THE EFFECT OF FINANCIAL INCLUSION AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP CREATION AMONG AGENCY BANKING. EMPIRICAL INVESTIGATION OF POINT OF SALE (POS) CARD ACCEPTANCE OPERATORS IN NIGERIA: SPECIAL REFERENCE TO LAGOS METROPOLIS

Abstract

This study aims to evaluate the link between inclusive finance and entrepreneurship creation among banking agency, with specific reference to point of sale (POS) operators in Nigeria. Therefore, the study anchored on the special agent theory of financial inclusion. The novelty of this research is the inclusion of Khan Measurement variables and methods for evaluating financial inclusion (FI), who proposed the use of the FI index to measure banking penetration, availability and accessibility of service/product and usage of banking system/technology. Another novelty is financial inclusion in the entrepreneurial paradigm, which is a model of an inclusive financial channel for startup businesses and entrepreneurship creation. This model provides a basis for financial solutions for struggling startups in agency banking. 204 copies of the questionnaire were retrieved from the respondents out of 399 distributed to POS operators and two agent banks using the Yamane statistical method. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the questions from each variable, while regression statistical analysis was employed to test the hypotheses. The findings revealed that banking penetration has a significant positive relationship with entrepreneurship creation of services, financial products/services has a significant positive relationship with entrepreneurship creation, and usage of banking services was significantly and positively related to entrepreneurship creation among Lagos POS operators. Practical application is for POS operators and agent banks used to promote financial inclusion and job creation. Therefore, it is imperative that agency banking should provide more financial incentives to POS and mobile banking operators to encourage them to have access to funds.