CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

The global economic recession has made Nigeria face multidimensional,

political, economic, and social problems giving rise to high rate of unemployment and

poverty. One of such social problems Nigeria has today, is over dependence on

government for the creation of jobs. From every indication the over dependence on

government for job creation have lead to over-flow of graduate unemployment. The rate

of increase in unemployment has been alarming lately. A recent report from Bureau for

statistics put unemployment rate at 88 per cent with 49 per cent at urban cities and 37.9

percent at the rural areas.

The ever increasing trend of unemployment has proved that entrepreneurship is

inevitable to curb it, ensure self-employment, and self-reliance. In recognition of this

and to have a change of mindset, the Nigerian government/s have constantly pursued

economic policies that is geared towards self-reliance, and poverty alleviation, which

thrust has been manifested in programmes like National Directorate of Employment

(NDE), and the rest aimed at helping the young graduates to acquire necessary skills

and funds that will enable them to become entrepreneurs. However, all the lofty policies

met with little success because there was no early foundation from the institutions of

higher learning where these youths graduated from in this direction (Ezeh, 2011).

Almost all the policies were focused on providing the citizens fish without showing them

how to catch fishes.

1
 In response to this assertion, the federal government resorted to infuse

entrepreneurship into the curriculum of our tertiary institutions through the Central Bank

of Nigeria (CBN) in collaboration with Centre for Entrepreneurship and Development

Research (CEDR) established in tertiary institutions like Universities and Polytechnics

with the aim of making the populace managers of their own, to train and retrain potential

graduates through entrepreneurship education. The CEDR service all other

departments in the Polytechnics.

Entrepreneurship education according to Ezeh, (2011) is specialized training

given to students to acquire skills, ideas, and management abilities necessary for self-

reliance. It is the Entrepreneur who serves as the spark plug in the economy’s engine,

activating and stimulating all economic activities.

Study by Central Bank of Nigeria (2003) entrepreneurship and training for job

creation reported that over 80 per cent of the Nigerian labour forces are employed by

small and medium scale enterprises. Advanced countries of the world like Japan,

United States of America (USA) and so on, attained economic growth through small and

medium scale enterprises (Central Bank of Nigeria, 2003). Entrepreneurship education

in the curriculum of tertiary institutions like the Polytechnic has the potential to make its

recipients self-reliant and job creators not job seekers, thereby relieving Government

the burden of creating jobs, establishing a positive, multiplier effect in the economy,

which will reduce the level of poverty and embrace development. This is premised on

the fact that when students are adequately trained on entrepreneurial skills in their

respective areas of specialization, they will be able to establish a profitable private small

business venture as entrepreneurs.

 Entrepreneurs are persons (individuals) who conceive the idea for a business

venture, gather the necessary human, material, financial and physical resources to start

the operations of the venture and grow it to the point where more people are added to

the organisation and they usually bear the most personal, environmental and financial

risk in beginning the venture. An entrepreneur in the view of Anugwom (2002), is an

individual who engages in managerial activities of planning, controlling, organising,

directing and co-ordinating any business to achieve the objectives of the enterprise.

Entrepreneurs are the major actors in a nation’s private entrepreneurship sector. The

act of entrepreneur is referred to as entrepreneurship (Osuala, 2008).

Entrepreneurship is the bedrock of economic growth in any nation. The European

Commission (EU) report (2008) refers to entrepreneurship as an individual’s ability to

turn ideas into action. It includes creativity, innovation and risk taking as well as ability to

plan and manage projects in order to achieve objectives through application of the

required skills. According to Timmons in Isike and Emoga (2008), entrepreneurship is

the process of planning small business venture, organising people and resources to

create, develop and implement solution to a problem to meet people’s needs. Isike and

Emoga (2008) further described entrepreneurship as the willingness and ability to

identify business opportunities through creativity and innovation and establishing

necessary machinery to run business enterprise successfully. According to the authors,

entrepreneurship is usually about creating and running ones own small business.

A small business enterprise in the views of Osadi, (2007); Isike & Emoga (2010)

is that business which is independently owned and managed by private individual to

meet up their desired income and their employment needs. Also, Okoh and Egberi in
Anoluo (2011), views small business enterprise as one which possess the following

characteristics: managers are also the owners, capital is supplied and ownership is held

by an individual or small group; area of operation is mainly local, and relative size of the

firm within its industry must be small when compared with the biggest units in its field.

Small scale enterprises have crucial roles to play in the process of economic

development especially in a capital scale economy like Nigeria and North Western zone

in particular (Mamman, 2010).

The environment in which small scale business enterprise operate is constantly

changing and developing, as entrepreneurs adapt to the vagaries of the market,

changing consumer habits, enhanced environmental regulations and so on (Anyakoha,

2009). Based on these challenges, the polytechnic education curricula are being

restructured with emphasis being placed on vocationalization and entrepreneurship.

Polytechnic education is a form of tertiary education that inculcates vocational

and technical skills into the recipients (Ojetokun and Omale, 2010). It is a Vocational

and Technical Education (VTE) as enshrined in the National Policy of Education (NPE,

2004) with the objectives to give training and impact the necessary skills for the

production of craftsmen, technicians, technologists, applied scientists, and skilled

personnel who shall be enterprising and self-reliant (NBTE, 2006). The National Board

for Technical Education (NBTE) is the agency vested with the responsibility for quality

control in Polytechnic programmes throughout the federation of Nigeria.

In response to advancement in technology, the nomenclature ‘Secretarial

Studies, have been changed to Office Technology and Management (OTM). Office

Technology and Management (OTM), programme is an example of restructuring

process in polytechnics where the students are exposed to the acquisition of vocational

skills in office and technology management as well as enterprise (Okwuanaso and

Obayi 2006). The OTM programme is designed to equip secretarial and office

graduates with practical, professional, entrepreneurial/vocational and socio-

psychological work skills for employment in various fields of endeavour (NBTE in Okoro,

2010; Adelakin, 2009). OTM is a programme that plays a major role in the building of

economic base of the nation towards self-reliance as entrepreneurial opportunities exist

therein (Ezeh, 2011).

A Polytechnic Office Technology and Management (OTM) graduate with

reference to this study is one who have been trained in and passed prescribed courses

after 2 years of National Diploma (ND) and 2 years of Higher National Diploma (HND)

(NBTE, 2004). This group of students are trained by OTM lecturers to be entrepreneurs.

Office Technology and Management lecturers are seasoned business educators who

equip the OTM students with relevant skills in their core subjects while (CEDR) lecturers

are trained specialists trained in entrepreneurship development in the polytechnics.

Being entrepreneurial, Isike and Emoga (2008) said, means combining personal

characteristic with other resources within ones environment and taking advantage of

them for rewarding outcomes. The entrepreneur’s most essential tool to succeed is

his/her skill and creative idea generation ability.

Skill according to Uche, (2008) is the individual’s ability or abilities to perform

specific tasks of assignment successfully. Osinem (2008) also sees skill as the ability to

perform an act expertly. In the same vein, Webster, (2008) defined skill as the capacity

of a person to accomplish a task with desired precision and certainty. Skill involves
practical knowledge in combination with cleverness, expertise, dexterity and ability to

perform a function which could be acquired or learnt in school. Skill in OTM is

identified in the study as paramount attributes of an entrepreneur whose aim is to meet

the satisfactory service desired of his/her customers.

A wide range of skills are seen as entrepreneurial and useful to entrepreneurs.

They include both personal attributes and behavioural skills (Ezeh, 2011). In addition to

having personal attributes, behaviours and values associated with being enterprising,

Ezeh, posit, entrepreneurs also need a range of skills to start-up, develop and grow

their business ventures. Entrepreneurial skills therefore are those behaviours,

knowledge, attributes, abilities and capabilities possessed by an entrepreneur to be able

to function effectively in a highly competitive environment. The author stated that it

involves an interrelated process of human resources development. Entrepreneurial skill

in this study is the skills which help people look for opportunities to start their

businesses and improve business performance. Government (federal, state and local)

have to promote the acquisition of entrepreneurial skills in order to reduce

unemployment.

