CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1. Background of the study

The discipline of entrepreneurship generally studies the why, when and how of opportunity creation, recognition and utilization for providing goods and services through the creation of new firms (start-ups) and within existing firms for both profit and non-profit purposes. Not all opportunity creation will necessarily be in society’s best interest. The reward structure of a society can also lead to a destructive allocation of entrepreneurial talent. The focus here is on productive entrepreneurial activity. This consists of the creation, recognition and utilization of positive opportunities in such a way that involves “innovation” or the provision of “new combinations” of products and/or processes. Entrepreneurship is the quality of being an entrepreneur, it puts emphasis on the risk and efforts taken by individuals who mange or own a business, and on the innovations resulting from their pursuit of economic success. An entrepreneur is an innovator - a generator of new ideas and business processes. The word entrepreneur was coined from a French word ‘entrepredre’ which means a person who voluntarily heads a military expedition. It was first used during the first military history in the seventeenth century (Emmanuel, 2008). Entrepreneurship has no universal definition it has been defined by many authors and individuals.

Every society across the globe has its peculiar problems and challenges. Nigeria is not an exception. As a developing country, she faces her own share of social, political, economic and cultural problems which has in no small measure affected the well-being of the populace. Such problems bedeviling the country include youth’s unemployment and the rising wave of crime, which have serious implications for the growth of the nation. Unemployment rate in Nigeria has continued to be on the increase despite the abundant human and natural resources available in the country. Chronic youth’s unemployment is evident in Nigeria. Every year, thousands of graduates are produced but there are no jobs for majority of them. Nigerian streets are littered with youth hawkers who ordinarily would have found gainful employment in some enterprise (Okafor, 2011). The large number of youths who are unemployed is capable of undermining democratic practice as they constitute a serious threat if engaged by the political class for underground and criminal activities (Adepegba, 2011; Ibrahim, 2011; Lartey, 2011; Olatunji and Abioye, 2011; Okafor, 2011).

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