MANAGERIAL COMPETENCIES REQUIRED OF BUSINESS EDUCATION GRADUATES FOR HANDLING ENTREPRENEURSHIP CHALLENGES IN ANAMBRA STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

This study determined the managerial competencies required of business education graduates for handling entrepreneurship challenges in Anambra State. Two research questions guided the study. Four null hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. Related literature pertinent to the study were reviewed which exposed the need for the study. Descriptive survey research design was adopted, using a population of 1124 entrepreneurs of small and medium scale enterprises. Stratified random sampling technique was used to select a sample size of 338. A structured questionnaire developed by the researcher was used for data collection. Cronbach Alpha method was used to establish the reliability of the instrument. The reliability yielded coefficient values of .91 and .85. Data collected were analyzed using mean, standard deviation, t-test and ANOVA. Mean was used to answer the research questions and standard deviation was used to explain how the responses of the respondents varied. ANOVA and t-test were used to test the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The results showed that entrepreneurs of SMEs agreed that innovative and ICT competencies are required by business education graduates for handling entrepreneurship challenges in Anambra State. The results also showed that there was no significant difference in the mean ratings of entrepreneurs on innovative and ICT competencies required of business education graduates based on gender and years of experience. Based on the findings, the researcher recommended among others, that the management of tertiary educational institutions through the centre for entrepreneurship development should work in collaboration with the existing entrepreneurs/ business organizations around them in providing entrepreneurship training to students in order to enable students develop self-employment initiatives through the programme. Article visualizations: