Boosting Youth Entrepreneurship through Informal Credit in Benin

Young Entrepreneurs in Sub-Saharan Africa, 2016

Young people in sub-Saharan Africa are growing up in rapidly changing social and economic environments which produce high levels of un-and underemployment. Job creation through entrepreneurship is currently being promoted by international organisations, governments, and NGOs as a key solution, despite there being a dearth of knowledge about youth entrepreneurship in an African context. This book makes an important contribution by exploring the nature of youth entrepreneurship in Ghana, Uganda, and Zambia. It provides new insights into conceptual and methodological discussions of youth entrepreneurship as well as presenting original empirical data. Drawing on quantitative and qualitative research, conducted under the auspices of a collaborative, interdisciplinary, and comparative research project, it highlights the opportunities and challenges young people face in setting up and running businesses. Divided into a number of clear sections, each with its own introduction and conclusion, the book considers the nature of youth entrepreneurship at the national level, in both urban and rural areas, in specific sectors-including mobile telephony, mining, handicrafts, and tourism-and analyses how key factors, such as microfinance, social capital, and entrepreneurship education, affect youth entrepreneurship. New light is shed on the multi-faceted nature of youth entrepreneurship and a convincing case is presented for a more nuanced understanding of the term entrepreneurship and the situation faced by many African youth today. This book will be of interest to a wide range of scholars interested in youth entrepreneurship, including in development studies, business studies, and geography, as well as to development practitioners and policy makers.

2020

Youth are often seen as a mechanism for societal change and economic development and as such, empowering them may be of great benefit to the society and the country at large. Experts have widely acknowledged the substantial Contribution of small scale businesses to the development of Nigeria, of which youth participation constitutes a larger chunk of the entrepreneurial development of the nation. Therefore the need to support them to grow is very vital. It is not an exaggeration to say that the most important target which every society in the contemporary world has set for itself, is to empower its youth to be able to afford the basic necessity of life like food, clothes, and shelter as well as being part of the decision making process in homes and community. The main objective of this study is to examine the impacts of microfinance services on youth entrepreneurial development in Yola North, Adamawa state. A sample of 246 youth entrepreneurs was selected using simple random techniq...

International journal of social science and human research, 2023

The world is constantly in a state of flux. Contemporary realities such as the Internet revolution with the accompanying Information Age appear to have placed young people above other demographic categories. Increasingly, young people between their teens and early adulthood have been taking very active parts in economic activities and leading critical sectors, especially IT, banking, and small and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs). Their unmatched compliance and savviness in the use of the virtual space have exposed them to limitless knowledge and opportunities that hitherto were difficult to access. The case is not different in Nigeria. Nigerian youths are a formidable population category whose imaginative and creative ability can turn around Nigeria's dwindling economy if bolstered with an enabling environment. However, the Nigerian State has not been able to leverage the ingenuities and economic capacities of its largest population cluster. This is particularly paradoxical considering Nigeria's continuous struggle for development. This paradox informs this paper. In it, I foreground the need for the Nigerian State to shift its focus to youth entrepreneurship and encourage bourgeoning youth entrepreneurs to develop innovative economic and/or business activities that can improve the different aspects of Nigeria's economy and social development. This has become an imperative, especially in light of accidental events like COVID-19. Innovative entrepreneurship, injecting new efforts and ideas, and leveraging youth potential will benefit Nigeria and will not only engender healthy economic performance but also reduce mass unemployment and poverty. Nigeria's dream of becoming a global economic powerhouse may be built around the entrepreneurship, innovativeness, and creative capacities of her youth population.

Open Access Journal of Business and Entrepreneurship, 2025

The study examined the micro financing and entrepreneurial intentions among youths in Anambra State. The objectives of the study were to, ascertain the effect of micro credit on entrepreneurial intentions among youths in Anambra State; determine the effect of social capital on entrepreneurial intentions among youths in Anambra State. The research design adopted in this study was survey design. The questionnaire was used to collect raw data from the respondents. The population of this study is the youths in Anambra state. Given the number of youths in Anambra state, the study population is therefore considered infinite. Since the population is infinite, the sample size of the study was determined with the aid of Cochran's non-parametric sample size determination formula. A pilot survey on 100 respondents from within the study area was conducted. The sample of the study consists of three hundred and sixty-eight (368) employees. The study adopted purposive sampling. Analysis was carried out with the aid of Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). In testing the hypotheses, the calculated value of the test statistic was compared with probability value. The study found that, Micro credit has significant effect on entrepreneurial intentions among youths in Anambra State. Social capital has significant effect on entrepreneurial intentions among youths in Anambra State. The study recommends that microcredit should be given to youth of Anambra state by the government with low interest rate.

