INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF TECHNOLOGY ENHANCEMENTS AND EMERGING ENGINEERING RESEARCH, VOL 3, ISSUE 09
ISSN 2347-4289
112
Investigating The Relationship Between
Entrepreneurship Development And Poverty
Reduction In Rural Communities In Edo State,
Nigeria
Ebele Mary Onwuka, Kelechi Enyinna Ugwu, Joy Itoya, Ngozi Margret Okeke
Department of Business Administration, Nnamdi Azikiwe University Awka, Nigeria.
Department of Financial Management Technology, Federal University of Technology Owerri, Nigeria.
Department of Business Administration, Odimegwu Ojukwu University, Nigeria.
Email: ebyonwuka@gmail.com
ABSTRACT: This paper investigates the relationship between entrepreneurship development and poverty reduction in rural communities in Edo State
Nigeria. Taro Yamani‟s statistical technique was used to calculate the sample size of the population. Stratified random sampling was used to distribute
the survey questionnaires, out of the 215 questions distributed to the respondents, only 211 were completed and returned back for data analysis. SPSS
version 20 software were employed using Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) to analyze the data and compare different population of mean existing within
the groups and between the groups at five point-likert scale of strongly agreed, agree, undecided, disagree and strongly disagree. The result of analysis
revealed that F- calculated (1270.644) is greater than F- tabulated (2.53) thereby rejecting the null hypothesis and accepts the alternative hypothesis
that, there is significant relationship between entrepreneurship development initiative and poverty reduction in the rural areas in Edo State, Nigeria. The
result of study also showed that entrepreneurship initiative has translated positively towards poverty reduction in rural communities through jobs
creation, development of rural areas, establishment of small and medium size enterprises, youth empowerment through soft loan provided by federal
government of President Good Luck Jonathan‟s You-Win Program among others. The following recommendations were made; government of Nigeria
should strengthen macroeconomic policies such as judiciary to prosecute corrupt government officials that loot government treasury. Secondly,
government abandoned project should be recycled and resuscitated to avoid huge waste of resources and time wasted. Thirdly, there should be need
for both government and private sector partnership through Private-Partnership Project (PPP) to complete most abandoned government projects such
as skills and acquisition centres. This will help to achieve greater sustainability and economic growth in the country.
Keywords : Entrepreneurship Initiative; Rural Communities; Edo State; Poverty; Scientific Package on Social Science (SPSS).
1. INTRODUCTION
In Nigeria, more than sixty percent of the population lives in
the rural areas. In spite of this, developmental efforts have
been concentrated in the urban areas to the neglect of the
rural areas thereby making life very difficult for the rural
dwellers. Provisions of social amenities such as roads,
electricity
and
water
supply,
sanitation,
etc
are
disproportionately handled at all levels of government between
the urban and rural dichotomy in favor of the urban areas. As
a result, the rural dwellers, especially the young school
leaver‟s and graduates from tertiary institution have continued
to migrate from the rural to urban areas to enjoy social
amenities which the rural areas cannot offer as well as seek
job opportunities which are presumed to be available in the
urban areas. Entrepreneurship is about self-employment, selfhelp through creativity and innovation identifying an
opportunity related to needs and converting it to a thing
(product or service) of value (Soyibo, 2008). Rural
entrepreneurship development programme have become a
relatively new and important research subject across the
globe. Many researchers are of the view that supporting small
and medium business in rural areas is the needed
development strategy to fight against poverty, especially in the
developing countries. Some experts are of the view that for
economic development to become a success story the new
business in rural areas must be put in place through local
initiatives and that entrepreneurship is critical to the
maintenance of a healthy economy. Malecki (2003), the World
Bank new strategy that was launched in 2002 called it
reaching out to the poor. Another perception is that some
cultures or some social groups are more conducive
entrepreneurial behavior than others. According to this view,
the factors that contribute to the supply of entrepreneurs are
an inheritance of entrepreneurial tradition, family position,
social status, educational background and the level of
education. Based on research into the origins of business
owners, it is believed that persons who come from small
business owner families are more likely to become
entrepreneurs than others. Studies of family position of exiting
entrepreneurs demonstrate that entrepreneurs are often found
among elder children, since according to the explanation they
are pressed to take more authority and responsibility at earlier
stages than younger members of the family. The outsider
group, ethnic minority or the outsider individual the marginal
person who are by a combination of different factors rendered
outsiders in relation to the social groups with whom they
