CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the Study

Although specific statistical evidence may not yet be readily available, there is hardly any doubt that business enterprises employing less than fifty full-time employees dominate the Nigerian economy today, not only in terms of their sheer number but also in terms of volume of employment. They dot every nock and cranny of every city; even in the rural areas, they predominate. With every limited growth and employment in the large scale business sector and dwindling employment opportunities in government, the various levels of government in Nigeria have continued to encourage young school levers and the large number of young and not so-young people who have been retrenched in recent time to seek self employment.

The kind of business described above is small-scale business which Osaze (1986) describes, as “(a business) which is owned, managed, controlled by one or two persons, his family influenced in decision making, has an undifferentiated organizational structure, has a relatively small share of the market and employs less than fifty people”. The history of industrial revolution in developed and developing countries have shown that Small-scale businesses are the driving force of industrial development.