ENTREPRENEURS’ RATING OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP SKILLS NEEDED BY BUSINESS EDUCATION GRADUATES FOR EFFECTIVE MANAGEMENT OF SMALL SCALE BUSINESSES IN ANAMBRA STATE

Abstract

The study determined entrepreneurs’ ratings of entrepreneurship skills needed by business education graduates for effective management of small scale businesses in Anambra State. Three research questions and three null hypotheses guided the study. The design of the study was descriptive survey with a population of 322 registered small scale entrepreneurs in the study area. The purposive sampling technique was used to select a sample size of 97 entrepreneurs. A structured questionnaire containing 30 items validated by three experts in the field of business education and measurement and evaluation was used for data collection. Reliability of the instrument was determined through pilot test. Cronbach alpha formula was used to measure the internal consistency of the instrument, and data analysis yielded coefficient values of 0.79, 0.85 and 0.82 for clusters B1 to B3 with an overall co-efficient of 0.82 obtained. Mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions and to determine the homogeneity of the respondents’ ratings respectively while the t-test was used to test the hypotheses. Findings revealed that entrepreneurs in Anambra State strongly agree that selfmotivation skills are needed by business education graduates for effective management of small scale businesses while they agree that innovative and financial management skills are needed by business education graduate. The findings also showed that years of experience did not significantly influence entrepreneurs’ ratings on the three skills covered. Based on the findings, the researchers recommended among others that, business education graduates who are already into small scale businesses but possess little of or none of these identified entrepreneurship skills should seek additional skill acquisition trainings to up-date their skills. This will help them to become more effective managers of small scale businesses