The Nigerian Journal of Sociology and Anthropology, 2017

The role of youth entrepreneurship in the economic development has been well recognized in the literature. In a liberal market economy, entrepreneurs coordinate economic activities in such a way that factors of production are moved to areas in which they are fully utilized while they also bear risk and uncertainty in the process of arbitrage which eventually leads to the expansion of the production possibility curve, socio-economic growth and development. In contemporary time, the movement by nations of the world towards a neo-liberal economic framework has elevated the study of determinants of entrepreneurship to the centre stage. It has been established from past studies that entrepreneurship especially among youths has become antidote to joblessness and underdevelopment. This paper, therefore, examines the role of youth entrepreneurship development as a panacea to sustainable development in Nigeria. The paper suggested that if Nigeria in her quest to reducing unemployment and pov...

Young Entrepreneurs in Sub-Saharan Africa, 2016

Young people in sub-Saharan Africa are growing up in rapidly changing social and economic environments which produce high levels of un-and underemployment. Job creation through entrepreneurship is currently being promoted by international organisations, governments, and NGOs as a key solution, despite there being a dearth of knowledge about youth entrepreneurship in an African context. This book makes an important contribution by exploring the nature of youth entrepreneurship in Ghana, Uganda, and Zambia. It provides new insights into conceptual and methodological discussions of youth entrepreneurship as well as presenting original empirical data. Drawing on quantitative and qualitative research, conducted under the auspices of a collaborative, interdisciplinary, and comparative research project, it highlights the opportunities and challenges young people face in setting up and running businesses. Divided into a number of clear sections, each with its own introduction and conclusion, the book considers the nature of youth entrepreneurship at the national level, in both urban and rural areas, in specific sectors-including mobile telephony, mining, handicrafts, and tourism-and analyses how key factors, such as microfinance, social capital, and entrepreneurship education, affect youth entrepreneurship. New light is shed on the multi-faceted nature of youth entrepreneurship and a convincing case is presented for a more nuanced understanding of the term entrepreneurship and the situation faced by many African youth today. This book will be of interest to a wide range of scholars interested in youth entrepreneurship, including in development studies, business studies, and geography, as well as to development practitioners and policy makers.

Young Entrepreneurs in Sub-Saharan Africa, 2016

Young people in sub-Saharan Africa are growing up in rapidly changing social and economic environments which produce high levels of un-and underemployment. Job creation through entrepreneurship is currently being promoted by international organisations, governments, and NGOs as a key solution, despite there being a dearth of knowledge about youth entrepreneurship in an African context. This book makes an important contribution by exploring the nature of youth entrepreneurship in Ghana, Uganda, and Zambia. It provides new insights into conceptual and methodological discussions of youth entrepreneurship as well as presenting original empirical data. Drawing on quantitative and qualitative research, conducted under the auspices of a collaborative, interdisciplinary, and comparative research project, it highlights the opportunities and challenges young people face in setting up and running businesses. Divided into a number of clear sections, each with its own introduction and conclusion, the book considers the nature of youth entrepreneurship at the national level, in both urban and rural areas, in specific sectors-including mobile telephony, mining, handicrafts, and tourism-and analyses how key factors, such as microfinance, social capital, and entrepreneurship education, affect youth entrepreneurship. New light is shed on the multi-faceted nature of youth entrepreneurship and a convincing case is presented for a more nuanced understanding of the term entrepreneurship and the situation faced by many African youth today. This book will be of interest to a wide range of scholars interested in youth entrepreneurship, including in development studies, business studies, and geography, as well as to development practitioners and policy makers.

In order for the people of a country or district to achieve their individual aspirations and collectively contribute toward development they need to be entrepreneurial. This requires some form of training and education in order to develop the relevant skills, knowledge and attitudes requisite for meaningful employment. Using descriptive statistics, this paper examines the links between unemployment situation and youth enterprise in the Ajumako-Enyan-Essiam District (AEED) in the Central Region, one of the four poorest administrative regions of Ghana. It found that majority of the youth had at most secondary education, and were unemployed, under-employed or self-employed in informal micro-enterprises. Though entrepreneurial opportunities existed in the District, the youth were adequately involved in the requisite entrepreneurship training programmes that would enable them to take advantage of the existing opportunities in order to reduce youth unemployment or under-employment. It concludes that though the youth have entrepreneurial potentials, their low educational attainment has been a challenge to training. It has therefore been suggested that the District Assembly encourages training and educational institutions that incorporate entrepreneurship in their curriculum in order to provide trainees with the needed knowledge, skills and competencies for employment.