In the opinion of Azubike (2006), acquisition of entrepreneurial skills means

possessing the ability to generate good ideas, find and evaluate business opportunities,

gather the necessary resources, initiate appropriate actions to ensure success, and

implement action to take advantage of the opportunities for rewarding outcome. The

idea of entrepreneurship skills is relatively new. It has been long realised that narrow,

specific technical training fails to equip people for changes in both the economy and in

occupations. Therefore, for OTM graduates to be able to achieve self employment

status, Ezeh (2011) stated that, they require more than occupational specifics or

“technical” skills to be competent in employment (paid or self). These skills, which could

be clusters of business planning, administrative management, personality traits,

interpersonal communication, financial records management, marketing, and

information technology skills.

Good planning is a major factor in the success of a business venture. Obviously

an entrepreneur needs a more detailed plan before launching into a business to assess

the feasibility of the business venture. Possession planning skills will enable the

graduates to critically develop business ideas, recognise opportunities in the

environment, take decision to go into the business, source and organise the essential

resources for starting the business.

The skills that will enable the entrepreneur organise the resources like money,

man, machinery is the administrative skills. According to Okechukwu, (2009) the

administrative skills include: locating the business environment, identifying product line,

recruiting staff, motivation, leading and directing the work force for the effective use of

monies acquired, equipment and other facilities for smooth operation and production,

delegate and supervise responsibilities, having a visionary leadership inspires others to

work with you towards that vision through effective interpersonal relationship.

To achieve the organisational goals in any business require working with people

(Okechukwu, 2009). With high growth in the service sector and a corresponding decline

in large scale manufacturing and production, more workers have direct contact with

colleagues and customers and interpersonal skill is essential in this case.The

entrepreneur need to be people oriented, have good listening habit, communicate

effectively, be trusted by all, get along with others, having good time management and

others. These skills will be effective when combined with the personality characteristics

of the entrepreneur.

Personality traits, according to Coon (2004) is the stable qualities that a person

shows in most situations. There are some in-born qualities or potentials of an individual

that naturally make him an entrepreneur. Some of the characteristics or behaviors are

that they tend to be more opportunity, high level of creativity and innovation, found to

be optimistic, emotionally resilient, shows commitment and perseverance, display a

positive self image, have high integrity and above all visionary. These skills enables the

entrepreneurs manage their finance effectively

Also important is the financial records management skills. Olatunbosun (2006)

conceptualised financial management activities as that which is concerned with the

planning and controlling of financial resources of an enterprise. Negotiation of financial

assistance or funds for running a private business enterprise is not an easy task as the

financiers go beyond the physical structures in the organisation to access the potentials

of their would be customer. They look at the level of entrepreneurial skills possessed by

the individual/s. Accurate financial records management helps in forecasting the

entrepreneurial market.

The products/services of entrepreneur must get to the consumers through

marketing which plays significant role in the conduct of entrepreneurial activities.

Okpan, (2006) identified marketing skills of the entrepreneurs to include: ability to

capture and retain the attention of customers; establish and maintain contact with

customer, determine consumer needs, promote and sell the organisation products,
analyze demand and supply situations, effective market and information research.

Modern markets use Information Technology skills extensively (Okechukwu, 2009).

Information Technology (IT) according to Bongotons and Onyenwe, (2010),

occupies a strategic role in the scheme of human existence through which

communication of information product development is facilitated. IT according to

Wikipedia, (2008) is the capability to electronically input, process, store, output, transmit

and receive data or information. In this era of technology modernisation, IT skill is very

crucial to Polytechnic OTM graduates.

Polytechnic OTM graduates have the propensity to make a direct and positive

impact on Nigerian economy. If the OTM graduates are trained to acquire the

necessary entrepreneurial skills, they can engage in small scale business of their own

for a comfortable living (Atueyi, 2010). This development will help to bridge the gap in

education mismatch, reduce unemployment problems, reduce the rate of business

failure, raise the Gross National Product (GNP) of the economy, raise the income and

also make citizens self- reliant. This makes it imperative to find out skills that will

enhance entrepreneurial capabilities of Polytechnic OTM graduates for self employment

on graduation.

Statement of Problem

The idea of entrepreneurial skills is relatively new in educational and business

sectors. It has been realized by the educational institutions that due to incidence of

rapid unemployment trend that narrow, specific technical training received in schools fail

to equip graduates for changes in both the economy and in occupations. The concept
is that people (graduates) need more than occupational specific or “technical” skills to

be competent in any form of employment (self or paid).

Consequently, moving from large scale manufacturing and production economy

to a service economy sector, more employees have to deal directly with colleagues and

customer. Quite clearly more skills are needed in order to be judged as competent in

the modern economy. The skills are not of single type. There are interpersonal-

communication skills, which involve interaction with other people in response to the

growth in team working environment, and more direct customer contact. Increased

responsibility and changing work roles means that people need to have planning,

administrative and personal characteristics. It is also expected that young graduates

should understand the market economy a little better. Changes in technology means

that people require to be able to use Information Communication Technology (ICT)

equipments and system. These different types of skills are often grouped together as

core entrepreneurial skills.

However, due to other significant changes in the modern economy, enterprises

are becoming smaller, and small scale enterprises are being created. Large enterprises

are broken into divisions, enterprises are downsizing as technology replaces routine

manual work, project teams are created with wider responsibilities.

In the wider economy, small enterprises are seen to be the engine of economic

growth – most people work for small and medium enterprises and government now

encourage this trend with training, grants and tax incentives. More graduates are

expected to set up and run small businesses instead of usual dependence on

government to provide jobs. However, North-western geo-political zone has been noted
for ranking low in entrepreneurial aspirations. This situation is confirmed in the study of

Salihu in Mamman, 2010 with the states in the zone ranking lowest in poverty and

entrepreneurial aspirations table. This has lead to the interest in how to develop

entrepreneurial skills in the zone.

However, Nigeria have in recent time been experiencing the collapse and total

extinction of small scale businesses owned by graduates leaving a high mortality rate

which Ikeme (2007) put at 80 per cent failure in five to eight years of operations.

Anecdotal report showed that the businesses fail because most people who start the

business seemed to lack the critical skills and motivation sets required to start and

manage the business to growth.

No doubt therefore, most OTM graduates in the North-western geo-political

zone go into starting small businesses with the assumption that as they know how to

“do” the specific “technical” skill cluster of a business, they would, therefore, know how

to run a small scale business successfully. The issue is, if the OTM graduates possess

the core entrepreneurial skill clusters, would they have expanded more than their

present scope? The thrust of this study put in question form therefore, is: what are the

entrepreneurial skills required by the polytechnic OTM graduates for success in small

scale business on graduation?

Purpose of the Study

The main purpose of this study was to determine the entrepreneurial skills

required by Polytechnic Office Technology and Management (OTM) graduates for

running small scale business enterprises. Specifically, the study sought to determine:
 1. the entrepreneurial skills required in planning a small scale business by the

Polytechnic OTM graduates,

2. the personality traits required in small scale business by the Polytechnic OTM

graduates,

3. the administrative management skills required by Polytechnic OTM graduates for

managing small scale business;

4. the interpersonal communication skills required by Polytechnic OTM graduates

for managing small scale business,

5. the financial recording management skills required by Polytechnic OTM

graduates for managing small scale business;

6. the marketing management skills required by Polytechnic OTM graduates for

managing small scale business,

7. the information technology skills required by Polytechnic OTM graduates for

managing small scale business.

