FUNCTIONS AND ACHIEVEMENTS OF GOVERNMENT SUPPORT AGENCIES IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF ENTERPRENUERSHIP IN ENUGU STATE. (A CASE STUDY OF NATIONAL DIRECTORATE OF EMPLOYMENT (N.D.E)
in BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION PROJECT TOPICS AND MATERIALS on September 20, 2020CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Entrepreneurship started when people began to produce more products than they required, as such they had to exchange these surplus with others who also wanted to dispose off their surplus. By this way, producers came to realize that they can concentrated in their areas of production to produce more and then exchange with what they needed. Therefore, through this exchange of products, entrepreneurship started.
According to Schumpeter (1961) Entrepreneurship means doing new things or doing things that are already being done in a new way.
Nnenna B.Ani (1999) described entrepreneurship as a creative and innovative response to the environment such responses can take place in any field of social endavour, for instance, in business industry, agriculture, education, social work and the like.
An entrepreneur is different from a manager who only plans organizes and controls a business idea after it has been successfully initiated by the entrepreneur”Lawal A.A Et Al (1998), According to Ani Nnnenna B. (1999) a typically Nigeria entrepreneur is self made man who ,might be said to have strong will to succeed, he might engage the services of others like friends, mates, in laws etc to help him in his work or production through this way Nigerians in the olden days were engaged in entrepreneurship”. Early entrepreneurship characterized with production or manufacturing in which case the producer most often started with a small capital, most of it from his own savings. Early entrepreneurship started with trade by barter even before the advent of any form of money.
In Nigerian modern entrepreneurship started with the coming of the Colonial masters, who brought in their wears and made Nigerians their middlemen. Most of the modern entrepreneur were engaged in retail trade or sole proprietorship.
One of the major factors that has in many ways discouraged the flow of entrepreneurship development in this country is the value system brought about by formal education. For many decades formal education has been the preserve of the privilege. With formal education, people had the opportunity of being employed in civil service, because in those days the economy was large enough to absorb into the prestigious occupation all Nigerians with some form of formal education. The value system discouraged entrepreneurship in Nigeria for the colonial masters to solve their goods, because if Nigerians continue to be enterprising, they would not have had market for their goods. as such, the system made Nigerians to be depends on the colonial masters to supply her with the needed products.
Again , the contract between Nigerian entrepreneurs and foreign entrepreneurs during the colonial era was very detrimental and the competitive business strategy of the foreign entrepreneurs was ruinous and also against moral standards established by the society. For example, the united African company (UAO) that was responsible for a sustain percentage of the import and export trade of Nigerian, has the policy of dealing directly with produced and refused to make use of the service of Nigeria entrepreneurs. The refusal of the expatriate to utilize the services of local business man inhibited the expansion and acquisition of necessary skills and attitude. For this reasons many eventually folded up. Hose that folded built up a resentment against business which become very demoralizing to other prospective entrepreneurs. As a result, the flow of entrepreneurship in the country was slowed down. But with more people being educated and the fact that government could no longer employ most school leavers, economy programs to encourage individuals to go into private business and self reliant were initiated (Theodore Gieger in Nwachukwu C.C (1990).
In view of the impact of entrepreneurship in improving the socio-economic conditions of the state, the government have made initiatives to promote indigenous entrepreneurship in small scale business. According to Lawal A.A 91998:2) typically actions of the government take the form of policy initiatives and directives to organization such as ministry of commerce and industry, national directorate of employment, ministry of labour and productivity, center for management development, research institutes to act as executing agencies with responsibility for stimulating, supporting and sustaining entrepreneurship development.
The researcher believes that a study of the functions as well as the achievement of the national directorate of employment (NDE) in Enugu state would help to evaluate the role of government support agencies in entrepreneurship development within the state.
