ENTREPRENEURIAL LEADERSHIP AS A CATALYST FOR THE PERFORMANCE OF SMALL AND MEDIUM SCALE ENTERPRISES IN ABIA STATE.

Purpose: The study addresses the lack of adequate entrepreneurial leadership among small and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs) in Abia State. It aims to investigate the influence of entrepreneurial leadership on SME performance, focusing specifically on risk-taking propensity, opportunity recognition, and proactiveness. Methodology: A correlation research design was employed. The study population comprised 640 skilled workers from selected SMEs in Abia State. Using Krejcie and Morgan's (1970) formula, a sample size of 240 was determined. Data was collected through a validated and reliable questionnaire. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used for data analysis, with hypotheses tested at a 5% significance level. Findings: The analysis indicated that risk-taking propensity has a strong influence on competitiveness. Opportunity recognition was found to significantly enhance job satisfaction, while proactiveness was moderately associated with customer satisfaction but did not have a significant influence on it. Conclusion: Entrepreneurial leadership significantly influences the performance of SMEs in Abia State. The study recommends that SMEs in Abia State should prioritize fostering a culture of risk-taking to enhance their competitive edge, as this factor has shown a significant positive impact on Competitiveness, further research should explore additional factors or external variables that might influence job satisfaction, given that opportunity recognition did not demonstrate a significant effect, businesses should consider alternative strategies to improve customer satisfaction beyond proactiveness, as this factor was not found to significantly impact satisfaction levels