Date of Conferral

2022

Degree

Ph.D.

School

Management

Advisor

Raghu B. Korrapati

Abstract

Southeastern Nigeria is known for high entrepreneurial activity. However, there is an observable high small business mortality in one of the major commercial cities, which many scholars argue could be connected to insufficient entrepreneurial development. The purpose of this qualitative transcendental phenomenological study was to explore the phenomenon of insufficient entrepreneurial development and short business life span among small and medium scale businesses in a major city of Southeastern Nigeria. Scholars have stated five years or less as the average lifespan of a small or medium scale business enterprise in Southeastern Nigeria. This study was based on the theories of entrepreneurial development, financial inclusion, and economic growth to explore the lived experiences of small business entrepreneurs related to running and growing their small businesses in a Southeastern Nigerian city. Twenty small business owners were chosen to participate in face-to-face semi-structured interviews. NVivo 11, and modified Van Kaam were used in analyzing data. A central theme of difficulty in running and managing a small business emerged with four subthemes: (a) lack of access to finance, (b) lack of prior enterprise management experience, (c) lack of entrepreneurial education, and (d) inadequate social infrastructure. Recommendations for improvement include the need for policy makers to acknowledge the importance of financial inclusion in entrepreneurship and for entrepreneurs to understand the skill sets necessary to prepare for the uncertainties involved in entrepreneurship. The study could help bring about positive social change through entrepreneurial stability, economic growth, job creation and reduction in negative social behaviors such as petty and violent crimes because of unemployment.

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