normally interact are both viewed as a significant source of
entrepreneurship. This Study is therefore designed to assess
the extent entrepreneurship development can be used to
develop rural communities and reduce mass poverty (Malecki,
2003). The major problem identified in this study is high
poverty rate in rural communities; the case of Edo state cannot
be overemphasized. According to publication by (IFAD, 2005),
about 900 million people living in rural areas are poor, some of
them depend substantially on agriculture and related activities
for their livelihoods. In fact, it has become a reality that the
millennium poverty target cannot be met unless the world
addresses rural poverty. According to CBN (2011), the living
standard of those living in rural areas is worrisome and some
of the viable programmes of government that would have
enhanced their living standard could not see the light of the
day. Numerous programmes were put in place which aimed at
Copyright © 2015 IJTEEE.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF TECHNOLOGY ENHANCEMENTS AND EMERGING ENGINEERING RESEARCH, VOL 3, ISSUE 09
ISSN 2347-4289
reducing the rate of unemployment and poverty but more than
90% of them have been without significant impacts on the
conditions of the people. There are many micro and small
business in Esan West Local Government Area but the
problem is that the contribution of these wide range of
entrepreneurial initiatives are seriously impaired by the
dysfunctional government policies designed to enhance the
performance of entrepreneur (Sanusi, 2012). This study
therefore
was
designed
principally
to
examine
entrepreneurship potentials for opening up rural communities
and to determine measures that can make entrepreneurship
effective in improving the living conditions of the rural populace
in Nigeria. Owing to the problems identified above, objective of
study is necessitated which investigates the relationship
between entrepreneurship development and poverty reduction
in rural communities in Esan West Local Government Area of
Edo State, Nigeria. Again, to fulfill study objective, the following
research questions were formulated to guide the study.
(i) To what extent does entrepreneurship development
initiative leads to poverty reduction in the rural
communities?
(ii) To what extent does the internal and external factor affect
entrepreneurship initiative development and the
performance of entrepreneurs in the rural communities?
In the light of this, the following hypotheses were formulated to
guide the study as;
Hypothesis 1
HO: There is no significant relationship
entrepreneurship development initiative and
reduction in the rural areas.
H1:
There
is
significant
relationship
entrepreneurship development initiative and
reduction in the rural areas.
between
poverty
between
poverty
2 REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATUR
In this section, works related to this study were reviewed along
the following sub-headings: conceptual review, relationship
between entrepreneurship development initiative and poverty
reduction in rural communities, perceived constraints that
prevent entrepreneurship from contributing effectively to the
development of rural communities, empirical review and
theoretical framework.
2.1 Conceptual Review
Several definitions have been offered to entrepreneurship and
in each definition, a particular area of the concept has always
been highlighted. For instance, defining entrepreneurship as
risk taking neglects other major elements of what we usually
think of as entrepreneurship, such as a well – developed
ability to recognize unexploited market opportunities. Again,
defining it as stabilizing force limits entrepreneurship to
reading market disequilibra, while entrepreneurship defined as
owning and operating a business, denies the concept the
possibility of entrepreneurial behaviour by non-owner
managers who have no equity stake in the business (Petrin,
1994). However, Kanothi (2009) has defined entrepreneur as
the „instigator of entrepreneurial events ‟. Acs and Szerb
(2007) noted that entrepreneurship revolves around the
realization of existence of opportunities in combination with
decision to commercialize them by starting a new firm. This
reasoning is what Thornto (1999) called demand and supply
perspectives of entrepreneurship discourse. In trying to offer a
113
definition that can properly fit into the rural development
context of entrepreneurship, entrepreneurship has been
defined as “a force that mobilizes other resources to meet
unmet market demands”, “the ability to create and build
something from practically nothing” (Jones and Sakong,
1980), “and the process of creating value by pulling together a
unique package of resources to exploit an opportunity”
(Timmons, 1989 & Stevenson, 1985).
2.2 Relationship between Entrepreneurship
Development Initiative and Poverty Reduction in
Rural Areas
Expert‟s opinion is increasing daily in terms of recognizing the
importance of entrepreneurs in economic growth. According to
Saxena
(2012),
rural
entrepreneurship
implies
entrepreneurship emerging in rural areas. The first to link
economic growth and development through the development
of rural entrepreneurship was Schumpeter (1934). The author
noted that entrepreneurship has great potentials to empower
people at the community level. The same author observed
further
that
many
examples
of
successful rural
entrepreneurship can already be found in literature.