Significance of the Study

The findings of the study, will be of immense benefit to the Office Technology

and Management students, lecturers in the polytechnics, curriculum planners,

government and the society. The business planning skills that will be identified in the

study will provide the students with the planning competencies they need to establish

small scale business enterprise. The administrative skills identified in the study will

provide the students with the planning competencies in the administration needed to

ensure the constructive coordination of management effort at all levels into an effective
instrument for achieving corporate objectives. In addition, the financial records

management skills to be identified in this study will enable the students to be aware of

the ways of getting the fund for business, and use the fund effectively. The personality

traits to be identified in the study will enable the students to know the innate potentials

in them as they affect the establishment and management of small scale business

enterprise. The marketing skills identified by this study will provide the students with the

knowledge of marketing mix; enable the graduates to identify their customers and their

needs. Interpersonal communication skills identified in this study will enable the

graduates to relate and communicate effectively with their customers, clients, funders,

bankers and maintain cordial relationship with their workers. Furthermore, the IT skills

will enable the graduates to recognize the relevant ICT that is needed for running a

small scale business in ICT related areas.

The office technology lecturers in the Polytechnics will also benefit from the

findings of this study in the sense that their perception of entrepreneurship will change

making them to be entrepreneurial. Entrepreneurial skills to be identified in this study

will hopefully enlighten the OTM lecturers on a wide range of business planning

strategies, administrative, interpersonal communication; personality traits; marketing;

financial recording and IT skills required by OTM graduates for the establishing and

managing small scale business enterprise. Such knowledge would provide the basis on

which the lecturers will plan their lessons and teach the students the right type of skills

needed for productive work.

The result of the study would be of benefit to curriculum planners and

programme builders. The result of the study will help the curriculum planners to
identify, plan and develop the curriculum that will equip the OTM graduates with the

entrepreneurial skills needed to work and become effective in the world of work.

Program builders like National Board for Technical Education (NBTE), NABTEB, NUC,

would use the result to improve on the entrepreneurship development program in

polytechnics.

The Government would also find the study very useful. Government, through the

findings can articulate policy that will enhance and enrich entrepreneurship education in

all tertiary institutions. Such policies would assist government in the allocation of fund

and other resources for entrepreneurship education.

The society as a whole would benefit from the findings of this study. The

implementation of the curriculum, so designed incorporation the entrepreneurial skills,

will produce a pool of OTM graduates who will be enterprising and productive or

functional in the society. Invariably, this will help to reduce the rate of unemployment in

the country and its associated vices. Graduates with the required skills would be useful

in the general economic transformation of society.

Finally, future researchers who are interested in doing work on entrepreneurship,

will be able to use the suggested areas for further study, replicate the work. Such

research would build on the findings of the study to create their literature for the

successful completion of their study.

Research Questions
 1. What are the entrepreneurial skills required in planning a small scale business
by the Polytechnic OTM graduates?

2. What are the personality traits required in small scale business by the

Polytechnic OTM graduates?

3. What are the administrative management skills required by Polytechnic OTM

graduates for managing small scale business?

4. What are the interpersonal communication skills required by Polytechnic OTM

graduates for managing small scale business?

5. What are the financial recording management skills required by Polytechnic OTM

graduates for managing small scale business?

6. What are the marketing management skills required by Polytechnic OTM

graduates for managing small scale business?

7. What are the information technology skills required by Polytechnic OTM

graduates for managing small scale business?

Hypotheses
The following null hypotheses were formulated to guide the study and were

tested at 0.05 level of significance:

Ho1 There is no significant difference in the mean responses of Polytechnics OTM

lecturers and lecturers at Centre for Entrepreneurship and Development (CEDR)

on the planning skills required for small scale business by the Polytechnic OTM

graduates.
Ho2 There is no significant difference in the mean responses of the Polytechnic OTM

lecturers and lecturers at Centre for Entrepreneurship Development on the

Personality Traits required for small scale business by Polytechnic OTM

graduates.

Ho3 There is no significant difference in the mean responses of the federal

Polytechnic OTM lecturers and the state polytechnic lecturers on the

Administrative Management skills required for small scale business by the

Polytechnic OTM graduates.

Ho4 There is no significant difference in the mean responses of the Polytechnic OTM

lecturers and the state polytechnic lecturers on the Interpersonal Communication

skills required for small scale business by the Polytechnic OTM graduates.

Ho5 There is no significant difference in the mean responses of the Polytechnic OTM

lecturers and lecturers at Centre for Entrepreneurship Development on the

Financial Records Management required for small scale business by the

Polytechnic OTM graduates.

Ho6 There is no significant difference in the mean responses of the Polytechnic OTM

lecturers and lecturers at Centre for Entrepreneurship Development on the

Marketing Management skills required for small scale business by the

Polytechnic OTM graduates

Ho7 There is no significant difference in the mean responses of the federal

Polytechnic OTM Lecturers and the state polytechnic lecturers on the Information
 Technology skills required for small scale business by the Polytechnic OTM

graduate.

Delimitation of the Study

This study was delimited to identification of entrepreneurial skills required by

Polytechnics OTM graduates for success in a small scale business enterprise on

graduation. The identification was made to include entrepreneurial skills required by

OTM graduates for planning a small scale business enterprise, personality traits,

administrative management skills; interpersonal communication skill; financial records

management skills; marketing management skills; information technology operation

skills. The respondents for the study was delimited to Polytechnics Office Technology

and Management (OTM) lecturers drawn from the Polytechnics (state and federal) in

the North-western zone currently running the OTM programme. Only the lecturers were

used for the study. Also this study did include the medium and large scale business

enterprises.
 CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

The literature review is carried out under the following headings:

1. Conceptual Framework
- Entrepreneurship/Entrepreneur
- Office Technology and Management
- Approaches to Entrepreneurial Skill Acquisition
- Entrepreneurial Skills Required by Polytechnic OTM Graduates
2. Theoretical Framework
- Psychological Theory
- Economic Theory
- Sociological Theory
- Management Theory
3. Related Empirical Studies
4. Summary of Literature Reviewed.

Conceptual Framework of the Study

Conceptual framework according to Eboh (2009) is a schematic description and

illustration of the causative mechanisms and relationship deducible from the research

problems. Conceptual framework depicts a schema providing structural meaning and

linkages among major concepts or variables in a phenomena being investigated, their

interdependence and relationship with each other. With reference to this study,

conceptual framework means a coherent set of ideas arranged in such a manner that

makes it easy for readers to understand the activities carried out in the study.

18
Conceptual framework is used in research to help outline possible course of action or

present preferred approach. To the author, conceptual framework can act like a map

that gives coherent direction to empirical inquiry. The conceptual framework for the

study is presented a schema showing the structural linkages between variables or

concepts of interest in a phenomenon being investigated, their interdependence or

relationships with each other. Schemer means a chart, or diagram showing orderly

related parts. With reference to this study, schemer means a chart showing related

activities such as the relationship between polytechnics education, OTM graduates and

acquisition of entrepreneurship skills for success in small scale business ventures on

graduation.

Concept of Entrepreneurship/Entrepreneur.

Entrepreneurship is a key driver of any economy in the sense that majority of

jobs are created by small scale business started by entrepreneurial minded individuals

who later created big business (Abdulkadir, 2011). Since the Middle Ages,

Entrepreneurship has been defined by various professions to encompass many things

(Igbo, 2006). The entrepreneur as seen by Abdulkadir, (2011) is an anchor, innovator,

or a developer of technology. However, the term entrepreneurship has historically

referred to the efforts of an individual who takes risks in creating a successful business

enterprise. More recently, entrepreneurship has been conceptualized as a process that

can occur in organisations of all types and size (Kurger, 2004). According to Kurger, no

person, act or product is creative/entrepreneurial or non-creative/non-entrepreneurial in

itself. Judgment of creativity the author says are inherently communal, relying heavily

on individuals expertise within a domain. In consonance with the assertion, it is an

agreeable fact that in business, it is necessary to have an appropriate, useful and

actionable idea before it can be accepted as creative. It must somehow influence the

way business gets done – for instance by improving a product or by opening up a new

way to approach a process (Amabile in Kurger, 2004).

