ENTREPRENEURS’ RATING OF TECHNICAL COMPETENCIES REQUIRED OF BUSINESS EDUCATION GRADUATES FOR ESTABLISHING SMALL AND MEDIUM SCALE ENTERPRISES IN ANAMBRA STATE

The need to improve employment opportunities and self-reliant necessitated this
study to ascertain entrepreneurs’ rating of technical competencies required of
business education graduates for establishing small and medium scale enterprises in
Anambra State. One research question guided the study and two null hypotheses were
tested at 0.05 level of significance. Descriptive survey research design was employed.
The population consisted 811 small and medium scale entrepreneurs in Anambra
State. A total of 243 of these entrepreneurs were sampled using the proportionate
stratified sampling technique. The instrument for data collection was a structured
questionnaire titled “Technical Competencies for Establishing Small and Medium
Scale Enterprises Questionnaire (TCESMSEQ)” with 10 items. The instrument was
validated by three experts. The reliability coefficient was 0.79 and was obtained using
Crombach alpha method. Out of a total of 243 copies of the questionnaire distributed,
232 copies were retrieved which represented 95 percent retrieval. The data collected
were analyzed using mean and standard deviation in answering the research
questions and to check the respondent responses to the mean. The z-test and ANOVA
were used for testing the null hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The findings
revealed that technical competencies were considered required of business education
graduates for establishing small and medium scale enterprises. The findings also
revealed that gender had no significant influence on SMEs operators’ consideration
of the technical competencies required of business education graduates for
establishing small and medium scale enterprises. Based on the findings of this study,
it was concluded that SMEs entrepreneurs in Anambra State were of the opinion that
Business Education graduates required technical, competencies for the establishment
of small and medium scale enterprises. The study recommended among others that the
administrators of business education programmes should partner with entrepreneurs
to organize training programmes that will help equip business education students
with the requisite technical competencies

Entrepreneur, technical competencies, business education graduates, small and medium scale enterprises,

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