CONTINUE
The study examines entrepreneurship as a tool for sustainable employment. The study assumes that the high level of unemployment among the young population has become a social threat, especially since the often expected office jobs after school are no longer available. The study used primary and secondary data collected from 100 respondents using a questionnaire distributed among deliberately selected respondents from the Oshodi/Isolo industrial area. A total of 100 questionnaires were duly completed and returned for analysis. Using an appropriate statistical analysis tool such as the chi-square research technique, the data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). The result obtained showed that there is evidence of the impact of business development leading to job creation for unemployed youth in the Oshodi/Isolo industrial area. This is not without its attendant challenges given the large number of unemployed in the country. Therefore, the study recommended that the government strive to increase the number of business development-based training centers in the Oshodi/Isolo industrial area in order to attract an adequate number of unemployed youth.
CHAPTER ONE
INITIATION
1.1 Background to the study
Many academics have written extensively on entrepreneurship and its potential to create jobs, underscoring the essence, importance and relevance of this sub-sector to the development of a particular economy. The experiences of developed economies regarding the role of entrepreneurship reinforce the fact that the importance of entrepreneurship, particularly in developing countries, cannot be overstated. Entrepreneurship has been variously referred to as a "source of job creation" to emphasize its importance for the growth and development of a given economy. It has been established that entrepreneurial activities can have a positive impact on a nation's economy and people's quality of life (Adejumo, 2000). Studies have noted its positive relationship to stimulating economic growth; job creation; and empowerment of the disadvantaged segment of the population, which includes women and the poor (Oluremi and Gbenga, 2011; Thomas and Mueller, 2000; Reynolds, 1987).
Nigeria as a country has numerous business and investment potentials due to its abundant, vibrant and dynamic human and natural resources. Harnessing these resources requires the ability to identify potentially useful and commercially viable areas of activity. Nigerians have made a name for themselves in various fields such as science, technology, academia and business.
Thus, entrepreneurial activities and innovative ingenuity in Nigeria have developed companies in the following fields. Agricultural/agricultural related activities with food products, restaurants, fast food sales, etc. In the solid mineral field, there are quarrying, seed stone cutting/polishing and crushing. In Energy and Transportation, there is power generation, transportation business (cargo and passengers). The information and telecommunications business area includes the manufacture and repair of GSM accessories as well as the printing and sale of charge cards. In the hospitality and tourism industry, there are hotels, lodging, resorts, film production and home video; In the oil and gas business, there is construction and maintenance of oil pipelines, drilling and refining of by-products. In the environmental and waste management business area, there are jobs in the areas of waste collection/disposal, recycling and drainage/canal construction. In the area of financial banking services, there are banking, insurance and stock exchange services. In the machine and manufacturing industry there is machine and tool construction. There is also building and construction, which involves planning and design services and the supply of materials (Agbeze, 2012).
Entrepreneurial activities and innovative ingenuity in Nigeria have developed businesses in sectors such as agriculture/agribusiness, solid minerals, transportation, information and telecommunications, hospitality and tourism, construction, etc. According to Anyadike, Emeh and Ukah (2012), these people are Despite natural resources, Nigeria remains one of the poorest countries in the world and has one of the highest youth unemployment rates in sub-Saharan Africa. Compared to the previous sad and deplorable situation, the government has done little to alleviate the misery and frustration of the citizens. This has imposed a state of hopelessness on most people, young and old, who have resorted to any means, including crime, to succeed in life. They resort to vices because they are not profitable. In other words, they are unemployed; unemployed, not because they lack qualifications, but because the system is politically, economically, socioculturally and even religiously paralyzed (Chidiebere, Iloanya & Udunze, 2014).
They further noted that the need for business development in the country today is necessitated by the fact that business development is an important factor in job creation and economic growth and development, as well as in permanently curing hunger and extreme poverty that requires unemployment . In Niger, many youth are still unemployed and many of them have engaged in various commercial and social vices such as armed robbery, prostitution, bullying, kidnapping, drug addiction, etc. However, in response, the government has developed a series of enterprise development programs to captivate the youth and keep them away from all these social ills by creating jobs for them by empowering them to have a better economic life.