Entrepreneurship is defined in different perspectives which Kaufmann and Dant

in Kurger, (2004) categories as following: traits perspective; processes and or activities

perspectives. In the trait perspective, the entrepreneur is assumed to be a particular

personality type. It was found that entrepreneurship researchers initially concentrated

on a trait approach and that it is only during the eighties and later, that the researchers

started to focus on what entrepreneurs do rather than on what their character traits are

(Kaufmann and Dant in Kurger, 2004). In trait perspective, the entrepreneur is seen as:

 An individual who possesses qualities of risk-taking, leadership,

motivation, and the ability to resolve crises. (Osuala, 2008)

 Leaders and major contributors to the process of creative destruction

(Hisrich, Peters and Shepherd 2007);

 An individual who undertakes uncertain investments and possesses an

unusually low level of uncertain aversion (Kaufmann & Dant in Kurger

2004).

In the trait approach, the entrepreneurial attitudes and behaviours also include

openness to new information and people, motivation, making independent and self-

directed decisions, the ability to see opportunities in a rapidly changing uncertain

environment, persistence, motivation to achieve, personal integrity, being accountable,

capacity to manage and organise as well as specific categories of cultural

characteristics (Johnson 2001 in Kurger, 2004).

However, this trait perspective did not go without criticisms. A common criticism

of this perspective is that these traits are difficult to test or measure, and that it cannot

be proven that a set of essential entrepreneurial characteristics exist. Therefore, it

became more appropriate to accept the views of Jennings in Kurger (2004) that there is

a continuum along which several types of entrepreneurs exist. Some researchers see

entrepreneurship as a process and not personality trait. Two broad dimensions of

entrepreneurial process include: opportunity recognition and information search and

resource acquisition and business strategies. In the view of Kurger (2004), definitions of

entrepreneurship using the process perspective are:

 Entrepreneurship is the creation of new enterprise

 Entrepreneurship is the creation of new organisations.

 Entrepreneurship introduce new combination of the factors of production that,

when combined with credit, break into static equilibrium of the circular flow of

economic life and raise it to a new level;

 Entrepreneurship is the process of extracting profits from new, unique and

valuable combinations of resources in an uncertain and ambiguous environment.

Entrepreneurship according to Nwaogwugwu and Ugiagbe (2008); Egboh (2009);

Etonyeaku, (2009); Aruwa and Obiazi, (2010) is the process of perceiving business

opportunity, mobilizing resources (financial, human and otherwise) and initiating

actions(s) under an enterprise which characterized by risk taking, innovation and

creativity to meet individual groups or societal needs.

 There are almost as many definitions of entrepreneurship as there are scholars,

and books on the subject (Petrin,1994). According to the author, entrepreneurship

means primarily innovation, and risk taking, as well as a market stabilizing force. It also

means starting, owning and managing a small scale business. Defining

entrepreneurship as risk-taking neglects other major elements of what is usually taught

of as entrepreneurship, such as a well developed ability to recognise unexploited

market opportunities. Therefore, the most appropriate definition of entrepreneurship that

would fit into the context argued here Petrin further says, is the broader one, the one

which defines entrepreneurship as “a force that mobilizes other resources to meet

unmet market demand”. “The ability to create and build something from practically

nothing”. “The process of creating value by pulling together a unique package of

resources to exploit an opportunity”. The condition of being an entrepreneur, the role

and function of entrepreneur” (Hisrich, Peters and Stephen, 2002).

Entrepreneurship involves the ability to set up a business enterprise as different

from being employed (Anolue, 2011). Nzom (2006); Iloka (2008) in Anolue (2011)

defines entrepreneurship as the process of creating value by bringing together a unique

package of resources to exploit an opportunity. Also Udeh in Anolue described

entrepreneurship as the art of generating business ideas, identify investment

opportunities, formulating organisation objectives, conducting market research and

surveys and explore the resources available to start up small scale business

enterprises.

Small scale business enterprise according to Osadi (2007) is a business that is

independently owned and managed in its dominant field of operations by private

individuals to meet up their desired income and employment needs. Okoh and Egberi

(2008) views small scale business enterprise as one which possess the following

characteristics: usually the managers are also the owners, capital is supplied and the

ownership is held by an individual or small group; the area of operation is mainly local;

and the relative size of the firm within its industry must be small when compared with

biggest units in its field.

The entrepreneur is significant because the entrepreneur is the dynamic force

that disturbs the economic equilibrium through innovation by creating an entrepreneurial

process (Irevisan, Grundling and De Jager in Kurger, 2004). The entrepreneur lies at

the heart of the entrepreneurial process. According to Wielchnan in Kurger (2004),

Entrepreneurs as innovators, are people who create new, combinations of these factors

and then present them to the market for assessment by consumers. The value added,

Wielchman observed cannot always be measured in purely financial terms. The

entrepreneur, the author said, exists in a state of tension between actual and possible.

The tension is manifested in three dimensions that is, the financial, the personal and the

social. The entrepreneur as key person in the process seeks suitable business

opportunity and develops a framework for the commercialization of the product or

service. The entrepreneur is usually understood with reference to individual business.

According to Ezeh (2011); Atuenyi (2011)an entrepreneur has rightly been identified

with the individual, as success of enterprise depends upon imagination, vision,

innovativeness and risk taking. Wikipedia (2010) supported that entrepreneurship is a

creative and innovative skill and adapting response to environment. In the view of

Shane and Venkataraman (2000) entrepreneurship is the process of searching out

opportunities in the market place and arranging resources required to exploit these

opportunities for long term gains.

Dollinger (1995) described four factors that serves as impetus for

entrepreneurship:

 Negative displacement, that is, maginalisation of individuals/groups from

the core of society;

 Being between things for instance, being between student life and a

career;

 Positive push for example, a career path that offers entrepreneurial

opportunities or an education that gives the individual the appropriate

knowledge and opportunity; and

 Positive pull – mentors and partners encouraging the individuals (p. 35).

Two forces according to Welchman in Kurger, (2004) are said to work driving the

graduates from the conventional labour pool to the entrepreneurial pull such factors.

Pull factors are those, which encourage graduates to become entrepreneurs by virtue of

the attractiveness of the entrepreneurial option. This factor seems more feasible in the

Southern states of the federation than the Northern states - North-western zone in

particular. Some important pull factors Kurger (2004) observe include: freedom to work

for one self; sense of achievement to be gained from running one’s own business

enterprise; freedom to pursue a personal innovation; and a desire to gain the social

standard achieved by entrepreneurs.

Push factors are those, which encourage entrepreneurship by making the

conventional option less attractive. They include: the limitations of financial rewards
from conventional jobs; being unemployed in the established economy; job insecurity;

career limitations and setbacks in a conventional jobs; the inability to pursue a personal

innovation in a conventional job, and being a misfit in an established organisation. The

pull and push factors that are impetus for entrepreneurship, not withstanding, there are,

also, some inhibitors. Inhibitors are things that prevent the potential entrepreneur from

following an entrepreneurial route, no matter how attractive an option it might appear.

Some inhibitors according to Kurger (2004) include: inability to get hold of start-up

capital; high cost of start-up capital; high risks presented by business environment; lack

of training for entrepreneurs; legal restrictions on business activities; lack of self-

efficacy; a feeling that the role of entrepreneur has a poor image by graduates. A lack of

suitable human resources, and potential inertia(Kurger 2004).

Entrepreneurship, Aminu, (2009) posit, plays an important role in the economic

growth and development of a nation. Its purposeful activity Aminu said include: initiation,

promotion and distribution of wealth and service. An entrepreneur is a critical factor in

economic development and an integral part of the socio-economic transformation. Its

risk taking activity and challenging task, needs utmost devotion, total commitment and

greater sincerity with fullest involvement for his personal growth and personality.

