Entrepreneurship Initiative for Poverty Reduction Among the Youth in Gyatakrom
Abstract
This study was on entrepreneurship initiative for poverty reduction among the youth in Gyatakrom. Four objectives were raised which included; Identify the Entrepreneurship Ideas needed to reduce poverty among youths in Gyatakrom, find out ways entrepreneurship Initiative can enhance socio economic status, find out Problems facing the Entrepreneurship Initiative among youths in Gyatakrom and proffer solution to the problem of entrepreneurship ideas among youths in Gyatakrom. A total of 77 responses were received and validated from the enrolled participants where all respondents were drawn from selected youths in Gyatakrom. Hypothesis was tested using Chi-Square statistical tool (SPSS).
Chapter one
Introduction
Background of the study
It is a common experience that about 80% of the graduates from Nigerian Universities find it very difficult to get employment every year. This is partly due to the curricula of the Universities and other tertiary institutions, which emphasis on training for white collar jobs, (Okojie 2008). Nigeria as a nation has been making more efforts to improve the standard of living for people through various policies and programmers to eradicate poverty, for instance, operation feed the nation, (OFN) 1976 encouraged people to return to farm, National Directorate of Employment of 1986 was established to capture the unemployed and equip them with the necessary skills that will make them employable and self sustaining, Poverty Alleviation Programmes (PAP) 2000 was introduced to reduce unemployment and raise effective demand in the economy, and National Poverty Eradication Programme (NAPEP) 2001, provided many youths with the “Keke NAPEP” mass transit vehicles.
In Nigeria and other African countries poverty is described as a socio-economic problem that affects the growth and development of the region. Poverty is also the inability of one to have the basic necessities of life, that is basically not having enough food to eat, a high rate of infant mortality, low educational opportunities (Aluko, 2000). The government of this country have designed and embarked on several measures to reduce the degree of poverty and improve the social well being of the people.
Michael and Dories, (2001) defined initiative as an incubator of Ideas, to explore new ideas and learn how to take a new company body into the future. They also stated that initiative is a personal quality that shows a willingness to get things done and take responsibility and self discipline, ability to take action that are in the long-term best interest.
Entrepreneurship Initiative as defined by the (European Parliament and the council, 2006) the ability to turn ideas into action, it includes creativity, innovation and risk taking, as well as the ability to plan and manage project in order to achieve objective. Thus support individuals, not only in their every day lives at home and in the society, but also in the workplace in being aware of the context of their work and being able to seize opportunities. This is a foundation for more specific skills and knowledge needed by those establishing or contributing to social or commercial activity. This should include awareness of ethnical values and promotion of good governance. Entrepreneurship initiative is one of the measures embraced by the government to reduce poverty and unemployment in the country (Arogundade, 2011). Basu, (2004) noted that entrepreneurship initiatives often have aspiration different to those of common people. Other personal characteristic that supposedly differentiate entrepreneurship from business owned manager include, initiative, a willingness to take risks, self-confidence, perseverance, resourcefulness, independence, tolerance for uncertainty and ambiguity.
The world entrepreneurship is derived from the French world entreprendre, meaning to undertake, to pursue opportunities, to fulfill needs and wants through innovation: This may include starting business inside or outside an established organization. Entrepreneurship according to Odusina (2000) is the process of using available capital in any form for business endeavors in an open and free-market economy for the sole purpose of making profits. Entrepreneurship also as defined by Peter (2001) is a process of creating something new with value by devoting necessary time and efforts assuring the accompanying financial, and social risks and receiving the resulting rewards of monetary and personal satisfaction and independence.
An entrepreneur is someone who has the ability to see and evaluate business opportunities, to gather the necessary resources, to take advantage of the end and initiate appropriate action, to ensure success (Meredith, Nelson and Nick, 2000). Entrepreneur sees “problem” as “opportunities” and takes’ action to identify the solutions to those problems and the customer who will pay to help the youths and build on their strong spirit of risk-taking through entrepreneurship development. An entrepreneur is an individual who is able to use organized efforts to pursue opportunities, to create value and grow by fulfilling wants and needs through innovation and uniqueness. (Uzoma, 2000). As a consequence, the entrepreneur disturbs the status quo and may thus be regarded as a change agent. In such a capacity he or she does not just work for him or herself in a small firm but may be employed in a large organization.