Diversification into activities other than those solely related to
agricultural usage, for example, the use of resources other
than land such as water, woodlands, buildings available skills
and local features, all fit into rural entrepreneurship. Sexena
(2012) was also concerned with entrepreneurial combinations
of these resources which are for example; tourism, sports and
recreation, hospitality facilities, professional and technical
training, retailing and wholesaling, industrial applications
(engineering, crafts), servicing consultancy), value added
(products from meat, milk, wood, etc.) and the possibility of offfarm work. Equally, entrepreneurial activities are new uses of
land that enable a reduction in the intensity of agricultural
production, for example, organic production. Two things stand
out here:
1. Better distributions of farm produce resulting in rural
prosperity.
2. Rural entrepreneurial occupation for the growth which
results in reduction of disguised employment and
alternative occupation for rural youth.
According to Global Entrepreneurship Monitor Report (GEMR,
2005; Cited in Sexena, 2012), about 70 percent of an area‟s
economic
performance
is
dependent
upon
how
entrepreneurial the area‟s economy is. In a related
development, studies conducted by Economic Commission for
Latin America and Caribbean (ECLAC) and Food and
Agricultural Organization (FAO, 2006; Cited in Sexena, 2012)
in the Latin America and Caribbean regions, have indicated
that rural enterprises can be an important modernizing agent
for small agriculture. Governments have supported his process
by creating incentives for agro-industry to invest in such
regions. This has not only been in developing countries, but it
has also been a clear policy of the European Union (EU)
which channels a large part of the total common budget to
develop the backward and poor regions of Europe. Lyson
(1995) echoes the prospects of small-enterprise framework as
a possible rural development strategy that works, for
economically disadvantaged communities and provides this
description of the nature of small-scale flexibly specialized
firm: First, these businesses would provide product for local
consumption that are not readily available in the mass market.
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INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF TECHNOLOGY ENHANCEMENTS AND EMERGING ENGINEERING RESEARCH, VOL 3, ISSUE 09
ISSN 2347-4289
Second, small-scale technically sophisticated enterprises
would be able to fill the niches markets in the national
economy that are too small for mass producers. Third, small,
craft-based, flexibly specialized enterprises can alter
production quickly to exploit changing market conditions”.
According to study conducted in the United State, it was found
that rural poverty has become intense as that found in the
inner cities, and has stubbornly resisted a variety of attempts
at mitigation through economic development policies. The
talent strategy for addressing this problem is the
encouragement of emerging “home-grown” enterprises in rural
communities. The expectations are that these new ventures
will: a) provide jobs or at least self-employment; b) remain in
the areas where they were spawned as they grow: and c) will
export their goods and services outside the community,
attracting much needed income (Lyons, 2002). Gavian, et al.
(2002) in a study commissioned to determine the importance
of SME development in rural employment in Egypt, have
suggested that SMEs are traditionally thought of as well
poised to respond to increased demand by creating jobs. It is
therefore important to stress here that rural entrepreneurship
in its substance does not differ from entrepreneurship in urban
areas. Entrepreneurship in rural areas is finding a unique
blend of resources either inside or outside of agriculture. The
economic goals of an entrepreneur and the social goals of
rural development are more strongly inter linked than in urban
areas. For this reason, entrepreneurship in rural areas is
usually community based, and has strong extended family
linkages and a relatively large impact on a rural community
(OECD, 1999). Entrepreneurial, orientation to rural
development, contrary to development based on bringing in
human capital and investment from outside, is based on
stimulating local entrepreneurial talent and subsequent growth
of indigenous companies. This in turn would create jobs and
add economic value to a region and community and at the
same time keep scare resources within the community. To
accelerate economic development in rural areas, it is
necessary to increase the supply of entrepreneurs in rural
areas, it is necessary to increase the supply of entrepreneurs,
thus building up the critical mass of first generation
entrepreneurs (Petrin, 1994). These set of entrepreneurs will
take risks and engage in the uncertainties of a new venture
creation, crate something from practically nothing and create
values by pulling together a unique package of resources to
exploit and opportunity. By their examples, they will stimulate
an autonomous entrepreneurial process, as well as a dynamic
entrepreneurship, thereby ensuring continuous rural
development.
2.3 Perceived Constraints that Prevent Entrepreneurs
from Contributing Effectively to the Development of
Rural Communities.