The entrepreneurial motivation is one of the most important factors which

accelerate the pace of economic development by bringing the people to undertake risk

bearing activities. The young entrepreneur should be motivated to come out with

determination to do something of their own and also to contribute to the national income

and wealth in the economy.Ezeh (2011) highlighted the characteristics of an

entrepreneur as follows:
 1. He is a person who develops and owns his own enterprise.

2. He is a moderate risk taker and works under uncertainty for achieving the goal.

3. He is innovative.

4. He peruses the deviant pursuits.

5. Reflects strong urge to be independent.

6. Persistently tries to do something better.

7. Dissatisfied with routine activities.

8. Prepared to withstand the hard life, and others (p. 22).

Concept of Skill

Concept of skills and entrepreneurial skills are many, but they centre on the

ability to seize opportunities, deal with uncertainty, gather necessary resources, and

organise business process to pursue specific goals (http://www.gsu.edu/-

&www.sbp/entrepre.htm) Retrieved on 7th April, 2010. Skills as basic ability is the

means by which man adjust to life. A person’s attitude and work functions are required

and necessary antidotes suggesting the suitable skills performance and acquisition of

same by going through a given work sample. In the work place, skill is what the workers

give in exchange for numeration Bodell, et al (1991). If the skill (or the cluster of skills

popularly referred to as aptitudes) given is satisfactory, the worker gets satisfaction and

the employer gets satisfactoriness in correspondence. This process, if sustained

culminates in promotion, retaining and prolonged tenure that leads to productivity

(Adeyemo, 2003; Adeyemo, 2009).

In a classroom situation, skill is the ability to perform some tasks creditability. Up

to a point, the more practice in the doing of specific task the faster and better they can
be done. McCarthy (1972) has identified six scales and eighteen skills that can be

sorted and grouped to describe various aptitudes in students for placement, when the

promotion and remediation is a highly treasured experience which every OTM graduate

must possess.

Skill is thought of as a quality of performance which does not depend solely upon

a person’s fundamental, innate capacities but must be developed through training,

practice and experience. Although skill depends essentially on learning, it also includes

the concepts of efficiency and economy in performance. Modern concepts of skill stress

the flexibility with which a skilled operator reaches a given end on different occasions

according to precise circumstances. However, it must be reiterated that even though

basic human capacities are not sufficient to produce skills, they form the necessary

basis of their development; skills represent particular ways of using capacities in relation

to environmental demands, with human being and external situation together forming a

functional system (Adeyemo, 2009).

Steinhoff and Burges, in Igberahaha, (2008) pointed out that it takes special skills

to succeed as an entrepreneur. These skills are entrepreneurship knowledge, attitude,

skills and ability (ASA). Skill is a special ability to do something well, especially as

gained by learning and practices. From their definition, most skills come by learning and

practicing.

Entrepreneurial Skills
 The total capital that a person possesses, or can acquire, is made upof

economic, human, social and cultural imputs (Kurger, 2004). Depending on the nature

of the business, the people involved, and the contextual circumstances, components of

a person’s total capital will have entrepreneurial value, that is, they are of some worth in

relation to the entrepreneurial process and enterprise (Firkin in Kurger 2004).

According to Firkin, when taken together, these components form a person’s

entrepreneurial capital that can be employed in the creation, development and

maintenance of that enterprise.

The construct “entrepreneurial Skills” according to Kurger (2004) includes various

skills that differentiate the entrepreneur from others (managers). The choice of concept

included in such a construct is based on those skills that differentiate an entrepreneurial

career from other careers in terms of what the person would need to be successful in

such a career. Accordingly, Sexton and Kasrda, Van Vuuren and Nieman in Kurger,

virtually every career in business involve some combination of knowledge, technique

and people skills but few involve the integration in combination of all functional

knowledge and skills to the extent that entrepreneurial activity does. While the

entrepreneur may borrow ideas from other people, the author said, he/she first need to

implement these ideas before they can become entrepreneurial act (Entrepreneurship).

Van Vuuren and Nieman in Kurger (2004) further proposed that entrepreneurs, in

addition to being strategic, need the following entrepreneurial skills:

 Creativity and innovation – Entrepreneurs are able to blend imaginative and

creative thinking with systematic, logical process ability (Kuratko and Hodgell in

Kurger 2004)
  Risk taking – Generally, people are either risk takers or avoiders. In other words,

risk taking is seen as a level of the propensity on the side of the individual. It is,

however, proven that this propensity to take risk can be developed especially if

risk can be fully understood by the entrepreneur (Vuuren and Nieman in Kurger

2004)

 Identification of Opportunities – While opportunity recognition is often considered

to be a critical step in the entrepreneurial process, limited empirical research has

been conducted about this process (Ucbasaran, Westhead and Write 2001)

 Ability to have vision for growth – A vision for growth also goes hand in hand with

situation specific motivation (Baran and Vehickaite, 2008). The authors found

that higher levels of entrepreneurial motivation did indeed shape organisation

structure, processes and even work.

 Ability to interpret successful role models – Most successful entrepreneurs follow

a pattern of apprenticeship, preparing to become entrepreneurs by gaining the

relevant experience from role models (Timmons in Kurger 2004).

Entrepreneurial skills are seen by Gibbs in Kurger as being variously synonymous with

the following:-

 Basic interpersonal skills, core skills or transferable skills, such as

communication planning and presentation as well as those skills associated with

personal enterprising behaviours which may be exhibited in a range context, not

purely business;

 Setting up and running an independent owner-managed business;

  Managing dynamic growing business, business with high risk of failure or

qualified, for example, in marketing, financial management, production

management and human resource management; and

 Attaining greater insight into the world of work.

Business skills- Entrepreneurial performance results from a combination of

industry knowledge, general management skills, people skills and personal motivation

(Wiechman in Kurger 2004). Generally, business skills are seen as the following:

Managerial skills, financial skills, marketing skills legal skills operational skills human

resource management skills communication skills business planning skills.

Jones, George and Hill, (2000) in Kurger (2004) also summarised the skills in clusters:

Technical skills: Having job specific knowledge and techniques that are

required to perform an organisational role. For instance, the manager of a business

centre may need type-setting skills to fit into the centre in the absence of the typist or

computer operator(s), accounting and book keeping skills to keep track of receipts and

cost to check mate the workers and to administer the payroll, and aesthetic skill to

produce neat job for customers.

Human skills: The ability to understand, alter, lead, and control behaviour of

other individuals and groups, the ability to communicate and motivate people and to

mould individuals into a cohesive team distinguishing effective from ineffective workers.

Conceptual skills: The ability to analyse and diagnose a situation and to

distinguish between cause and effect. Planning and organising require a high level of

conceptual skill. Formal education and training, according to the authors, are very

important in helping workers develop conceptual skills.

 In the same vein, Hisrich, Peters and Shepherd (2007); Hisrich and Peters

(2002) grouped the skills required by entrepreneurs into three clusters; technical skills,

business management skills, and personal entrepreneurial skills.

Technical skills: These encompass skills in writing, listening, oral presentation,

organising, coaching, being a team player as well as possessing technical know-how,

technological skills – skill in handling modern technologies.

Business Management skills: These are areas involved in starting, developing

and managing an enterprise. Also, skills in decision-making, marketing management,

financing, accounting, production, control, and negotiation are essential in creating and

growing a new business venture.

Personal entrepreneurial skills: These involve inner control (discipline), risk taking,

being innovative, being change oriented, being persistent and being a visionary leader,

self awareness and self motivation. Lavinsky, (2005); stated that the entrepreneurial

skills and motivation sets the OTM graduate must have in addition to the technical skills

to build a successful and enduring business include: creativity and innovation,

organizational development, management and people development, sales and

marketing, financial management and operations and systems management ,

leadership, in addition to entrepreneurial personal trait For the purpose of this study,

the skills required by the Polytechnic OTM graduates is grouped in the following cluster:

Planning skills, professional operations skills (technical), business management and

organisation skills, Human/Interpersonal relations skills, Personal characteristic

potentials and information and communication technology skills.

