CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

The experiences of developed economies in relation to the roles played by entrepreneurship buttress the fact that the importance of entrepreneurship cannot be overemphasized especially among the developing countries. In order to highlight its significance in relation to the growth and development of a given economy, entrepreneurship has been variously referred to as a “source of employment generation”. This is because entrepreneurial activities have been found to be capable of making positive impacts on the economy of a nation and educational quality of life of the people (Adejumo, 2010). Studies have established its positive relationship with stimulation of economic growth; employment generation; education and empowerment of the disadvantaged segment of the population, which include women and the poor (Oluremi and Gbenga, 2011; Thomas, 2010).

These resources require the ability to identify potentially useful and economically viable fields of Endeavour’s. Nigerians have made their marks in diverse fields such as science, technology, academics, business and entertainment. Thus, entrepreneurship activities and innovative ingenuity in Enugu North have developed enterprises in the following areas; Agricultural/agroallied activities where there are foodstuffs, restaurants, fast food vending etc. In the area of information and telecom business, there are manufacturing and repairs of GSM accessories and the printing and selling of Recharge cards. In hospitality and tourism business, there are hotels, accommodation, resorts centers, film and home video production. In the area of environmental and waste management business, there is refuse collection/disposal, recyclement, and drainage/sewage construction job. In the area of financial banking services, there are banking, insurance and stock trading. In engineering and fabrication work, there are machines and tools fabrications. There is also the building and construction, where there are plan and design services and material sourcing (Agbeze, 2012).

Judging therefore by the ugly state of the Nigeria economy sequel to the inherent corruption and global economic crunch, entrepreneurship development is very imperative if the nation’s economic prosperity is to be restored in the nearest future Indisputably, Nigeria is among the few naturally and abundantly endowed economies in the world with both human ingenuity and material resources. It concerns this study enormously that irrespective of spatial and natural abundances of the country, greater percentage of the nation’s citizens are still living under US 1 dollar a day.

The concept of economic growth is relevant at levels of firms, regions, industries and nations, hence, linking entrepreneurship to economic growth means linking the individual level to aggregate levels. In order to consider this link we first pay attention to a definition of 'entrepreneurship' inspired by Hebert and Link (2009), Bull and Willard (2013) and Lumpkin and Dess (2016), the following definition of entrepreneurship can be proposed: Entrepreneurship is the manifest ability and willingness of individuals, on their own, in teams, within and outside existing organizations to perceive and create new economic opportunities (new products, new production methods, new organizational schemes and new product-market combinations), and to introduce their ideas in the market, in the face of uncertainty and other obstacles, by making decisions on location, form and the use of resources and institutions.

Essentially, entrepreneurship is a behavioural characteristic of persons. It should be noted that entrepreneurship is not an occupation and that entrepreneurs are not a well-defined occupational class of persons. Even obvious entrepreneurs may exhibit their entrepreneurship activities only during a certain phase of their career and/or concerning a certain part of their activities.

Entrepreneurship is not synonymous with small business. Certainly, small firms are an outstanding vehicle for individuals to channel their entrepreneurial ambitions. The small firm is an extension of the individual in charge (Lumpkin and Dess, 2006). However, entrepreneurship is not restricted to persons starting or operating an (innovative) small firm. Enterprising individuals in large firms, the so-called ‘entrepreneurs’ or ‘corporate entrepreneurs’, undertake entrepreneurial actions as well.

In these environments there is a tendency of ‘mimicking smallness’, for instance using business units, subsidiaries or joint ventures. Entrepreneurship is ‘at the heart of national advantage’ (Porter, 2010). Concerning the role of entrepreneurship in stimulating economic growth, many links have been discussed.

It is of eminent importance for carrying out innovations and for enhancing rivalry. This directs our attention to two related phenomena of the 1980s and 1990s: the resurgence of small business and the revival of entrepreneurship. There is ample evidence that economic activity moved away from large firms to small firms in the 1970s and 1980s. The most impressive and also the most cited is the share of the 500 largest American firms, the so-called Fortune 500. Their employment share dropped from 20 percent in 1970 to 8.5 percent in 1996. Carlsson (2012) provide evidence concerning manufacturing industries in countries in varying stages of economic development. They advanced two explanations for the shift toward smallness. The first deals with fundamental changes in the world economy from the 1970s onwards. These changes relate to the intensification of global competition, the increase in the degree of uncertainty and the growth in market fragmentation. The second deals with changes in the character of technological progress, which shows that flexible automation has various effects resulting in a shift from large to smaller firms. Also Piore and Sable (2014) argue that the instability of markets in the 1970s resulted in the demise of mass production and promoted flexible specialization. This fundamental change in the path of technological development led to the occurrence of vast diseconomies of scale.

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