ENTREPRENEURSHIP DEVELOPMENT EXPOSURE AND THE PERFORMANCE OF WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS IN DELTA STATE, NIGERIA: AN EXPLORATORY STUDY
ODITA Anthony O.
Department of Business Administration and Marketing, Faculty of Management Sciences,
Delta State University, Asaba Campus, Asaba, Delta State, Nigeria
tonyodita2002@gmail.com
ABSTRACT
The research work investigates and evaluates the impact of entrepreneurship exposure on the performance of women entrepreneurs in Delta State, Nigeria. Our study adopted an exploratory research design. Research hypotheses were formulated with regard to perceived effects of entrepreneurial exposure on the performance of women entrepreneurs. The target population of the study is the body of women entrepreneurs in Delta State, comprising of two hundred and eighty (280) registered women entrepreneurs with the Delta State Ministry of information. The study’s targeted sample is 95 women entrepreneurs, who were active participants of various government entrepreneurial development programmes. Information was gathered through a survey conducted by the administration of structured questionnaires on the 95 sample units, however only 73 of the questionnaires were found appropriate for use. The data was coded with the use of five points Likert scale and were subjected to analysis using the student t-test in conjunction with its non -parametric equivalent- Wilcoxon W and Mann Whitney U statistical tools, through the aid of (SPSS) version 23. Findings reveal that entrepreneurial development exposure significantly improved the performance of women entrepreneurs as evidenced by the results of statistical significance of the performance indices. The paper therefore recommends government active sponsorship and encouragement of women participation in entrepreneurship development programmes on continuous basis; and such entrepreneurship development programmes should be continuously restructured and redesigned to meet with changes in the global business environment.
Keywords: Entrepreneurship Exposure, Entrepreneurial Development, Women Entrepreneurs, Entrepreneurism