VOA - ENTREPRENEURSHIP DEVELOPMENT IN NIGERIA, THE CHALLENGES
1. ENTREPRENEURSHIP DEVELOPMENT IN NIGERIA,
THE CHALLENGES AND WAY FORWARD
BEING A WORKSHOP PAPER PRESENTED AT A 3
DAYS ENTREPRENEURIAL JOURNALISM
WORKSHOP ORGANIZED BY THE
VOICE OF AMERICA (VOA)
2. INTRODUCTION
• Conventionally, practicing journalists were not
expected of to engage in business activities
other than journalism, however, the financial
situation of traditional media is becoming
more and more difficult due to the expansion
of the Internet which has redefined
journalism. This is leading to a new term being
used to indicate what the future of journalism
may look like: entrepreneurial journalism
3. INTRODUCTION (CONT)
• Entrepreneurial journalism basically
points to the need for journalists to
act in an economic sense, to redefine
their profession through innovation
and to explore new opportunities for
making a living.
4. BRIEF OF THE LABOUR MARKET
• Information from the National Bureau of
Statistics (2015 & 2016) shows that about 2.2
million people are joining the labour force
annually between 2014 to 2015. In the same
period, the job creation result of Nigeria as
published by National Bureau of Statistics
(NBS) showed that less than 1.4 million jobs
were created annually.
5. BRIEF OF THE LABOUR MARKET
(CONT)
• This is in addition to the following:
a. Growth in working age population to 103.5 million
in 2015.
b Huge labour force of 74 million people in the
second quarter of 2015.
This invariably means that from the economically active
population (working age population) of 103.5 million
people in 2015 only 29.5 million people are effectively
engaged of which a large chunk of them are under
employed.
6. DEFINITION OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP
• Scholars like Robert Hisrich (1985) defined
entrepreneurship as a process of creating
something new with value, by devoting time
and attention, assuming the accompanying
financial, psychological and social risk and
receiving the resulting reward of monetary
and personal satisfaction that comes with it.
7. DEFINITION (CONT.)
• Shaw (2004) defined entrepreneurship as an
attitude, a way of thinking and learning. It is a
state of mind, an artifact, insightful and
innovative mentality rather than business
administration.
• It is any novel activity that creates value,
builds wealth and brings about change.
8. ENTREPRENEURIAL JOURNALISM
• Entrepreneurial Journalism describes a field
of media where journalism is the underlying
discipline upon which to create content-
based businesses and services that can make
money such as blogging.
{Creating contents that people will pay for requires that your
content must be engaging, your ideas must be original, you must
create strong headlines and your content must be applicable}.
9. WHY ENTREPRENEURIAL
JOURNALISM
• The emergence of the concept of entrepreneurial journalism
is consequent on:
a. The short supply of jobs for journalist as a result of the
shrinking global economy leading to mass layoff of
journalist and the emergences of the new media
b. The migration of journalist to other jobs.
c. New entrants in the field of journalism
d. To be able to convey entrepreneurial information
effectively
10. WHY ENTREPRENEURIAL
JOURNALISM (CONT)
• According to the Annual American Society of
Newspaper Editors survey, the number of full-
time newsroom jobs which were lost from 2003
to 2012, total 16,200. In 2007, there were 52,600
full-time newsroom employees which was
pruned by about 20% by 2009.
• In addition, Nieman Lab, in 2014, posited that the
number of full-time journalists who worked for
about 1,400 dailies in the USA; decreased from
56,900 in 1990 to 32,900 in 2014.
11. DEVELOPMENTS IN THE MEDIA
INDUSTRY
• The traditional media industry such as
television, radio, out-door advert and
newspapers has been challenged by the
internet revolution of this century. The
increase in the total number of online media
such as Gamji, Sahara reporters, Nigerian
village square, and others like Nigerians in
America is a pointer to this trend, not to
mention the hundreds of blogging sites that
appear on the horizon.
12. DEVELOPMENTS IN THE MEDIA
INDUSTRY (CONT.)
