Many scholars are of the opinion that entrepreneurship as a field, even though has grown but there is lack of progress in the field. This haphazard growth has led to a situation where it is very difficult to develop a good theory on entrepreneurship. Inability to develop theory in the field of entrepreneurship has been attributed to many factors that include definitional issues in the area of entrepreneurship, the scope of entrepreneurial activities, relevance and measurement of various constructs used in entrepreneurship to describe the phenomenon. Besides these issues, unit of analysis and lack of longitudinal studies are further impediments to the development of entrepreneurship as a field.

https://researchbank.swinburne.edu.au/file/fd9b9177-704a-4bea-bb55-d8dff766d934/1/PDF (Published version).pdf

Fundamentals of entrepreneurship

A review of There Was a Country: A Personal History of Biafra by Chinua Achebe (London: Penguin Book, 2012. 352 pp., ISBN: 978-0143124030) by Samuel Oyewole (Samueloyewole47@yahoo.co.uk), Instructor, Department of Political Science; University of Ilorin, Ilorin, NigeriaThe Nigerian Civil War remains one of the most important political incidents in the history of the country. The Civil War covers the period of 30 months (1967-1970) of confrontation between the secessionist eastern region, Republic of Biafra and the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The significant of this event for Nigerian political development cannot be overemphasised. Forty-four years after the war, its legacies have endured against the stability of the nation. Among the legacies of the Civil War and notable reasons for the book are: 1) despite the policy of reintegration pursued by the post-civil war governments, the Igbos (members of the ethnic group that dominated the secession) still continued to feel less secure outside their 'state of origin', and most particularly in the northern region; 2) the Igbo people have remained politically marginalised in the national politics; and 3) Biafra and neo-Biafra ideas have continued to serve as popular points of rally and advocacy. The relevance of violent advocacy groups like Movement for Actualisation of Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) is an instance.Appreciable number of books has appeared on the subject of Nigerian Civil War. Some of the existing accounts have engaged the Civil War broadly, while others focused on aspects of the event, including antecedents of the war, battle experiences, the cost, international dimension, the consequences et-central. It is within the context of antecedents of the war and overall cost incurred by the Igbo nation before and during the war that one could find this book worthwhile. The book contribute to knowledge on civil war, ethno-regional politics, insurgency and terrorism, state viability, regime security, leadership crisis, art, education and diplomacy. The book benefited from the reputation of the author in the world of literature, in terms of attention. This account explains the Biafra secessionist struggle within the framework of leadership crisis in Nigeria. This factor is identified to have interplay the phenomenon of ethnicity, democratic reversal and state failure in Nigerian history. The book explains the trend that accounted for the personality clash between General Yakubu Gowon, the military head of state of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and the military governor of the eastern region and the head of (defunct) Biafran state, Lt-Col. Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu. This personality clash plays out well within the framework of ethnic, regional and even religious cleavages. To this understanding, the civil war was identified as ethno-regional struggle within the country, but Ojukwu was successful with propaganda in depicting it as religious war for the Western world.With the account of massacre that preceded the civil war, the author draws readers' attention to the precedence in patterns of modern terrorism in Nigeria. The book captures the dehumanising crusade against the Igbos outside the eastern region before the war. This is identified as a sufficient, logical and moral reason for men to rebel. Therefore, the moral premises of the secessionist war against the Nigerian federation were acknowledged. Despite this, the author went further to identify efforts made by the Igbos to prevent the rapid deterioration of the situation that caused the civil war. In this way, the commitment of the Igbos to the unity of Nigeria was appraised. …