Office Technology and Management

 At the inception of the Nigerian polytechnic system of education, Secretarial

Studies was one of the foremost courses that were mounted alongside several other

courses in the polytechnics both at the National Diploma (ND) and Higher National

Diploma (HND) levels. A course specification and guideline was put in place by the

NBTE in 1989, to ensure minimum academic standard (Okoro 2010).

Currently, almost everything about secretarial profession has undergone

revolutionary transformation. Even the name “Secretarial Studies” has been changed to

Office Technology and Management (OTM) (Okwuanaso & Obayi, 2006). For the OTM

graduates to be effective in today’s’ work environment, it became imperative for tertiary

institutions like the polytechnics to recognise these changes and reverse their

curriculum to contain these new knowledge and skills.

This is in response to Uperaft and Goldsmith, (2000) report that higher education needs

to be transformed due to the rapid changes in technology.

. In line with the above statement, Esene, (2011) acknowledged that the NBTE

new OTM curriculum is meant to remedy the shortcomings inherent in the old

secretarial studies curriculum. The expansion in it, in the area of ICT and the inclusion

of entrepreneurship is designed to adequately and sufficiently prepare and strengthen

the new OTM graduates for entry-level employment, self-employment or self-reliance in

the competitive world of work.

Office Technology and Management (OTM) programme was recently designed by the

National Board for Technical Education in conjunction with UNESO (2004) to replace

the secretarial studies programme.

 The OTM programme is designed to equip secretarial and office students to

acquire vocational skills in Office Technology, Management and socio-psychological

work skills for employment in various fields of endeavour (NBTE 2006). Office

Technology and Management (OTM), according to Okoro and Amagoh (2008) is an

efficient, effective productive and functional education, which leads itself to self-

employment, self-reliance, paid-employment, and consequently self-actualization.

Esene (2001), said that OTM, by its nature, scope and contents, help the recipients of

the course programme to acquire relevant knowledge and skills in order to satisfy the

argument for self-development and self-reliant. On issue of self-development, Akinola

in Esene (2011), noted that it was the desire for self-development coupled with the high

rate of unemployment in the country today, that is forcing school leavers to look to

themselves rather than to the government for a means of making a living, and OTM

graduates are not left out in the drive for self-reliance. To buttress this point, a research

studies conducted by Agomuo, (2007), shows that OTM graduates have been so

enterprising as to set up secretarial/business institutes, employment bureaus which

liaise with employers and link job-seekers with available suitable openings and more

recently, information and communication centres.

The National Boards for Technical Education (NBTE) in collaboration with

UNESCO/ILO, (2004), evolved a new programme tagged Office Technology and

Management (OTM) to end the long debate on replacing the secretarial studies

programme which has been in place since the inception of the Nigerian polytechnic

system. A new course specification and curriculum was development for OTM which
has two year each for both the National Diploma (ND) and Higher National Diploma

(HND). (NBTE, 2004).

The subjects offered in the OTM programme are divided according to NBTE

specifications into (a) special areas which include secretarial studies, techniques in

office management control; (b) information and communication technology application

which includes ICT, word processing, computer appreciation and web page design; and

(c) general education relating to contemporary problem usually called general studies.

As it is now, the new curriculum of OTM as opposed to the old secretarial studies,

according to Esene, (2011) consist of five main components of course programme

namely:

- General Studies/Education;

- Foundation Courses;

- Professional Courses;

- Entrepreneurship Development;

- Supervised Industrial Work Experience Scheme (SIWES)

The new programme amidst numerous changes is loaded with several courses in

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) alongside these other professional

courses. This development has brought about a new phase of office programme as

offered in the polytechnics and some new technical skills for the professionals to

contend with (Ezeh, 2011).

The emergence of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in the

sphere of teaching and learning of office courses has brought with it obvious changes

and challenges that demand innovative pedagogical paradigm such that what was
taught a year ago, might need an update in the current year. This assertion agrees with

the views of Agbakoba-Osagie and Adedoyin (2002) that along with technologies and

business practices, some skills/competences are changing so quickly that they are

outdated within few months of their introduction. Hence Rodam and Rosas, (2003)

stressed the need for educational institutions to adjust to the technological changes and

forms of business organisation to ensure production of saleable/functional workforce.

The new OTM programme definitely demands new skills and competences if the

objectives of VTE/Business education as enshrined in the National Policy on Education

(FGN 2004) will perform as desired (Okoro, 2010).

OTM courses of Polytechnics are designed to equip graduates with the

knowledge and skills required to meet the dynamic nature of the ever changing nature

of the world of work. OTM students of Polytechnic must of necessity acquire the

knowledge and have the ability and skills if they are to remain relevant in the society

they live in. The functionality of OTM graduates depend to a large extent, on the

acquisition of these requisite skills update wherever they find themselves, whether in

paid employment or self-employment (Peter, 2011).

OTM is also, an integral part of Business Education which according to Okoro

and Amagoh, (2008), is a productive and functional education which leads to self-

reliance in order to be self- employed. Business Education, to which Office Technology

and Management belongs, is an educational process which has its primary aim as the

preparation of people for roles in enterprises as employees, entrepreneurs or

employers. Okoro and Amagoh further stated that Business Education which is a

vocational course, is currently being faced the shortage of competent teachers, in

adequate teaching facilities (equipment, machines and materials) and insufficient

contact hours for the core courses. Okolo and Okoli (2000) asserted that this resulted to

Vocational Technical Education (VTE) (OTM) graduates are ill equipped to be called

trained and skilled entrepreneurs. Osuala, (2009) defines business education as a

programme of instruction, which consists of two parts: (1) Office education and (2)

General business education.

Office education as described by Osuala, in Etonyeaku, (2009) is a vocational

educational programme meant for office career through initial or refresher courses and

upgrading education that leads to employability and advancement in office occupation.

Therefore, office Technology and Management is the office education aspect of

Business Education which according to Aliyu, (2010) is education for business or

training in business skill required for use in business offices, clerical occupation and

business quality analysis. According to Etonyeaku (2009), Business Education is a

programme that has two major purposes: to provide training for specific jobs and to

develop ability to use these skills in the business of environment. The course of training,

therefore, involves adequate acquisition of skills and development of office skills that

are related to the ever-changing business oriented society.

Osuala, (2008) categorized the employment opportunity for Office Technology

and Management graduates in three main areas as: wage, consulting, and

entrepreneurial employments. The National Policy on education (2004) emphasized the

need for functional education and self-reliance, by stressing the imperativeness of our

tertiary institutions (polytechnics) to establish or provide forms of education that fulfil this

desire, and this is through entrepreneurship education programme. Hence

entrepreneurship was included in OTM programmes to widen the horizons and

knowledge of the learner and to meet with the educational objectives in the Policy

document, which among other things, emphasizes acquisition of appropriate skills,

abilities and competences both mental and physical as equipment for the individuals to

live in and contribute immensely to the development of the society (Magaji, 2010).

To make the implementation of the new programme easy, the NBTE in Esene

(2011) spelt out the general objectives of the course-programme. The general

objectives, according to NBTE are:

(a) To equip the students with the knowledge, competencies and specific skills

that will enable them to successfully hold positions as secretaries, managers,

and administrative assistants in both private and public sectors of the

Nigerian economy;

(b) To expose students to industrial experience thereby affording them an

opportunity to practicalize their skills;

(c) To develop in them an occupational intelligence that will enable them to be

versatile and adaptable to the changing situation in the business world;

(d) To develop their potentials for further academic and professional pursuits.