Introduction: In Nigeria, unemployment is a very serious problem combating all the states. Although accurate statistical data are lacking, local media reports however indicate that half of the Nigerian population of about 150 million are youths and that about 95% of them are unemployed. Idleness, decadence of economic stagnation and poverty have driven a large percentage of them into robbery, prostitution and violence. Nwachukwu and Nwamuo (2010) noted that when youths are not gainfully employed either in the public or private sector of the economy, they become very vulnerable to criminalities such as kidnapping, armed robbery, and many other social vices which are a menace to the society. In the same vain Ewumi, and Owoyale (2012) noted that one of the many pressing challenges facing Nigeria today is youths unemployment with the ripple effect of their resort to violent crime. All forms of antisocial vices are traceable to the unemployed youths. In order to address this issue of unemployment, the Federal as well as the State governments have made some efforts through some agencies by creating skills acquisition programmes, yet many graduates and even postgraduates degree holders are still parading fine and quality certificates without employment either by public or private organizations. As a result of this, the importance of entrepreneurship development of the economy has received increased attention in Nigeria in the recent time. The Federal Government of Nigeria since 1960 has put in place different kind of institutional frame work to promote small scale enterprises in the country. These include the establishment of industrial development centers (IDCS), the Small Scale Industries Credit Scheme (SSICS), Credit Guidelines to Financial Institution (CGFI), Working For Yourself/Entrepreneurship Development Programme (WFYP/EDP), National Economic Reconstruction Fund (NERF) and the Endorsement of Micro-finance Banking System (EMBS) whose duty is to give loans to enable their customers establish small scale businesses. All these are geared towards the promotion of entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship, in this context, is seen as the process of discovering new ways of combining resources and becoming aware of business ownership as an option or viable alternative, by developing ideas for business; learning the process of becoming a business owner, undertaking the training to acquire the skills required to establish and develop business. It includes the practical application of enterprising qualities such as initiative, innovation, creativity and risk-taking into the work environment (either in self employment or employment in small start-up firms) using appropriate skills necessary for success in that environment and culture. The entrepreneur is often referred to as the agent of social, economic and technological development. The formal processes of equipping the entrepreneur with necessary insight and skill are through formal education, entrepreneurial training and development. Training is considered as the organized procedure by which people learn knowledge and/or skills for definite purpose (Bench, 1975). The objective of training is to cause changes in behaviour of the trained. It should be noted that training means to guide someone through instruction and drill for skills acquisition. Learning is another related concept which means the human process by which skills, knowledge, habits and attitudes are acquired and utilized in such a way that behaviour is modified. Thus education as used here is inclusive of training and learning process (Ogundele & Kio, 2002) and the essence of these training is for development. Development at the individual level according to Rodney (2005) is the increase in skill and capacity, greater freedom, creativity, self-discipline responsibility and material well being. The achievement of any of these aspects of personal development is directly related to the state of the society as a whole. At the level of social groups, development implies an increasing capacity to regulate both internal and external relationship. Rodney (2005) is of the view that the tool with which men work and the manner in which they organise their labour are important indices of social development. He further noted that development when used exclusively in economic sense, refers to how members of a society increase, jointly exercise their capacity for subduing the environment. Capacity here is dependent on the extent to which they understand the laws of nature (science), technological know-how and organisation of work which are assisted by the processes of formal education,

International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues

This study examined the characteristics, determinants, challenges and performance of self-employment among the youth in Uganda using the School-to-Work Transition survey data for 2015 collected by the Uganda Bureau of Statistics. We employed two analytical approaches: descriptive statistics and binary and multivariate probit models. We found that most employed youths are self–employed. The majority of the youth were poor and had acquired primary education or less. Econometric estimations indicate that self-employment is determined by age, the number of children, financial status, education, high-income motive and flexible work hours. Most youth started businesses with individual savings or family money but not bank loans. Most youth faced unique problems, but financial constraints followed by market competition were the main challenges faced by the self-employed youth. Self-employment is not lucrative, and 20.29% of self-employed youths do not make profits from their entrepreneurial...