Entrepreneurship researches have established relationships
between the business environment and entrepreneurial
activities (Dobbin and Dowd, 1997; Borkowski and Kulzick,
2006; Carter and Wilton, 2006). The effective manifestation of
the functions and roles of entrepreneurship in socio-economic
development have often been attributed to the presence of
certain factors in the external environment of the entrepreneur
over which he has little or no control. Borkowski and Kulzick
(2006) lists the interplay between entrepreneurship and
environment as follows:
a) New venture strategies are formed in response to
b)
c)
114
environmental forces;
Entrepreneurs are negative towards and will resist
political interference; and
Unstable economic, social and even political
environments are negatively related to growth
opportunities.
Equally, other studies in this area have identified various
environmental factors, which some have tagged external
factors. Principal among the factors identified are influences of
firms, influences of markets (Thomtorn, 1999); public policies
(Dobbin and Dowd, 1997); regulations and policies (Baumol,
1990); and physical infrastructure (Agboli and Ukaegbu,
2006). Some scholars have gone ahead to particularize or
associate environmental needs to the level of economic
development. For example, Agboli and Ukaegbe (2006)
emphasized the imperatives of physical infrastructure of other
external factors in their study of Nigerian entrepreneurs.
Table 1: Perception of Nigerian Entrepreneurs to
Infrastructure Services
S/N
INFRASTRUCTURE
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
Electricity
Water
Road Network
Water Disposal
Telecommunication
Security (Police)
Trucking Services
Postal Service
Air Freight Services
MAJOR
PROBLEM (%)
92
85
79
73
69
66
51
27
12
Sources: (Agboli & Ukaegbu, 2006).
The World Bank (2005), as part of its findings in a study on
problems encountered in Doing Business across the globe
states that:
1. Businesses in poor countries face much large regulatory
burdens than those in rich countries. They face three
times the administrative cost, and nearly twice as many
bureaucratic procedures and always associated with
them. And they have fewer than half the protections of
property rights of rich countries.
2. Heavy regulation and weak property rights exclude the
poor from doing business. In poor countries, about 40% of
the economy is informal. Women, young and low-skilled
workers are often hurt.
The World Bank‟s Doing Business report quotes Nigeria as
ranking 108 among the 178economies compared. The report
finds many Sub-Saharan countries like Mauritius, Botswana,
Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya and South Africa more business
friendly than Nigeria. Where other economies as in developed
world may be talking of industry specific needs, Nigeria is still
grappling with needs that are basic to entrepreneurial activity
irrespective of the sector of the economy. For example, Idehen
(2007) contends that the greatest challenge that our business
and other in Nigeria are facing is inadequate infrastructure. Of
course, a lot of people have explained how lack of basic
infrastructure greatly after businesses. But the truth remains
that the relevant agencies of government have no idea how
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INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF TECHNOLOGY ENHANCEMENTS AND EMERGING ENGINEERING RESEARCH, VOL 3, ISSUE 09
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monstrous the problem is. This situation is even worst in the
rural areas. In the transport sector, business operators
(entrepreneurs) usually spend a lot of money whenever their
vehicles travel from one part of the locality to another because
of the very bad state of the roads. Power supply is the worst.
The money spent on acquisition and maintenance of
alternative source of power can start a business of its own and
employ a lot of people. The World Bank (2008) Doing
Business report still argues that the most pressing needs of
the Nigerian entrepreneurial environment are physical
infrastructure, credit facilities and favourable tax policy. Eboh
(2007) had also acknowledged that multiple taxes levied by
the three tiers of government have also become a burden
because the mode of collection happens to be the worst in the
world. Still on the external factors, Vaessen and Keable (1995)
have noted that the external environment in more remote rural
areas particularly, presents challenges for SMEs, which they
need to adapt to if they are to survive and grow. These include
the limited scale and scope of local market opportunities which
make it necessary for firms to be particularly active in
developing non-local markets if they are to grow. Another is
severe competition from large firms and urban entrepreneurs.
They incur high cost of production due to high input cost.
Major problems faced by marketers are the problem of
standardization and competition from large scale units. They
face the problem in fixing the standards and sticking to them.
Competition from large scale units also creates difficulty, for
the survival of new ventures. New ventures have limited
financial resources and hence cannot afford to spend more on
sales promotion. These units don‟t have any standard brand
name under which they can sell their products. Therefore, it
becomes necessary for them to come up with new advert
strategies which the rural people can easily understand. But
there is also the problem of illiteracy. The literacy rate among
the rural consumers is very low. So there is a problem of
communication also (Vaessen & Keable, 1995). Other
problems, though internal to the firms, are the lack of IT
knowledge. Information technology is not very common in rural
areas. Entrepreneurs rely on internal linkages that encourage
flow of goods and services, information and ideas. The
intensity of family and personal relationships in rural
communities can sometimes be helpful but may also present
obstacles to effective business relationships. Business deals
may receive less than rigorous objectivity and intercommunity
rivalries may reduce the scope for regional cooperation.
