CHAPTERONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1     Backgroundof the study

There is no country in the modern world where animprovement in the material level of living is not regarded as a desirable goalby rulers and citizens alike. The growing acceptance of the need to dosomething for the poor, can be noticed in the numerous poverty alleviationprogrammes in Nigeria, the average Nigerian still lives subsist below theabsolute poverty line. Amongst the challenges that confront Nigeria, a majorcontributory factor was the style and expectations of the development strategythat was pursued and faced with this failure; the need for a meaningfulnational development is not only necessary but also imperative. To this end, alot of economic reform programmes or strategies have evolved but recentlyspecial emphasis is being made on self-reliance via entrepreneur and itsnumerous small and medium enterprises. The economic success of the countries ofsouth east, Asia, and America is traceable to the contributions made byself-reliant individuals (entrepreneurs), through their numerous small mediumdevelopment depend on the entrepreneur who makes a living by creating newbusiness new jobs and new ideas. Entrepreneur means different things todifferent people. In other to appreciate this study more, some concepts thatare associated with this study will be explained.According to Oxford advancedLearner’s dictionary it defines entrepreneur as a person who starts ororganizes a commercial enterprises, especially one involving financial risk. Toan economist, entrepreneur is one who brings resources, labour, materials andother assets into combination that make their value greater than before and whointroduce changes, innovations and a new order. Entrepreneurs are the risktakers who create businesses; they assemble all the factors of production in aneffort to start and operate a business and to make a profit. For Schumpeter“the whole process of economic change hung ultimately on the person who makesit happen–the entrepreneurs”. Entrepreneurship involves combining to initiatechanges in production hence it is essentially the promotion of economic change,it is a process involving the entrepreneur and an entrepreneurial career.Hirsch and Peters in their text entitled entrepreneurship: describes thisprocess as one of creating something difficult with value by devoting thenecessary time and assuming the accompanying financial, psychic and socialrisks and receiving the resulting, the rewards of monetary and personalsatisfaction. In Nigeria, many policies are constantly being implemented toensure their survival which will in turn enable them contribute maximally toeconomic development but there challenges were intensified more by the perennialenergy crisis, weak infrastructure, poor import and export policies, tariffstructure among others, which have prevailed in the country for some time now.These have, inevitably led to the near collapse and failure of the small scaleenterprises. The government of this country should look into the modalities ofsolving these challenges. It is therefore against this background that thiswork sets out to evaluate entrepreneurship development in Lafia Metropolis,Nassarawa State, considering some small scale enterprises.