1.2 Issue
The high unemployment rate in Nigeria today has confirmed the need for business development. In the words of Osinbajo (2014), to be among the nations of the world, sub-Saharan Africa must be able to play an important role in entrepreneurship and employment development. Most importantly, young people are the engine that will drive development and transformation. They are an important aspect of a nation's industrial growth and development. Since the 1980s, unemployment has been one of the most carcinogenic socio-economic problems impeding the progress of Nigeria as a nation and sub-Saharan Africa. Unemployment appears to be one of the main causes of social ills such as fraud, kidnapping, armed robbery, homelessness, prostitution, terrorism, political vandalism, etc. With a labor force of around 3 million people entering the labor market each year, unemployment for those aged 15 and over has been years was estimated at 3.8% and youth unemployment at a percentage in 2006 (Osibanjo, 2014). Therefore, it is certain that a good businessman can create a strong economy.
However, the experiences of developed economies such as China and the United States of America on the role played by entrepreneurship demonstrate that the importance of entrepreneurship, particularly in developing countries, cannot be overstated. Entrepreneurship has been variously referred to as a "source of job creation" to emphasize its importance for the growth and development of a given economy. Because it has been established that entrepreneurial activities can have a positive impact on a nation's economy and people's quality of life (Adejumo, 2015). According to Onyenebo and Ezeano (2011), entrepreneurship plays multiple roles in the economy, in society and in development in general. In fact, without enterprise development, all factors of production (labour, land and capital) would become inefficient and unproductive. They are the result of entrepreneurial decisions and open to entrepreneurship. Individual entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial teams bring to light the resources, technologies and business opportunities that enable economic development. Whenever entrepreneurs discover the availability and potential economic value of new resources, they actually bring those resources to life in economic terms and also expand the workspaces available for young people to explore (Kirzner, 2012).
In Lagos, successive state governments have launched concerted enterprise development efforts with the aim of creating jobs through self-employment initiatives. In the eastern part of the state, many training programs and activities have been started to empower youth and women in the Senate district. These business development training courses include tailoring, carpentry, fish farming, poultry farming and snail farming, among others. In this context, this study attempts to explore the impact analysis of enterprise development on job creation in Lagos State, Nigeria.
1.3 Research Questions
The research questions that will guide this study are the following;
- What significant impact does the business development have on job creation in the Oshodi/Isolo industrial area?
- To what extent have economic development programs created jobs in the Oshodi/Isolo business park?
- How efficient are the business development centers in the Oshodi/Isolo industrial estate?
- What are the restrictions for business development in the Oshodi/Isolo industrial area?
1.4 Study Objectives
The main objective of this study is to examine the impact of business development on job creation in the Oshodi/Isolo industrial area. The objectives include in particular the following; a:
- Find out about the impact of entrepreneurship development on job creation in the Oshodi/Isolo industrial area.
- Discover the efficiency of the business development centers in the Oshodi/Isolo industrial zone
- Investigate the constraints on business development in the Oshodi/Isolo industrial area
1.5 Importance of the study
Given the devastating and far-reaching effects of unemployment in Nigeria and its potential to provide jobs for the army of the unemployed and also to generate the economic activities needed to stimulate economic growth, the importance of a business development study cannot be overstated. The outcome of this study is expected to provide the Government and Ministry of Economic Planning with a basic understanding of the dynamics of tackling unemployment under Nigeria's new entrepreneurship promotion programs and provide an option for appropriate policy adoption to address the challenges to tackle that raises the headstand
1.6 Scope of the Study
This study examines the impact analysis of enterprise development policies implemented by the Lagos State Government and other state government branches to help create jobs for the unemployment army. In this study, the dependent variable is job creation, while the independent variable is business development initiatives, programs, and policies. It is expected that as business development initiatives, programs and policies develop, more employment opportunities will be created for gainful employment in Nigeria.
1.7 Operational Definition of Terms
The keywords listed below would be operationally defined for the purposes of this study:
- Impact: It is a process that involves evaluating the impact of a thing or event with the aim of making a decision about the outcome.
- Entrepreneurial: Refers to a person's ability to identify an existing problem for which offering a solution may spark a viable business idea that, with appropriate funding, will legitimately pursue and benefit from it.
- Job Creation: refers to the creation of job opportunities for a host of unemployed people, especially young people, through enterprise development.
- Empowerment: It is about any art that aims to make an individual economically and financially independent.
- Development: is the gradual enlargement of a thing or phenomenon from its current state to a better or higher state.
- Small and Medium Businesses: These are trading companies that require little or little capital to start them up.
- Unemployment: refers to people who can and want to work but cannot find the opportunity to do so.