In line with these objectives, OTM provides the recipients with information that

makes them effective consumers of goods and services (education about business) and

also prepares the recipients for effective roles as participants in the business system of

economy as managers of their own business (education for business). It is, however,

stressed that OTM programme should, in addition to these roles, also prepare the

students with necessary skills and knowledge to take effective part in the
entrepreneurial venture, thus making the graduates of OTM to be job providers rather

than job seekers, employers of labour rather than employees (Umemezia, 2006).

Furthermore, the acquisition of technical, together with managerial skills will equip

students with work competencies, technical, psycho-social and management skills

which are very essential for every day interaction in business situations and with others

(Adelakin, 2009). Ohakwe and Njoku, (2009) reiterated that OTM programme is

designed to equip students with secretarial/office skills for employment in various fields

of endeavour. The students of this programme, the authors further stated, are exposed

to courses in their special areas as well as courses in general education and

entrepreneurship to make them entrepreneurs.

The OTM graduates, as potential entrepreneurs according to Esene, require

specific skills and competencies to be successful in their entrepreneurial endeavours.

Okoro and Amagoh, (2008); Onyekonwe,2008, Uche, 2008, Ezeh, 2011 and Esene,

(2011) were in agreement that the OTM graduates require entrepreneurial skills in the

following areas: ICT, Office practice, Data Processing, word Processing; Managerial;

accounting and finance; Marketing and Sales; General Business; technical; Business

Management and Personal entrepreneurial skills. Furthermore, Esene, (2011), posited

that the entrepreneurs need personal qualities such as self-reliance, ability to identify

and exploit opportunities, creativity, willingness to take chances, even if it means to

expose oneself to risk and personal drive. According to Esene in Esene (2011), it is

hoped that Polytechnic graduates who have successfully passed through their course-

programme must have acq1uired the relevant knowledge, skills and competencies to

hold positions in both private and public sectors of the economy as secretaries (Office
professionals), office supervisors, office managers, administrative managers,

administrative assistants, administrative secretaries, personal assistants, computer

operators, computer analysts, computer programmers, sales managers, sales

supervisors, sales representatives and so on, the list seem endless.

Office Technology and Management (OTM) programme is newly designed by the

National Board for Technical Education in conjunction with UNESCO (2004) to replace

the secretarial studies programme. At the inception of the Nigerian polytechnic system

of education, Secretarial Studies was one of the foremost courses that were mounted

alongside several other courses in the polytechnics both at the National Diploma and

Higher National Diploma levels.The OTM programme is designed to equip secretarial

and office students to acquire vocational skills in Office Technology and Management

and socio-psychological work skills for employment in various fields of endeavour

(NBTE 2006). The new programme amidst numerous changes is loaded with several

courses in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) alongside other

professional courses where the graduates can develop entrepreneurship interest on

graduation for independent and sustainable living.

Entrepreneurship is the process of creating and building something of value from

practically nothing which is of benefit to individual, groups, organization and society

(Timmons, 2004). It also involves creating incremental wealth by individuals who

assume the major roles of building experiences on a new business ground. Nigerian

Institute of Management ‘NIM’ (2005) confirmed the significance of experience in

entrepreneurship and that certain kinds of experiences and situational conditions rather

than personality or ego are the major determinants of whether an individual becomes an

entrepreneur or not. The experience begins when an individual starts up a business

venture to break a new business ground. Diamanto (2005) suggested that

entrepreneurs who have been involved in staring up and managing ventures are more

likely to be successful and effective in entrepreneurship pursuit. Success and

effectiveness of an entrepreneur is not far-fetched from his knowledge.

Entrepreneurial learning is often described as a continuous process that

facilitates the development of necessary knowledge for being effective in starting up and

managing new ventures. The knowledge of an entrepreneur as a result of years of

experience helps in prompt recognition of business opportunities and coping with

liabilities of newness. The needs for entrepreneurial knowledge among others include

the development of the individual in acquiring necessary capital, the acquisition of

requisite technical knowledge and essential managerial know-how. The Nigerian

Institute on Management ‘NIM’ (2005) listed the major roles of entrepreneurs in an

economy to include; identification of business opportunities and organize the resources

to tap them, careful implementation of business plan as a result of entrepreneurial

experience and knowledge, the monitor and response to changes, liabilities, threats and

opportunities in the environment. The acquisition of necessary entrepreneurial skills

through experiences leads to knowledge and saleable skills capable of improving

employment opportunity of the Polytechnics OTM graduates on graduation from the

school. Skills are basic ability by which man adjust to life. A person’s attitude and work

functions are required and necessary antidotes suggesting the suitable skills

performance and acquisition of same by going through a given work sample.

Careful identification of business opportunities and organization of needed

resources to tap them is both explorative and exploitative. This occurs in entrepreneurs’

transformation process of resources inputs to outputs (products). Kang and Klaus

(2006) proposed that entrepreneurship is a context-dependent process of creating

future goods and services that involves the cycle of exploration and exploitation of

opportunities by individuals or groups of individuals (the entrepreneurs), who may exit

and re-enter this process. The transformation process according to Lukes and Jakl

(2006) is a process of creating something different with value by devoting the necessary

time and efforts, assuming the accompanying financial, psychic and social risks and

receiving the resulting rewards of monetary and personal satisfaction. The exploration

and exploitation of resources inputs (transformation process) is a tasking procedure

likely to be influenced by a number of factors. These include outcome of previous

events either favourable or non favourable, predominant logistic and reasoning. Amount

of capital in circulation, predominant political and administrative system of a nation,

market imperfection are some of the logistic limitations in entrepreneurship expansion.

The growth and development of entrepreneurial skills of the polytechnics OTM

graduates for success in private venture on graduation cannot occur in isolation of the

exiting economic, administrative and political situations of the country which may likely

influence entrepreneurial transformation process. The schematic representation of the

conceptual framework is presented in the figure below.

Areas of Entrepreneurial
skills in OTM
Polytechnics Education
Business / Secretariat Studies
1. Planning new business Areas of Entrepreneurial
skills in OTM
2. Technical operation OTM 5. Marketing management
3. Managerial/ admin 6. human/interpersonal
relations
4. Finance/record mgmt
7.Information/communication
management

Entrepreneurial Career Experience OTM Entrepreneurial knowledge

 Start up experience Graduates  Opportunity recognition
 Management experience  Coping with liabilities of
 Industry- specific experience newness

Transformation process Factors influencing the transformation process

Figure 2.1: Conceptual Framework of Entrepreneurship Skills of OTM Graduates.
Source: The Researcher

Approaches to Entrepreneurial Skill Identification.

Experience has shown that knowledge, skills and attitudes are generally needed

for entrepreneurs to be successful in business. These are embedded in the competence

of the entrepreneurs. Therefore, a skilled OTM graduate entrepreneur is one who

possesses the knowledge, skills and attributes needed to start up private commercial

business enterprise and be successful.

There are many approaches that can be used n the identification of

entrepreneurial skills in the Polytechnics OTM graduates. These approaches as

postulated by Shepherd and Douglas in Lee Wong, (2004) include:

i. The “old war stories” approach;

ii. The “case study” approach;

iii. The planning approach ;

iv. The “generic action” approach.

The “old war stories” Approach:

The “old war stories” approach, according to the authors attempt to motivate

aspiring entrepreneurs by relaying a series of successful entrepreneurship stories and

revealing how these individuals became successful entrepreneurs especially the

“organisation builder entrepreneur”. The organisation builder is an entrepreneur who

has the ability to establish and run a commercial enterprise that grows beyond his

person and environment (Akpomi, 2010). Most transnational organisations were found

by this class of entrepreneurs like Dangote group, Dantata group, Akwiwu motors,

Peterson Zocheness (PZ), Globacom, Zenith Bank Plc, Otumba Balogun Adenuga, First

City Group, ABC Transport, Peace Mass Transport, Bill-Gate to mention a few. This

category of entrepreneurs according to Mamman, (2010), exploit available business

opportunities. In doing so, they establish small scale business enterprises and develop

them to large scale out fits. The success story of these group of entrepreneurs will go a

long way to spur the OTM graduates to venture into small businesses after graduation.

