On Being an Entrepreneur: the Nigerian Perspective

It is common knowledge that the success of an economy rests on the strength of its entrepreneurs. Present-day challenges make it imperative for countries in the same bracket as Nigeria to deemphasize reliance on oil and government for social crumbs, to embrace innovative activities and deepen small and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs). SMEs are important drivers of economic growth but they face significant challenges as obtained in Nigeria where infrastructures such as power, transportation and financing needed to make entrepreneurship work seldom exists. With a high unemployment rate, young Nigerians are required to embrace entrepreneurship. The aim of this paper is to present the Nigerian entrepreneur within the country’s challenging business environment as a true definition of an entrepreneur despite the general definition. We presented a set of questions and gathered feedback through a set of questionnaires administered using purposive sampling on 6 trade associations in Iwo Town, Osun state, Nigeria