An Exploratory Study of Igbo Business Mentoring (Nwa Boy) for Establishing Small-Scale Enterprise: Panacea to Youth Unemployment in South-East Geo-Political Zone of Nigeria

In both developed and developing societies, entrepreneurship is not only considered panacea to youth unemployment; it is regarded a vital strategy of economic growth and national development. In a developing society like Nigeria, studies have shown its importance in creating employment opportunities for the youth but such studies neglected the usefulness of Igbo business mentoring. Also, other studies have shown different strategies for starting enterprenurship but it has been observed that such studies ignored the Igbo business mentoring (nwa boy) in-spite of its reputation for raising entrepreneurs among youth in the South-East Geo-Political Zone of Nigeria. Given this, the present study, used data from secondary source to: (i) find out factors which predispose youth to engage in Igbo business mentoring (nwa boy); (ii) ascertain the differences between Igbo business mentoring (nwa boy) and other forms of apprenticeship; and (iii) investigate the contributions of the Igbo business mentoring (nwa boy) to small-scale enterprise, job creation and national development. Based on facts in the literature review, the study argued that Igbo business mentoring (nwa boy) has been promoting self-employment drive among youth in the region. It also maintained that it has been contributing to entrepreneurial activities in the zone and across Nigeria. Finally, the study averred that the scheme could become a veritable stratagem for addressing the problem of unemployment among youth if the government, at all level, could lend its support to it. With government support for the scheme, youth in other Geo-Political Zones of the country could engage in it so as to be self-employed and be free from the scourge of unemployment.