Challenges to the Utilization of Information and Communication Technology by Entrepreneurs in South-East, Nigeria

This study was aimed at determining the challenges to utilization of Information and Communication Technology by entrepreneurs in South-East, Nigeria. One research question was posed to identify the challenges to utilization of ICT by entrepreneurs in South-East, Nigeria . One null hypothesis tested at 0.05 level of significance guided the study. The design used for the study was descriptive survey and the instrument was structured questionnaire. The population of the study was all the 1251 registered entrepreneurs of medium and large scale enterprises in the private sector, from which a sample of 723 respondents were drawn using proportionate stratifies random sampling technique. Mean and standard deviation were used in analyzing the data collected from the research question and real limit of numbers was used to judge the responses as to whether they were high or low. The t-test statistics were used to test the hypothesis. Findings of the study showed that there are challenges to a high extent in utilization of ICT by entrepreneurs in South-East, Nigeria. The null hypothesis of no significant difference in challenges was not rejected. Based on the findings, recommendations were made which include that government should establish policies which induce reductions in the general burden of regulation, taxation and cost of internet access to spur entrepreneurs on the use of ICT in their enterprises, government should ensure regular power supply to entrepreneurs to reduce the cost of much use of generator, government should make computer education compulsory at all levels of education to make more members of the society ICT compliant and entrepreneurs should organize regular ICT courses for their staff to upgrade their knowledge of new technology.