PROBLEMS AND PROSPECTS OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP DEVELOPMENT IN DELTA STATE

1.1      BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

The entrepreneur plays a vita role in the process of economic growth and development.

Iwu Eze A. [1986] in a paper presented in on entrepreneurship development in Nigeria said that an entrepreneur is a contractor, an organizer of an enterprise for the public, a resourceful person with a dream. Entrepreneurs are bold men and woman who have initiative and the ability to lead, manage and take the consequences. They are men of action, risk takers, missioners, creative and highly respected of their ability to effectively and efficiently concubine the functions of management to achieve the go alls.

He also noted that during the colonial period, only few of Nigerians could boast of personal or family capital to start off any meaningful business and hence the next place of call for business and financial was bank. It is a well known flat that banking operations during the colonial era were highly and sparsely limited urban centers. The bank at that time existed to serve the internets of the colonial civil servants who had appreciated incomes to warrant banking transaction Nigerians who had no collaterals or big financials to guarantee their loans could not hope on banks to start off any business.

During the colonial era, the Nigerian businesses scene was dominated even at the grassroots levels by inclines, Greeks, Ghanaians, Sierra Lonians and others. These foreign nationals had a better exposition from the Nigerians and with this advantages, it was easy to dislodge them when the colonials left the scene in 1960. Then, in other to give Nigerians an opportunity in participating and shaping their country economic future, the federal government introduced indigenization and enterprise promotion dance of 1972 and it’s revision in 1977. The objective was to foster economic self-reliance and maximize external intervention in politics.

Against, the national development plans were introduced and also in July 1986 SAP [structural adjustment programme] was introduced. Entrepreneurship constitutes a vital engine in the economic growth and development of nations including Nigeria because it helps in the stimulation of indigenous entrepreneurship, leads to the transformation of traditional industry, creates employment opportunities, generates incomes [locally and externally] contributes to regional activity and co-operation etc.

According to Ani [1999], said that entrepreneurship started when people produced more products than they needed and as such, had who also these surpluses with others who also wanted to dispose of their surpluses.  For instance, if a black smith produced more hoes then he needed, he exchanged the surplus he had with what he specialization. This process is known as trade by barter before the advent of any form of money.

Modern entrepreneurship in Nigeria started with coning of the colonial masters and during the era, Nigeria was not their own masters. An entrepreneur often needs starting capital, which is normally small and derived from personal savings or from family sources.

Concrete attempts at encouraging the growth and development of entrepreneurship have led to the establishment of some government agencies as industrial development [I.D], small scale industry corporation [SSIC], Nigerian bank for commerce and industries [NBC], national economic reconstruction fund [NERFUNA] directorate of foods, roads and viral development [DFRRI] etc. All these have been made to ensure the sustain ace and growth of small and medium scale enterprises in the country.