Decision making process and lines of authority are mostly
blurred by local politics in rural areas (RUPRS, 2005). Also,
rural entrepreneurs find it extremely difficult in complying with
various legal formalities in obtaining licenses due to illiteracy
and ignorance. Procurement of raw materials may also face
the problem of storage and warehousing. They also suffer a
severe problem of lack of technical knowledge. Lack of
training facilities and extension services create hurdle for the
development of rural entrepreneurship. Another serious
problem that hinders the growth of rural entrepreneurship is
the interior quality of products produced due to lack of
availability of standard tools and equipment and poor quality of
raw materials. It has equally been found that low skill level of
workers and the lure of urban amenities are serious draw
backs for the entrepreneurs in the rural areas. According to
Zimet et al. (2009), most of the entrepreneurs of rural areas
are unable to find workers with high skills. Turnover rates are
also high in this case as a result of the lure of urban social
115
amenities. The workers have to be provided with on the job
training and their training is generally a serious problem for
entrepreneur as they are mostly uneducated and they have to
be taught in local language which they understand easily. The
industries in rural areas are not only established just to take
advantage of cheap labor but also to bring about an integrated
rural
development. Another
crucial
factor
against
entrepreneurship in the rural areas is the negative attitude.
The environment in the family, society and support system is
not conductive to encourage rural people to take up
entrepreneurship as a career. It may be due to lack of
awareness and knowledge of entrepreneurial opportunities.
The young and well educated mostly tend to leave. As per
circumstances, rural people by force may be more selfsufficient than their urban counterparts, but the culture of
entrepreneurship tends to be weak. Continuous motivation is
needed in case of rural employee which is sometimes difficult
for an entrepreneur to impart with (Apata et al, 2010).
2.4 Theoretical Framework
Two theories from different backgrounds both in authorship
and discipline were used to analyze this work. The first is a
psychological theory of a renowned management scientist,
David McClelland who in 1965 showed the functionality of
strong relationship between need for achievement, economic
development and entrepreneurial activities (EAs). He opined
that the entrepreneurship activity is the potent process by
which the need of achievement leads to economic growth.
According to him, one would expect a relatively greater
amount of entrepreneurial activities in the society if the
average level of needs achievement is relatively high among
the people. Nigerians have zeal and enthusiasm for
achievement and are poised to follow ideas to logical success
judging by outstanding performances in all spheres of life, but
on account of lack of enabling environment, an average
Nigerian is disillusioned and developed hatred for the state
(Raimi, 2010).The second theory that provides foundation for
entrepreneurship education or development is the risk-taking
theory of Richard Cantillon and John Stuart Mill. The theory
sees entrepreneurship as a mental education that stimulates
individuals to take moderate or calculated risk for which they
stand to enjoy stream of benefits, and also people taking big
risk have to contend with a great responsibility (Alan &
Hossan, 2003). The traits of creativity, risk-loving, innovation,
strategic thinking and constructive engagement against the
government by discontented Nigerians could a well be
directed to entrepreneurship development (Raimi, 2010). The
import of this theory is that entrepreneurship development or
education improves the ability, capacity and potentials of the
individuals from any given communities to undertake risks for
which they stand to benefit immensely.
2.5 Empirical Review
Adofu and Ocheja (2013) carried out a study on alleviating
poverty through the use of entrepreneurship skill acquisition in
Kogi State, Nigeria. The result of the study showed 65% of the
respondents accepted that lack of entrepreneurship skill
among the youth, especially in the rural areas is responsible
for the high rate of poverty in Nigeria. The result showed also
that at least 60% of the people that benefited from skills
acquisition programme can now afford the basic necessity of
life. In a related development, Amadi and Abdullahi (2012)
reported from their study that a greater percentage of the
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INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF TECHNOLOGY ENHANCEMENTS AND EMERGING ENGINEERING RESEARCH, VOL 3, ISSUE 09
ISSN 2347-4289
sampled youth in the rural areas reported high and moderate
levels of their capacity-building when they were subjected to
capacity building training for self-reliance. Also, Akpana,
Ezang, Asor and Osang (2011), found that acquisition of
vocational skills towards entrepreneurial activities led to a
significant reduction of poverty among young adults. On
entrepreneurship as a tool for rural developments in a study
done by Mansi and Acgla (2013) it was found that maximum
innovations are in field of agriculture, rural energy and
technology based. They notes that rural entrepreneurs have
successfully diversified into or stated new business in markets
as diverse as agro-food, crafts, recycling, leisure and health.
