ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCY NEEDS OF BUSINESS EDUCATION STUDENTS IN UNIVERSITIES FOR SUCCESSFUL SMALL-SCALE BUSINESS IN ENUGU STATE

This study focused on Entrepreneurial Competency Needs of Business Education Students’in Universities for Successful Small-Scale Businesses in Enugu State. Three research questions and three null hypotheses guided the study. The population for the study was 91 business educators and university graduate entrepreneurs. The entire population was used in the study because the population was small and manageable. A 61-item structured questionnaire was developed and used for data collection. The instrument was validated by three experts, two from Department of Technology and Vocational Education and one from Science and Computer Education (Measurement and Evaluation Unit), all in Faculty of Education Enugu State University of Science and Technology, Enugu. Cronbach Alpha was used to determine the reliability Coefficient of the three sections of the instrument and they ranged from .66 to .77 while the reliability Coefficient of the whole instrument gave a value of .69 The data collected were analyzed using mean with standard deviation while t-test statistic was used to test the null hypothesis at .05 level of significance at appropriate degree of freedom. The result of the findings revealed that all the items under managerial competency, interpersonal competency and, accounting competency were highly needed by Business Education students in universities for successful small-scale businesses in Enugu State. The null hypotheses tested showed no significant difference in the mean ratings of Business Educators and graduate entrepreneurs to the research question. Based on these findings, some implications were deduced and it was recommended among others that, universities offering business education program should ensure that entrepreneurial competencies are incorporated in their program to prepare the students adequately for small scale businesses. Managerial competencies in small scale business should be taught to the students to prepare them for effective management of their business activities. The identified interpersonal competencies should be part of the students ‘training to enable them to relate well with the public. Business educators should ensure that accounting competencies for financial management of small-scale businesses are taught to the students to enable them have skills in processing accounts, receivable and account payable to small scale business