Green Entrepreneurship as a Nostrum for Sustainable Development among Selected Entrepreneurial Firms in Southwestern, Nigeria

Abstract

Sustainable development is at the front burner of debates globally and this is a result of continuous challenges bedeviling the survival of the eco-system through the production activities of organisations hinged towards economic gains. Owning to this fact, this study aims to investigate the significant contributions of green entrepreneurs towards the revitalisation of the ecosystem and ensuring eco-balance. The objectives of this study were centered on examining the effect of green entrepreneurial activities on environmental sustainability and investigating the relationship between green entrepreneurial activities and social sustainability. The theory of planned behaviour and Triple Helix Theory of Sustainable Socio-Economic Development underpinned the study. Data were obtained from selected entrepreneurs with green ideologies in Lagos and Ogun State through a multistage sampling technique, which comprised purposive, stratified and simple random sampling methods. Results obtained from the study shows that green entrepreneurship has an effect on environmental sustainability with (0.795>0.5) and also, a positive, strong and significant exists between green entrepreneurship and social sustainability with (0.931>0.5). The study concluded that the linkage between green entrepreneurial activities and sustainable development can establish an educative mechanism for entrepreneurs and spell out explicitly the importance of going green and imbibing green values. Therefore, green entrepreneurial programme should be regularly organised to create and encourage awareness among entrepreneurs on how to cope with and tackle environmental and social challenges; as awareness on green entrepreneurship will awaken the consciousness of entrepreneurs and assist them in understanding that sustainability challenges can be mitigated