You have no items in your shopping cart.
ABSTRACT
This study examined natural resources and entrepreneurship development in Nigeria, with focus on Edo State. The objectives of the study were to ascertain whether potential entrepreneurs are aware of the valuable opportunities in Edo State; ascertain whether potential entrepreneurs have access to natural resources in Edo State; identify whether potential entrepreneurs have the know-how to process available raw materials into finished goods; identify the natural resources that is properly utilized and under-utilized, and ascertain whether entrepreneurs in Edo State are able to use available natural resources to meet the needs of the people. In analyzing the data gathered for the study, the descriptive and inferential statistics, which will be backed with charts and the hypotheses were tested using SPSS 22.0 statistical package. The findings from the analysis therefore revealed that agric/agro allied is the most utilized natural resources in Edo State, followed by industrial potentials as the second most utilized natural resources in Edo State and followed by solid minerals as the third most utilized natural resources in Edo State. The major findings from the study further shows that; the low level of awareness affects entrepreneur’s access to natural resources in Edo State; government policies and regulations and non-availability of finance prevent entrepreneurs’ access to natural resources in Edo State; unavailability of machines and equipment is a challenge facing the processing of natural resources into finished goods; low level of education is a challenge facing the utilization of natural resources. It was then recommended that the Nigerian governments need to include vocational training and entrepreneurial in the education system of their respective states so that their people are exposed to entrepreneurship from childhood; awareness programme should be carried out to enlighten entrepreneur on the available natural resources and also give them access to these natural resources in Edo State for effective productivity; government policies and regulations should be directed towards encouraging entrepreneurs and funds should be made available to entrepreneurs in Edo State; the needed machines and equipment should be made available and access to entrepreneurs in order to curb the challenges facing the processing of natural resources into finished goods, and governments need to provide incentives such as subsidies and tax holiday to entrepreneurs who provide strong employee value propositions to prospective professional staff, like specialized training or stock option programs.
