosyncrasies and entrepreneurship in rural development; and there is no significant relationship between some micro-economic variables/corrupt or trade malpractices and entrepreneurship in rural development.

In chapter two, literature review was done on the following areas: factors militating against entrepreneurship in rural development, theoretical framework, entrepreneur and entrepreneurship, rural development, entrepreneurship in rural development. In chapter three, the research design employed a descriptive survey with particular reference to the case study method. The population consisted of furniture makers, bakery, block industry, wood industry, pharmaceuticals, restaurants, supermarkets/retail outlets, business centres and fish/poultry farmers. The research instrument consisted of 22-items Likert type with a sample size of 120 was developed to examine the problem of rural entrepreneurship. In chapter four of the study, the data is arranged in the form of tables and the findings are given under each of the tables. A brief discussion is also made on the three research statements used for the study.

Conclusions 

Based on the findings of the study, the following conclusions are made:

1. That the problem of entrepreneurship in rural development is as aresult of the poor state of social infrastructure and the inability of the government to provide an enabling  In the local government areas selected for the study, apart from Benin Local Government which is in the state capital, the two other local government areas suffer from bad roads, poor communication system, power supply, health care services, good water, etc. In addition, security of lives and property is a problem and the government is not disposed to assisting and training entrepreneurs that would help develop the rural economy.
2. That the entrepreneur’s personal idiosyncrasies are responsible forthe problem of rural entrepreneurship. These variables range from poor/inefficient management, “non-businesslike” attitude, inability to employ skilled labour, premature diversion and expansion and inability to cope with completion. It is not an overstatement to say that most entrepreneurs in the target local government areas are not fully committed and this is as a result of the decadence of moral values in the society where the desire to make quick money has become the order of the day.
3. That the problem of entrepreneurship in rural development is alsocaused by some micro-economic variables such as the inability of entrepreneurs to access bank facility, high interest rates charged by banks as well as inflation (rise in the cost raw materials). Also responsible for the problem of rural entrepreneurship is the corrupt/trade malpractices such as diversion of funds meant for development into private account, bribing to get services/company registered as well as faking, counterfeiting, cloning, and adulterating on the part of the  Therefore, the banks, the government and the entrepreneurs have important roles to play in improving rural entrepreneurship in Edo State.

Recommendations 

The recommendation for this study is based essentially on the findings and statement of problem as highlighted in chapter one. The recommendations are as follows:

1. The government should aggressively improve social infrastructure in the rural areas. Social amenities like roads, water, electricity, health centres, good communication system should be  If possible, the private sector can be encouraged to take over the construction and maintenance of roads, bridges, water, etc, through “Operate and Manage.” With regards to enabling environment, the government should work harder to ensure that crimes like high profile murders and incessant robbery attacks do not always take state security by surprise. There should be periodic security checks on security lapses. Also, the government, should through its Ministry of Commerce and Industry provide training and assist entrepreneurs in the form of soft loans to encourage credible entrepreneurs that would help develop the rural economy.
2. With respect to poor/inefficient management, an appreciation and application of the management functions of planning, organizing, directing, staffing, controlling, co-ordination, etc, it is recommended that the entrepreneur should attend entrepreneurship conferences, seminars, and workshops as a recipe for the success of rural entrepreneurship in Edo  The entrepreneur should employ qualified hands to manage the business when the need arises in areas where he would not be able to handle, especially specialist areas such as accounting, quality control, purchasing function, etc. Young entrepreneurs should not be in a haste to diversify and expand. Even when there is enough money in the hands of the entrepreneur, he should first think of stability and maintenance of the present one. Also, a change of attitude on the part of the entrepreneur in the area of not paying supreme attention to his business will serve as a catalyst for entrepreneurship success in Edo State.
3. Government should continue the current reform policies especially the target to reduce inflation and interest rate to single digit. All forms of bottlenecks to access bank facility should be reduced and term loans should be made available to rural entrepreneurs at concessional rate of interest. Efforts must be made to systematically track and flush out the corrupt ministry officials to pave way for smooth processing and releasing, on time, of certificates to deserving  Funds meant for the purchasing of raw materials, buying of equipment and their maintenance and for the payment of workers’ salaries should not be diverted by the entrepreneur. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission should be strengthened to prevent, investigate, prosecute and penalize economic and financial crimes such as advance fee fraud, money laundering, faking, counterfeiting, cloning and adulterating, etc.
4. Entrepreneurship orientation should be made an element at all levels of learning from primary schools to secondary schools and tertiary  All institutions should teach a course in ENTREPRENEURSHIP, the coverage and complexity of which will vary with the level of the institution.

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