BUSINESS EDUCATION GRADUATE ENTREPRENEURS’ RATING OF FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT AND INNOVATIVE THINKING SKILLS UTILIZATION IN ENTREPRENEURAL VENTURES IN NORTH CENTRAL STATES, NIGERIA

The study investigated NCE business education graduate entrepreneurs’ ratings of
financial management and innovative thinking skills utilization in entrepreneurial
ventures in North Central States, Nigeria. The study which employed a descriptive
survey identified two entrepreneurial skills which were financial management and
innovative thinking skills. Two research questions and two hypotheses were
formulated for the study. The entire registered 149 NCE business education graduate
entrepreneurs operating in the North Central States, Nigeria constituted the
population of the study. There was no sampling since the entire population was
considered manageable. 30-item structured questionnaire titled Questionnaire on
Entrepreneurs’ Rating of Entrepreneurial Skills Utilization in Entrepreneurship
(QERESUE) was adopted for the study. The reliability of the instrument was
ascertained using Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient to obtain rcoefficient of 0.77 and 0.82, respectively for clusters B1and B2 of the questionnaire.
The questionnaire was distributed to the 149 NCE business education graduate
entrepreneurs in the North Central States, Nigeria. Four copies of the questionnaire
were not returned and so 145 copies were used for the study. The research questions
were analyzed using descriptive statistics of mean and standard deviation. t-test and
ANOVA were used to test the null hypotheses of the study at a 0.05 level of
significance. The findings of the study revealed that financial management skills were
sometimes utilized in entrepreneurship, while Innovative thinking skills were often
used. With respect to the findings, the following recommendations were put forward,
among which was that institutional authorities in collaboration with the National
Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE) should, as a matter of policy institute
regular training in entrepreneurial skills development for all teachers of business
education to enable them acquire adequate knowledge of financial management skills
and innovative thinking skills so as to be in a better position to impact it effectively
for optimal utilization.

Skills, Entrepreneurship, Financial Management Skills, Innovative Thinking Skills,

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