Diversification into non-agriculture uses of available resources
such as catering for tourists, black smiting and carpentry also
fit into rural entrepreneurship (Nanda-War, 2011). Ibrahim
(2010) conducted a study on the role of rural entrepreneurship
in employment generation. The findings show that rural
entrepreneurship has high potential for creating new jobs
considering the vast resources abound in the rural areas. It
further shows that it has the ability to generate more
employment considering the fact that it employs more labourintensive mode of production. However, the noted that one of
the constraint that has hindered the performance of rural
entrepreneurs greatly was near absence of electricity. This has
given room for use of alternative sources which are very costly
to operate thereby making their products uncompetitive in the
market. Avurakoghene (2006) usually found that cost of doing
business generally is too high for the rural environment to
cope with. Various business obligations to government in the
form of registration, tax, custom duties excise duties are great
of burden for entrepreneurs in the rural areas. Although,
several studies have been recorded on this subject of study, a
gap in research has been identified. Previous study conducted
by Adofu and Ocheja (2013) adopted chi-square approach in
data analysis using quantitative research approach. However,
this study analyses data using Analysis of Variance (ANOVA)
and hypothesis is test at 5 % significant level using SPSS
version 20 software to compare different population of mean
existing within the groups and between the groups or
determine the existence of differences among several
population means.
Finally, study is restricted to only
geographical region of rural communities in Edo State, Nigeria
to generalize findings.
3.0 Research method and Materials
In investigating the importance of entrepreneurship on rural
communities in Esan West Local Government Area, the
method and procedure adopted are stated below under the
following sub-leadings; population of the study, instrument of
the study, method of data collection and method of data
116
analysis.
3.1 Population of the Study
The population for the study consists of 153 owner-managers
and 62 paid managers, identified from the directory of
industries in the ministry of commerce and industry, Edo State.
Given the level of study, and the size of the population, the
researcher considered it appropriate to study all the units of
the population in the LGA. Thus the 215 small businesses
across the LGA was the target population of the study.
3.2 Instrument of the Study
The researcher developed an item structured instrument
designed to reflect such options on five point-likert scale with
weight assigned to; strongly agree (SA) = 5 points; Agree (A) =
4 points; Disagree (D) = 3 points; strongly disagree (SD) = 2
points and Undecided (UND) = 1 point, usually referred to as
the modified five (5) points likert scale.
3.3 Method of Data Collection
The researchers adopted direct questionnaire distribution
approach in collecting the data. Choice of this method was
informed by the need to reduce the rate of non-response often
associated with surveys of this nature. This method also
helped the researchers with the opportunity of making
clarifications where necessary. Out of the 215 questionnaire
distributed to the respondents, only 211 were completed and
returned, thus showing total response rate of 98.1%. That is,
148 owner managers and 63 paid managers. Again, this study
adopts stratified random sampling to ensure greater
representativeness of the sample relative to the population
and guarantees that minority constituents of the population are
represented in the sample as proposed by (Nworgu, 2006).
3.4 Method of Data Analysis
The result of this study is analyzed using Analysis of Variance
(ANOVA) in accordance with the work of Fisher in 1923. Again,
it is also called F-test. This is limited to only one-way analysis
of variance. Justification for this, is due to ANOVA is
predominantly used to compare different population of mean
existing within the groups and between the groups or
determine the existence of differences among several
population means. Similarly, both the null and alternate
hypothesis is tested at 5% level of significance and decision
rule also applies to either reject/accept the null or alternate
hypothesis at a point where F-.tabulated value/F-calculated
value is greater than or less than the other.
4
.0 Presentation of Data Analysis
Table 1: Tabulation of Questionnaire Response on Relationship Between Entrepreneurships Development and Poverty
Reduction in Rural Communities in Edo State.
S/N
Item
1
Rural entrepreneurship is synonymous with
rural industrialization
2
Rural entrepreneurship provides opportunity
for rural dwellers thereby reducing
dismissed unemployment.
