Apprenticeship and Entrepreneurship Development among Igbo Traders in Nigeria

The soaring poverty and unemployment rate in Nigeria orchestrated by rising business mortality has engendered the awakened interest for empirical investigation into apprenticeship and entrepreneurship development in Nigeria. The study sought to determine the extent to which start up capital, business skill, tenure of apprenticeship, mentorship and business tolerance has influence survival rate among Igbo traders. The questionnaire was used for collection of data on a sample of 348 respondents drawn from two major markets in southeast Nigeria using multi staged sampling technique. Data collected were analyzed using t test statistics and the linear regression model. Findings revealed that start up capital, business skills, tenure of apprenticeship, mentoring, business tolerance and financial discipline has a direct and positive relationship with survival rate among Igbo traders in South East, Nigeria. However, from the hypothesis tested, it was revealed that all the variable construct start up capital, mentoring, business skills, tenure of apprenticeship and business tolerance have significant influence on the survival rate among Igbo traders in South East, Nigeria. Based on the findings of this study, the following recommendations are made To ensure that start up capital are dully provided to apprentice, parents and representative of the apprentice should ensure a legally documented agreement between the master and the apprentice. Parents and representatives of the apprentice should advise their ward on the need to be patient and diligent to carefully learn the business skills from the master because this is the basis for apprenticeship. Parents and representatives of the apprentice should advise their ward to ensure that they complete their apprenticeship. This is important as tenure of apprenticeship is imperative for developing the needed business skills for entrepreneurship development. Masters should endeavour to mentor their apprentice because through mentoring they can build very strong business synergy in the long run. The apprentice should remain steadfast and focused in learning the trade. This will help him develop the needed resilience and tolerance for entrepreneurship development. Orogbu, Lilian Obiageli | Onyeizugbe, Chinedu Uzochukwu | Onuzulike-Chukwuemeka, Nkechi F "Apprenticeship and Entrepreneurship Development among Igbo Traders in Nigeria" Published in International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (ijtsrd), ISSN: 2456-6470, Volume-5 | Issue-6 , October 2021, URL: https://www.ijtsrd.com/papers/ijtsrd47561.pdf Paper URL : https://www.ijtsrd.com/management/mis-and-retail-management/47561/apprenticeship-and-entrepreneurship-development-among-igbo-traders-in-nigeria/orogbu-lilian-obiageli