There Was a Country: A Personal History of Biafra

The purpose of this study is to integrate and extend two models of entrepreneurial intention to investigate the drivers of sustainable entrepreneurial intention among intermediate undergraduate university students in Nigeria. Specifically, this paper aims to introduce education for sustainable entrepreneurship into the integrated model, thereby fitting the model into the context of sustainable entrepreneurship.,Data was gathered with the help of a structured questionnaire from 435 students of a university in Nigeria. The students passed through a special entrepreneurship training in which they were educated on the concept and practice of sustainable entrepreneurship. SmartPLS was used to test the proposed structural model.,The findings revealed that education for sustainable entrepreneurship significantly influences all variables of the integrated model, but has nonsignificant direct influence on sustainable entrepreneurial intention. Sustainable entrepreneurial intention is significantly driven by attitude and propensity to act. Therefore, the inclusion of education for sustainable entrepreneurship into the regression equation adds to its explanatory power.,This study contributes toward understanding of sustainable entrepreneurial intention of intermediate university students in a developing world context – Nigeria. Above all, it is among the few studies that shed light on the strength of education for sustainable entrepreneurship in the formation of sustainable entrepreneurial intention among students. This study proposes integration and extension (by adding education for sustainable entrepreneurship) of the theory of planned behavior and entrepreneurial event model in learning about students’ intentions to engage in sustainable entrepreneurship.

Drivers of sustainable entrepreneurial intentions among university students: an integrated model from a developing world context

This paper examined the factors that influence entrepreneurial intentions among undergraduates of South-south and Southeast Nigeria. Surveying 1,129 final year undergraduates from 15 universities in 68 departments plus four focus groups of 42 participants, the quantitative study found personal attitude, perceived behavioural control and perceived barrier as most significant factors. The qualitative study found new factors such as transformational, affective, push and personal fulfilment motives. The focus group interview results indicated that undergraduates will embrace entrepreneurship if: courses were more practical-oriented than theory-oriented, internship was introduced in their courses, lecturers were retrained to embrace some level of entrepreneurship themselves, and have a healthy collaboration with relevant industry practice too. The partial least squares multi-group analysis detected no significant differences in perception of the influencing factors among participants from the two groups, based on the model paths. But participants in the focus group interviews consistently demonstrated that people of Southeast Nigeria exhibited a peculiar flair for entrepreneurial activities. The participants offered various explanations including apprenticeship and serial mentorship, preference for independence, early childhood introduction to business by family, survivalist mentality and profit motives as distinguishing the Southeast people from their South-south counterpart. The graduates from the two regions may follow the same observed pattern toward entrepreneurial activities. This research therefore demonstrates that using only one method to examine the phenomenon might lead to false claims to knowledge; examining the concept deeper through the vantage position of the affected (participants) will offer better solutions for policy on what students perceive can attract them to entrepreneurship.

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Factors that influence entrepreneurial intentions among undergraduates of South-south and Southeast Nigeria

This study extends the literature on the relevance of the Igbo Traditional Business School (ITBS) in building entrepreneurial potential and intention in an emerging African economy – Nigeria. Two k...

Exploring the relevance of Igbo Traditional Business School in the development of entrepreneurial potential and intention in Nigeria

It is no doubt that Igbo entrepreneurs play vital roles in the growth of the Nigerian economy. Igbo Entrepreneurial activities have been observed to be a backbone for the economy of Nigeria and have facilitated improved standard of living of the people at both rural and urban settings. This study aims at investigating whether the Igbo entrepreneurial activities are the panacea for the Nigerian economic growth and development, and whether the Igbo Trade Apprenticeship System is a rationale behind their business success. The study used both primary and secondary source for gathering reliable and adequate data and information. The primary sources of data include the personal interview and questionnaire administered to the sampled metropolises (Sango-Ota, Ifo, Oshodi and Apapa); and the secondary sources include textbooks, journal and internet. Taro Yamane sampling method was adopted to determine the sample size, and Bowler’s proportional allocation method to distribute questionnaires in these selected metropolises. To analyze the data gathered for this study, descriptive statistical tool, tables and Likert Scale method were used. The study revealed that the Igbo entrepreneurial activities are the panacea for the Nigerian economic growth and development, and that ITAS is a business success factor. It was concluded that the Igbo entrepreneurial activities are the panacea for the Nigerian economic growth and development. The study therefore recommended that Nigerians and the people of other developing countries of the world should emulate the Igbo entrepreneurship culture for economic development purpose.

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Juwon Johnson

Papers

An Exploratory Study Of Igbo Entrepreneurial Activity And Business Success In Nigeria As The Panacea For Economic Growth And Development