Alternative Response
SA
AG
DA
SD
UN
Total
70
97
20
14
10
211
85
93
18
10
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211
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF TECHNOLOGY ENHANCEMENTS AND EMERGING ENGINEERING RESEARCH, VOL 3, ISSUE 09
ISSN 2347-4289
Economic boom of any area is a direct
function of number entrepreneurs and
entrepreneurial demand by creating jobs at
least in rural areas.
SMEs are thought of as well poised to
respond to increased demand by creating
jobs at least in rural areas.
The economic goals of an entrepreneur and
the social goals of rural development are
more strongly interlinked than in the urban
areas.
To accelerate the rate of development in an
area, it necessary to increase the supply of
entrepreneurs.
Rural
entrepreneurship
attracts
infrastructures like power and water supply,
roads, bridges, and other social amenities.
Rural entrepreneurship has the capacity to
dispel the concentration of industrial units in
urban areas and promotes regional
development in a balanced.
Rural entrepreneurship can awaken the
rural youth and expose them to various
avenues to adopt entrepreneurship and
promote it as a career to stem rural urban
drift.
Rural entrepreneurs are more likely to
succeed because they used more of labor
intensive production mode.
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
81
101
15
10
4
91
100
10
5
83
90
18
14
79
93
25
10
4
211
87
89
20
10
5
211
90
100
10
5
211
83
90
18
12
8
211
90
101
9
7
4
211
117
211
211
5
6
211
6
Source: (Field Survey, 2014).
Table 2: Tabulation of Questionnaire (Weighted Responses) on Relationship Between Entrepreneurships Development and
Poverty Reduction in Rural Communities in Edo State
S/N
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Item
Rural entrepreneurship is synonymous with
rural industrialization
Rural entrepreneurship provides opportunity
for rural dwellers thereby reducing
dismissed unemployment.
Economic boom of any area is a direct
function of number entrepreneurs and
entrepreneurial demand by creating jobs at
least in rural areas.
SMEs are thought of as well poised to
respond to increased demand by creating
jobs at least in rural areas.
The economic goals of an entrepreneur and
the social goals of rural development are
more strongly interlinked than in the urban
areas.
To accelerate the rate of development in an
area, it necessary to increase the supply of
entrepreneurs.
Rural
entrepreneurship
attracts
infrastructures like power and water supply,
roads, bridges, and other social amenities.
Rural entrepreneurship has the capacity to
dispel the concentration of industrial units in
urban areas and promotes regional
Alternative Response
SA
AG
DA
350
388
60
SD
28
425
372
54
20
405
404
45
20
455
400
30
10
415
360
54
28
395
372
75
20
4
435
356
60
20
5
450
400
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30
12
UN
10
5
4
5
6
5
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF TECHNOLOGY ENHANCEMENTS AND EMERGING ENGINEERING RESEARCH, VOL 3, ISSUE 09
ISSN 2347-4289
118
development in a balanced.
Rural entrepreneurship can awaken the
rural youth and expose them to various
avenues to adopt entrepreneurship and
promote it as a career to stem rural urban
drift.
Rural entrepreneurs are more likely to
succeed because they used more of labor
intensive production mode.
9
10
415
360
54
24
8
450
404
27
14
4
Source: (Field Survey, 2014).
To get the weighted value in Table 2 above, strongly agree (SA) was given the value of = 5; Agree
(AG) = 4; Undecided (UN) =3; Disagree (DA) = 2; Strongly Agree (SA) = 1.
4.1 Method of Data Collection
Ho: There is no significant relationship between entrepreneurship development initiative and poverty reduction in the rural areas.
H1: There is significant relationship between entrepreneurship development initiative and poverty reduction in the rural areas.
Table 3: One Way ANOVA
X
Between Groups
Within Groups
Total
Sum of Squares
1712105.320
15158.600
1727263.920
df
4
45
49
Mean Square
428026.330
336.858
F
1270.644
Sig.
.000
Source: (SPSS Software Version 20).
F- Tabulated value = F 0.05, 4, 45, = 2.53 (at 5% level of significance); F- Calculated= 1270.644
4.1 METHOD OF DATA COLLECTION
Ho: There is no significant relationship
4.2.3 Decision Rule 1
Given the information in table 3 (one way Anova) , when Fcalculated (1270.644) is greater than F- tabulated (2.53), study
rejects the null hypothesis and accepts the alternative
hypothesis that, there is significant relationship between
entrepreneurship development initiative and poverty reduction
in the rural areas in Edo State, Nigeria.