Statement of the problem
Entrepreneurship initiative is very important in Gyatakrom, because the unemployed youths are still dwelling in abject poverty. The need to reduce poverty to the barest minimum has been the challenge for Nigerian Government. In other word, youths are unemployed; not because they lack the qualification but because the system has been corrupt politically, economically, socio-culturally and even religiously. There was no opportunities for the unemployed youth in Gyatakrom to be involved in decision making progress in the matters that affect their environment and society owing to lack of entrepreneurship education. It is unfortunate that in Gyatakrom, there is little or no entrepreneurship imitative programme for the development of youths in the area.
In Gyatakrom, the youths who are supposed to be young entrepreneur and contribute their quota to the economics development of their society find it difficult to cope due to lack of infrastructural facilities, lack of increase in supply steady and sustainable power supply, lack of good roads and lack of entrepreneurial skill that would have enabled the graduates to see themselves as job creators rather than job seekers. So many people living in Gyatakrom are mostly poor, especial the youths who leave school without acquiring entrepreneurship skill which has led to the economics backwardness of the youths in the state, prostitution, unwanted pregnancy, armed-robbery, kidnapping and 419. This is worrisome, because if this is not looked into, it will not only affect the youths in the state but the country as a whole. The problem of the study therefore is to ascertain the entrepreneurship initiative for poverty reduction among youths in Nsukka
Purpose of the Study
The main purpose of this study was to investigate the entrepreneurship initiative for poverty reduction among youths in Gyatakrom.
Specifically the study sought to:
- Identify the Entrepreneurship Ideas needed to reduce poverty among youths in Gyatakrom.
- Find out ways entrepreneurship Initiative can enhance socio economic status.
- Find out Problems facing the Entrepreneurship Initiative among youths in Gyatakrom.
- Proffer solution to the problem of entrepreneurship ideas among youths in Gyatakrom.
Research Hypotheses
The following research hypotheses are formulated;
H1: There is no Entrepreneurship Ideas needed to reduce poverty among youths in Gyatakrom.
H2: there are no problems facing the Entrepreneurship Initiative among youths in Gyatakrom
Significance of the Study
The study will be beneficial to youths because they will be exposed to so many opportunities on how to be self-employed, and how to create wealth on their own without carrying files about after graduating from tertiary institutions. This study will also be of great benefit to the families and individuals, because the information from this study will open their eyes to know many skills acquisition that will enable them work out of poverty.
The government will benefit greatly from this studies because when these youths are properly oriented, equipped with the knowledge of entrepreneurship initiative, development will come to the state, both socio- economic, political and psychological. And also put appropriate measures in organizing seminar, conference and work-shop on how to reorient the youths on the importance of entrepreneurship ideas.
Scope of the Study
This study focused on the entrepreneurship initiative for poverty reduction among youths in Gyatakrom; it also identified the entrepreneurship idea needed to reduce poverty among youths, Finds out ways entrepreneurship initiative could enhance socio-economic status. Find out problems facing entrepreneurship initiative for poverty reduction among youths. Proffered solution to the problem of entrepreneurship idea for poverty reduction among youths in Gyatakrom. Youths in Gyatakrom were the respondents.
Limitation of the study
In carrying out the study, the followings are the limitations encountered by the researcher:-
Time: The time used for this study was very limited when compared to the abstraction of the topic as only a few schools have written a full research project on deficit financing, only articles which could not give enough information on the going concerned.
Scope: The span of a period of study was another limiting factor as the secondary data used was not easily gotten
Definition of terms
Entrepreneurship: Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values than simply economic ones
Poverty: Poverty is about not having enough money to meet basic needs including food, clothing and shelter.
Poverty reduction: Poverty reduction, poverty relief, or poverty alleviation, is a set of measures, both economic and humanitarian, that are intended to permanently lift people out of poverty
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