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Implication of Government Policy and Entrepreneurial Competencies on the Performance of the Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMES) in Lagos State, Nigeria

Onuorah, Ebube Valentine (2022) Implication of Government Policy and Entrepreneurial Competencies on the Performance of the Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMES) in Lagos State, Nigeria. Masters thesis, Dublin, National College of Ireland.

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Abstract

Background: Micro, Small, and Medium-scale Enterprises (MSMEs) are the economic nerve of Nigeria. Since the country’s rising unemployment ratio and unsavourable economic situation since the COVID-19 outbreak, federal and state governments have been implementing programmes that can boost productivity using entrepreneurship as a vehicle. One of these is the training programmes being run by the Lagos State Employment Trust Fund (LSETF), which partners with local and international organizations to train Lagos residents with entrepreneurial skills and support them with an incentive to make them gainfully employed.

Gaps: Few studies have been conducted in Nigeria that look at the implication of government policy and entrepreneurial competencies on the performance of micro, small, and medium scale enterprises in Nigeria, even when they dominate over 80% of businesses operating in Nigeria. Also, no study has looked at the effect of government programs, especially state governments, on the performance of businesses that benefit from the programmes. It is because of the need to fill this gap that this research was conducted.

Methodology: Descriptive and inferential analysis was used in this study. The study used a Abductive research approach to gather data for this study quantitatively. Through convenience sampling, a non-probability sampling method, two hundred and seventeen (217) sample frames were obtained as respondents.

Results: The study rejects the null hypotheses developed for this research and accepts the new alternate hypotheses. This is because the P-values of the tested null hypotheses were less than the significance level (pv>0.05). The study revealed that Lagos State Employment Trust Fund (LSETF) training programmes significantly impact various entrepreneurial competencies of owners/managers of micro, small and medium-scale enterprises (MSMEs) that were beneficiaries of the programmes. Also, incentive supports such as access to free interest loans, free equipment, free access to mentorship, and free access to workspace made available by Lagos State Employment Trust Fund (LSETF) to beneficiaries has a direct significance on their business performance. Findings also revealed that Entrepreneurial competencies that owners/managers of MSMEs acquired during LSETF training programmes significantly affect key business performance variables of revenue growth, customer growth, and attracting capital (funding), therefore entrepreneurial competencies have a significant effect on their business performance.

Contribution: This study’s contribution comes from the fact that it shows that Lagos State Employment Trust Fund (LSETF) was beneficial to Micro, Small, and Medium-scale Enterprises’ owners/managers and that the incentive supports and training have a significant effect on their business performance.

Conclusion: The study concludes that government policy (incentive support) and entrepreneurial competencies significantly positively impact the performance of Micro, Small, and Medium-sized Enterprises (MSMEs) in Nigeria. Entrepreneurial core competencies, personality traits, and learning capacity positively correlate with business performance; thus, entrepreneurs’ skills and competencies improve business performance.

Item Type: Thesis (Masters)
Supervisors:
Name
Email
Heywood, Richard
UNSPECIFIED
Uncontrolled Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Entrepreneurial Competencies; Government policy; MSMEs; Business Performance
Subjects: H Social Sciences > HB Economic Theory > Entrepreneurship
H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor > Small Business Sector
Divisions: School of Business > Master of Science in International Business
Depositing User: Tamara Malone
Date Deposited: 22 Mar 2023 13:22
Last Modified: 22 Mar 2023 13:22
URI: https://norma.ncirl.ie/id/eprint/6386

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