The Impact of Entrepreneurial Skills Development Programmes on the Performance of Women Entrepreneurs in Kaduna State, Nigeria

Abstract

The understanding and acquisition of entrepreneurial skills, most especially in the business environment is a minimum requirement for a competent and successful entrepreneur. The study evaluates the impact of entrepreneurial skills development programmes (ESDPs) on turnover, capital, number of employees, market availability and profit before tax to the development and performance of women entrepreneurs in Kaduna state. The population for the study is made up of two hundred and eighty (280) entrepreneurs comprising of two hundred and fifty nine (259) Private Schools in Kaduna state that are owned by women and registered with the Ministry of Education under Kaduna State Private Schools Management Board and 21 women poultry farmers that are registered with Kaduna State Poultry Farmers Association. The study arrives at a sample of seventy three (73) women entrepreneurs, using the sample formula developed by Araoye (2004). Data were obtained through the use of questionnaire administered to all the respondents and descriptive statistics were used to analyse the data, while the student t test, Wilcoxon W test, the Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) technique and the Kruskal Wallis non-parametric equivalent statistical tools were used to test the hypotheses. The results showed that in terms of turnover level, number of employees, market availability and profit before tax, there is a significant difference between the pre and the post ESDP performance of women entrepreneurs in Kaduna state. This meant that post ESDP’s period was better than the pre period in all the variables tested. However, in terms of capital, the difference between the pre and post ESDPs performance of the women entrepreneurs was insignificant. It was concluded that ESDPs have some impact on the development and performance of women entrepreneurs’ in their businesses on all the parameters assessed. It is recommended that government should enhance level of sponsorship and encouragement of women participation in entrepreneurial skills acquisition at all levels. ESDPs in Nigeria, and particularly in Kaduna state should be redesigned, as often as possible, to meet up with the dynamism in the global business environment.