ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCE AND SMALL AND MEDIUM SCALE ENTERPRISES (SMEs) PERFORMANCE

ABSTRACT

Entrepreneurial competence is a veritable tool that determined the success and growth of entrepreneurial ventures. This study therefore examines the impact of entrepreneurial competencies on the performance of small and medium scale enterprises in Benin City. Survey research design was employed in the study which is cross sectional. Primary data was collected through hand-administration of questionnaires to respondents using stratified and simple random sampling technique. The data was collected from a sample of 120 out of a population of 150 owners/managers in Benin City. Furthermore, descriptive and percentage/inferential statistics was used to analyze the data that were collected for the research with the aid of Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version. The findings revealed that entrepreneurial skills and entrepreneurial characteristics have significant effect on the performance of SMEs in the state, also it is therefore recommended that there is a need for entrepreneurs to be trained in a bid to acquire requisite knowledge and entrepreneurial skills, such as; interpersonal skills, administrative skills, decision-making skills etc. in a bid to help improve the performance of their entrepreneurial ventures/enterprises, to give opportunity to potential entrepreneurs to be trained by government/NGOs in a bid to instill entrepreneurial orientation/mindset into desiring youths and be given credit facilities to encourage entrepreneurial activities in the country as entrepreneurship contributes greatly to the economy of a nation.