• The Economist of London in its report of July
9th 2011, observed that the internet,
especially, the social media (Blogs, Twitter,
Facebook, Google, etc.) has revolutionized
news as we knew it. The report also stated
that there is a gradual decline in the news
paper business in the developed parts of the
world.
13. ENTREPRENEURSHIP DEVELOPMENT
IN NIGERIA
• At independence, the value system of Nigerian
supported acquiring western education and
securing a good job.
• The economy of Nigeria at inception was large
enough to absolve all graduates hence pay little
attention to encouraging people to enterprise.
• Those who venture into business are most likely
because they are quite unsuccessful in pursuing
western education.
14. ENTREPRENEURSHIP DEVELOPMENT
IN NIGERIA (CONT.)
• Educated Nigerians were not interested in
entrepreneurship mainly because their focus
was on the positions being vacated by
expatriates who were leaving the civil service
to return to their home country. At this time,
the civil service jobs was considered to be
more prestigious than business or
entrepreneurship.
15. ENTREPRENEURSHIP DEVELOPMENT
IN NIGERIA (CONT.)
• At this time, foreigners (GB Olivant, Unilever Plc, Patterson
Zechonics, Leventis, UAC etc) dominated entrepreneurial activities.
Nwachukwu (1990), reported that the United African Company
(UAC) controlled about 41.3% of the total Nigerian import and
export trade had the habit of dealing directly with foreign
producers hence neglected the use of the services of Nigerians.
• Nigerian entrepreneurs engaged primarily in agriculture, fishing,
mining and petty industrial activities such as smelting iron works,
bronze works, and crafts, using leather, wood, raffia, clay etc
complementing the biggest entrepreneur who in this case is the
government. Most enterprises owned by Nigerians quickly failed as
they came up because Nigerian entrepreneurs were less motivated,
they had limited education, they lacked quality managerial skills
16. ENTREPRENEURSHIP DEVELOPMENT
IN NIGERIA (CONT.)
• The development of entrepreneurship in
Nigeria is hinged on the shoulders of the
government who sustained entrepreneurship
development through:
• a. Legislations
• b. Through the creation of agencies
• c. Through intervention programmes
17. PROMOTING ENTREPRENEURSHIP DEVELOPMENT THROUGH
LEGISLATION
• Ekanem (2005), asserts that entrepreneurship development
in Nigeria started with the Immigration Act of 1963 which
made it mandatory for all enterprises in Nigeria to have
indigenous participation of up to 60%. Apart from
technology intensive business ventures, the Act almost
reserved the participation in small scale business for
Nigerians only.
• The idea is entirely, to expose Nigerians to the techniques
of setting up new businesses which eventually would
become big enterprises and subsequently replace public
corporations. It was the first bold step, to encourage
Nigerians to participate in enterprising the country and
providing jobs for themselves and others.
18. PROMOTING ENTREPRENEURSHIP DEVELOPMENT THROUGH
LEGISLATION(CONT.)
Other are:
• a. The Company Decree of 1968 which also compelled all foreign businesses to
be registered and incorporated as Nigerian Companies. It aims at
accelerating industrialization and dispersal of industries, generate
substantial employment opportunities, promote individual initiatives and
entrepreneurship among the populace, develop and increase export traders,
and complement large scale industries in Nigeria.
• b. The Enterprise Promotion Decree of 1972 which challenged the ingenuity
and inventive ability of Nigerians
• c. The Indigenization Decree of 1977
• d. The Commercialization Decree of 1988
• E. The Privatization decree of 1989
19. PROMOTING ENTREPRENEURSHIP DEVELOPMENT THROUGH THE
ESTABLISHMENT OF AGENCIES
• Apart from legislations, government has created several agencies to
promote entrepreneurship in Nigeria such as:
Entrepreneurship Development Center (EDC),
Centre of Management Development (CMD),
National Directorate of Employment (NDE),
Bank of Industry (BOI) & Bank of Agriculture (BOA),
Nigeria Export-Import Bank (NEXIM),
National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDS),
National Open Apprenticeship Scheme (NOAS),
Industrial Training Fund (ITF),
Small and Medium Enterprises Equity Investment Scheme (SMEEIS) &
The Small and Medium Enterprise Development Association of Nigeria
(SMEDAN) etc.
