Business Incubation and its Impact on the Entrepreneurial Performance of University Students in Anambra State

Abstract

The absence of Business Incubators in universities in Anambra State necessitated this study to ascertain the influence of business incubation on the entrepreneurial performance of students in the selected universities in Anambra state. The work was anchored on Real-Driven-Options Theory of Business Incubation and New Venture Creation Theory. Survey research design was adopted by the study. The population of the study consisted of 300 level students of the selected universities who have taken entrepreneurship course or those that are yet to take it. A sample size of 380 was determined using Krejcie and Morgan (1970) formula. For the purpose of this study, the primary source of data (questionnaire), which was subjected to both validity and reliability was utilized. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were adopted in data analysis and the hypotheses were tested at a 5% level of significance. It was revealed from the analysis that knowledge transfer has a statistically significant positive relationship with promotion of entrepreneurial skills (r = .939; P-value < 0.05) and between inculcating innovative ideas and promoting the entrepreneurial mindset (r = .940; P-value < 0.05). It was concluded that business incubation has a significant relationship with student’s entrepreneurship performance. Sequel to this, it was recommended among others that teachers, facilitators and managers of entrepreneurial classes in universities should take the business of entrepreneurial knowledge transfer very serious, and more emphasis should be placed on practical aspect of knowledge transfer rather than theoretical aspects as this will help in improving the entrepreneurial skills of students that pass through entrepreneurial classes in the selected universities.