4.3 Analysis and Discussion of Research Results
The result of findings in Anova table 3 above has shown
that the value of F- calculated (1270.644) is greater than Ftabulated (2.53) value at 5% significant level. Given this
situation, decision rule was applied to reject the null
hypothesis which states that, there is no significant
relationship between entrepreneurship development initiative
and poverty reduction in the rural areas and accept the
alternative hypothesis, that there is strong relationship existing
between entrepreneurship development initiative and poverty
reduction in the rural areas in Edo State, Nigeria. Furthermore,
the result of study also show that entrepreneurship initiative
has translated positively towards poverty reduction in rural
communities through jobs creation, establishment of small and
medium size enterprises, youth empowerment through soft
loan provided by federal government through President Good
Luck Jonathan‟s You-Win Program among others. Reflecting
on the literature, it was very obvious that findings of this
research represent the views of the literature proposed by
different scholars. With regards to this, Ibrahim (2010) also
noted that rural entrepreneurship has high potential for
creating new jobs due to vast resources abound in the rural
areas. On the other hand, recent studies by Adofu and Ocheja
(2013) have shown that about 65% of youths in the rural area
without entrepreneurial skills suffer high rate of poverty. They
authors further highlight that about 60% of the youths who
benefited from entrepreneurial orientation were relief from
poverty trap and can afford the basic necessities of life.
Furthermore, the analysis also shows that the development of
entrepreneurship has the potential to affect life positively in the
rural communities especially in Edo State, Nigeria. Apart from
impacting life of people, small and medium enterprise (SME‟s)
have indeed developed rural communities in many ways such
as attracting more investors, increasing rural population, and
halting of rural urban drifts. These have significant effects on
the development of rural communities and economic growth.
5.0 CONCLUSION
From the above research findings discussed, there is positive
relationship existing between entrepreneurship development
initiative and poverty reduction. Therefore, findings agree with
study objective and hypothesis. Both internal and external
factors such as; entrepreneurship programs, provision of loan
and subsidy, tax reduction, access to microfinance projects,
among others have contributed positively towards the
performance of entrepreneurs in Edo State, Nigeria and rural
development. Given the above incentive, the rate of doing
business have increased to great extent and most SME‟s have
thrives in the rural areas which is in line with president
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INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF TECHNOLOGY ENHANCEMENTS AND EMERGING ENGINEERING RESEARCH, VOL 3, ISSUE 09
ISSN 2347-4289
Goodluck Jonathan vision 2020 quest for excellence. On the
contrary, it is expected that most people living in rural
communities suffers a lot due to high rate of poverty and poor
living standard because greater number of people living there
depends extremely on agriculture to sustain their means of
livelihood according to publication by (IFAD, 2005). This is the
major problem identified in this study. However, this study has
identified that a lot of measures have been put in place to
eradicate poor living conditions in both urban and rural
communities due to numerous federal government
programmes put in place to enhance entrepreneurship
development which aimed at reducing the rate of
unemployment and poverty index. Although, due to poor
macroeconomic conditions in the country, small number of
entrepreneurs have suffered in getting access to credit and
other government incentives to promote SME‟s due to
government bureaucratic bottlenecks, high interest rate, lack
of continuity of government abandoned projects and high
corruption in government in giving bribes before getting
anything. To address these problems, the following
recommendations are made.
5.1 Recommendations
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Based on the above conclusions, recommendations are
made in the followings;
The government of Nigeria should strengthen
macroeconomic policies such as judiciary to prosecute
corrupt government officials that loot government treasury.
Most government abandoned project should be recycled
and resuscitated to avoid huge waste of resources and
time wasted.
Again, there should be need for both government and
private sector to partner through Private-Partnership
Project (PPP) to complete most abandoned government
projects such as skills and acquisition centres. This will
help to achieve greater sustainability and economic
growth.
Establishment of monitoring team should be mandated in
every state of the federation to monitor the beneficiaries of
most government funds through You-Win programs. The
entrepreneurs should be visited at their business locations
to evaluate the state of their businesses to ensure
government funds are not diverted for Jumbo projects that
are not feasible and objective.
More establishments of entrepreneurial centres in most
universities and polytechnics in the country to help in
training and discovering of young talented entrepreneurs
to be able to own and manage SME‟s in the future.
Finally, the above recommendations if properly harnessed
would reduce to the bareness minimum the problems of
entrepreneurship development and vice-versa.
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