etc
20. PROMOTING ENTREPRENEURSHIP DEVELOPMENT THROUGH
INTERVENTION PROGRAMMES
• In a bid to develop entrepreneurship, government initiated several intervention
programmes such as:
• The N200 billion MSMEs Development Fund to provide cheap & long term capital
for the MSMEs sub-sector in Nigeria
• The N200 billion Small & Medium Scale Enterprises Guarantee Scheme (SMECGS)
of the CBN designed to promote access to credit by SMEs.
• The Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme (SURE-P)
• The N100 billion Textile Revival Fund (TRF) for the resuscitation of the cotton,
textile and garment Industries
• The Public Works and Women/Youth Empowerment Scheme (PW/WYE) was
launched to create immediate employment opportunities for women and youths
in labour-intensive public works
21. PROMOTING ENTREPRENEURSHIP DEVELOPMENT THROUGH
INTERVENTION PROGRAMMES (CONT.)
• The Graduate Internship Scheme (GIS)
• The Youth Enterprise with Innovation in Nigeria (YouWIN) – an annual Business Plan Competition
designed to provide equity grant of N1 to N10 million to 1,200 aspiring young entrepreneurs in
Nigeria. It aimed at generating some 80,000 to 110,000 new jobs for in a three-year period.
• The Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL) - developed to
boost access to bank financing for agriculture by de-risking the agricultural and financial value
chains through the adoption of risk sharing approaches.
• The Niger Delta Amnesty Training Programme designed to boost capacity the Niger Delta people
• The Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF) was established to promote and upgrade
petroleum technology and manpower development through research and training of Nigerians as
graduates, professionals, technicians and craftsmen in the fields of engineering, geology, geo-
sciences, management, economics and relevant fields in the petroleum and solid minerals sectors
in Nigeria and other countries of the world.
• The N200 billion Commercial Agriculture Credit Scheme (CACS) finances large ticket projects along
the agricultural value chain
22. CHALLENGES OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP
DEVELOPMENT IN NIGERIA
• Just like all other developing countries, the growth of
entrepreneurship in Nigeria is confronted with several
challenges which include but are not limited to:
• a. Availability and Source of Start-up Capital
• b. Poor Enabling/Operating Business Environment
• c. Managerial Skills
• d. Lack of Infrastructure
• e. The right type of education
• f. Poor knowledge of science, technology and innovation
23. WAY FORWARD
• The solutions to the challenges of
entrepreneurship development in Nigeria lies
in both the hands of government and the
potential entrepreneur. This therefore follows
that I will discuss the way forward in two
folds:
a. The government
b. The potential entrepreneur
24. WAY FORWARD –
FROM GOVERNMENT ANGLE
a. Government should create an enabling environment that
encourages people to enterprise. Such as:
• An effective criminal justice system
• Ease of business registration
• Strong patent laws
• Providing incentives to encourage start-up
• should de-emphasize Class A security (fixed asset)”as
collateral.
• Should encourage the consumption of locally produced goods
by patronizing local entrepreneurs
• Government should provide adequate business information
25. WAY FORWARD –
FROM GOVERNMENT ANGLE (CONT.)
• b. Government should create opportunities for entrepreneurs.
One of the most critical attribute which differentiate an
entrepreneur from others is his/her ability to identify viable
business opportunities to take advantage of
Opportunities are the extent of possibilities for a new venture to
exist. Entrepreneurship depend on the extent of opportunities
available in a given society.
Opportunities can be created by government policies and other
environmental activities. Entrepreneurial opportunities are more
abundant in a free market economy where potential entrepreneurs
have to face limited entry barriers.
26. WAY FORWARD –
FROM GOVERNMENT ANGLE (CONT.)
• Government should develop enterprise pack systems - business
cluster and technology parks to encourage entrepreneurs to
venture
• Government should create more accessible financial options for the
informal sector as well as sustainable interventions programmes to
spur entrepreneurship
• Government should provide effective Business Development
Service (BDS) through private BDS providers
• Government should reward and recognize entrepreneurs publicly
27. WAY FORWARD –
FROM POTENTIAL ENTREPRENEUR ANGLE
a. Develop the ability to identify and generate a viable business
idea:
A good business opportunity may not necessarily be a viable
business opportunity. An idea may be wonderful but the
competition is so much making the idea not worth pursuing (NOT
VIABLE). Viable ideas have the under mentioned characteristics:
i. Has Real Demand
ii. Is competitive
iii. Has acceptable Return on Investment
iv. Availability and affordability of raw material
v. Skills required must be available
vi. Capital requirement must be available
vii. Infrastructure to support it must be available
28. WAY FORWARD –
FROM POTENTIAL ENTREPRENEUR ANGLE
(CONT.)
b. Develop the Right Mindset:
Having the right mindset is as important as having the right opportunities.
Entrepreneurship begins with the mind. Entrepreneurial mindset is the way
entrepreneurs think especially about business and its opportunities and how the
act or behave to take advantage of the opportunity and get the best out of it.
The right mindset is that which hungers to succeed, which is self motivating and
passionate about its goals while the right opportunities is that which is viable
(practicable), profitable and sustainable. This kind of mindset is called the
growth mindset.
Characteristics of Growth mindset:
• Risk taking: before rejecting a risk, they think about the opportunities
• Creativity – the become creative by thinking creatively
• They are self starters – work independently
• High internal locus of control – they take responsibilities for actions
• They are opportunity seekers
• They are determined to succeed
29. WAY FORWARD –
FROM POTENTIAL ENTREPRENEUR ANGLE
(CONT.)
c. The potential entrepreneur must develop the Propensity to Enterprise as
well as the Ability to Enterprise
The propensity to enterprise is the natural inclination to venture into
business. These natural inclinations include the psychological and
behavioural characteristics such as:
a. High needs for achievements,
b. Capacity to innovate/create
c. Risk taking
d. Goal setting
f. Need for independence
g. Self confidence etc.
• It is a normal believe, that those with very high urge for excellence,
wiliness to take measurable risk and the desire to be independent are
more likely to become entrepreneurs because they are more able to
perceive the opportunities available in the environment and are more able
to turn opportunities into profitable ventures.
30. WAY FORWARD –
FROM POTENTIAL ENTREPRENEUR ANGLE
(CONT.)
• On the other hand, the ability to enterprise refers
to the totality of the technical know-how and
business capabilities which is required to start
and nurture a new business. The technical know-
how refer to a potential entrepreneurs technical
capabilities or skills relevant to execute a chosen
business opportunity while business capabilities
refers knowledge, skills and competences in
functional business areas such as planning,
product development, marketing, accounting,
finance etc.
31. WAY FORWARD –
FROM POTENTIAL ENTREPRENEUR ANGLE
(CONT.)
d. Ability to source funds for a start-up: Having the right opportunity,
the right mindset, high propensity to enterprise and high ability to
enterprise without finance is frustrating. A potential entrepreneur
must figure out the best way to fund his/her start-up. Most start-
ups begin with:
•
• a. Personal Savings
• b. Funds from Friends and family
• c. Starting with a partner who is a co-equity contributor
• d. Business Grants
• e. Commercial Banks
• f. DFI’s
• g. Lease Financing
32. CONCLUSION AND SUMMARY
• Entrepreneurship is essential for rapid and sustained economic growth
and development. It creates the required man power and skills necessary
for accelerated growth, reduce unemployment and poverty. It is therefore
strategic and wise for Nigeria to assign a significant and increasing role to
entrepreneurship in their effort to revamp the economy.
• For the entrepreneurs to be effective in creating wealth and employment
opportunities, the government needs to create an investor-friendly
environment encompassing stable macro-economic policies government
needs to address urgently the dilapidated infrastructural facilities in the
country, starting with the power sector, roads and railways, provide
adequate security as well as providing financial support to innovative
ideas to translate such ideas into reality.