The Case Study Approach:

The “case study” approach uses cases of existing companies to analyze the

mechanics of the entrepreneurial process and to elicit students proposed solutions to

the companies’ problems. This approach will help the students to try their problem

solving, creative and critical thinking abilities. A case study on idea generation and

testing, opportunity recognition will open the students to what they need to start their

own small businesses.

The “Planning” approach:

The “planning” approach usually takes the form of a business plan that consists

of detailed objectives, budgets and programmes (Lee and Wong, 2004). The purpose of
effective planning is to identify the tasks involved in starting up a business venture. The

students should know they need to attract funds from a wide variety of sources. Most

potential supporters understandably want information about ventures before they agree

to provide financial help. A well-written business plan can be the key to opening the

door to the venture financial support. The students will be asked to draw up a smart

business plan of their intended business. The business plan will include: the description

of the service and products; market analysis, production techniques, marketing strategy

(Pricing, competition, advertising); organisational structure; leadership; finance and

cash flow analysis.

The “genetic action” approach:

The “genetic action” approach emphasizes the formulation of optimal

entrepreneurial actions based on existing market forces. These are the

entrepreneurship promoters. They are, Mamman, (2010), said, entrepreneurs that

initiate business ideas. They establish enterprises to actualize business ideas, and

usually relinquish established and fully developed business outfits in pursuit of more

rewarding business ideas and ventures.

Jack and Anderson (1998) in Lee and Wong, (2004), assert that the teaching of

entrepreneurship is both a “science and “art where the former relates to the functional

skills required for business start up and the later to the creative aspect of

entrepreneurship. According to the authors, there appears to be a unanimous

agreement among entrepreneurship educators that there need to be a shift of emphasis

on the “science” to the :artistic” and creative teaching of entrepreneurship.

 While there seems to be no one best pedagogical approach for teaching

entrepreneurship, the “learning “ approach proposed by Shepherd and Douglas in Lee

and Wong, (2004) cited in Agbamu, (2011), has been touted as an effective bath

towards developing the entrepreneurial spirit. The approach requires a shift from

teaching and telling to learning through hands-on and active participation in a real life

entrepreneurial environment (Edwards and Muir, 2004; Mellalieu, 2004; Nyaducha,

2006 in Agbamu, 2011). The approach in which the student engage in some activity,

reflect upon the activity, derive insight from the analysis and incorporate the result

through a change in understanding in what (Kolb, 1984 in Agbamu 2011), calls

experimental learning. Experimental learning is any knowledge gained through

experience. The most widely recognised theory of experiential learning is Kolb’s

Experiential Learning theory Kolb (1984). Advocates of experiential learning argue that

individuals can learn better by doing. Other approaches such a Rae’s model of

entrepreneurship learning recognize that the ‘ideal’ entrepreneurship course is a mix of

active, social and formal learning however, the perfect formula of (ratio of formal to

informal, active and social) learning has yet to be declared (Edward and Muir, 2004 in

Agbamu, 2011).

Entrepreneurial Skills Required by Polytechnics OTM Graduates

Office Technology Management (OTM) is an aspect of business education where

graduates can be equipped with entrepreneurial skills for self-employment on

graduation. Some of the specific areas where the graduates require entrepreneurial

skills include: planning for a new business venture, technical operations,

managerial/administrative management, finance/records management, marketing

management, human/interpersonal relations, information and communication

management.

Entrepreneurial skills required for planning a small scale business enterprise by

Polytechnic OTM graduates

Planning is the first step to be taken when setting up a business venture. No

skills are more important to the entrepreneur than planning skills. There is a

considerable degree of uncertainty in every business terrain. The negative effects of

uncertainty or risk on enterprises can be minimized significantly by means of planning.

Mamman, (2010), defined planning in business as deciding in advance what to do, how

to do it, when to do it, and who is to do what in making available goods or services for

the satisfaction of existing and created needs of customers. Hence the major objectives

of planning the author said are to find a direction for the business enterprise, to

minimize the negative environmental effects on the enterprise and to maximize the

gains of an environmental impact.

Being able to put together plans, follow them, and adapt them to new situations is

essential to the success of most ventures. Planning includes the ability to foresee

developments that may affect the venture and to figure out how to respond to these

developments. Planning requires the bringing together of relevant information and

organising it in a way that will assist you to make effective decisions. Planning helps

prevent unpleasant surprises.

Planning according to Bodell, Robbior and Smith, (1991); Imaga, (2001) is used

to assess the feasibility of the venture. With good planning, ideas fail cheaply only on
papers rather than failing in reality after great deal of money, time and energy has been

applied to them. Planning also help entrepreneurs to identify what resources they need

and how they might use those resources most effectively. They help to identify potential

problems so that appropriate responses may be prepared before the venture damages.

Plans are tools that the entrepreneurs use to introduce the venture to others and enlist

their support, financial or otherwise. A well articulated business plan attracts support. If

the venture is well represented in a detailed plan, other people are more likely to be

convinced that the idea is a good one. Plans are the selling features for the idea and

the venture. Planning a business, Mamman, (2010) indicate include:

Definition of the scope of business:

This is the first stage of business planning and it is often the most difficult one. It

is the major determinant of the success or failure of the enterprise. If an enterprise is

able to properly define its scope of business, available resources will equally be

properly channeled for attainment of set gals and objectives.

Determination of goals and objectives:

The mission and vision of enterprises are deliberately made to be too ambitious

so as to push every stakeholder into action. What are meant to be achieved are goals

and objectives usually derived from the mission and vision of the enterprise. Goals,

Mamman said are general targets that the enterprise intends to achieve over a long

period of time, usually from five years and above, whereas objectives are specific and

measurable targets the enterprise indents to achieve over a relatively shorter period of

time, usually one week, one month, one year and so on.
Opportunity recognition:

An opportunity is a chance to initiate a productive change that will be wanted by

others. According to Bodell, Rabbior and Smith (1991), Entrepreneurial opportunities

have a variety of characteristics and lead to a variety of outcomes. Opportunity

features, the authors said; exist within a specific time frame; they are easy or difficult to

detect; have a limited market potential; are unrecognisable by others and are linked to

other opportunities. Opportunity trials the authors maintain are also: spotting a trend;

changes in taste and preferences; changes in perception, are sometimes mistakes,

accidents, failures, surprises; changes in technology; the changes in business cycles

and/or political leadership; are demographic changes and opportunity evolve from

chaos.

After identifying an opportunity, the authors further said; the key step for the

entrepreneur is to evaluate it. Create an action plan to take advantage of the

opportunity identified. The relationship between opportunities and ideas is important.

An entrepreneur may think of a wonderful idea only to find that the opportunity it

responds to is a poor one. Opportunities are identified when an entrepreneur

recognises a problem. To an entrepreneur, a problem represents an opportunity for

improvement. An opportunity is a chance to initiate a productive change that will be

wanted by others. When the opportunity is identified, the market for such opportunity is

surveyed through market research and ideas are generated (Bodell, Rabbior and Smith,

(1991).

Idea generation.Whether one is working as an entrepreneur or intrapreneur it is

not sufficient just to have lots of ideas, one also

need to be able to evaluate these, clarify the needs they each meet, estimate what

would be required in terms of time, resources and skills to realise them, and to analyse

whether this would generate sufficient value in return for the expenditure of time and

resources required (Lavinsky, 2004).

Market research plan according to Bodell et al, is the gathering of information

about the potential market for a service or product. Entrepreneurs must through this

research learn about and define the potential market for their idea. The group of people

who might want to make use of your idea is the potential market for it. Examining this

market potential closely for your idea is important to its success. In another

development, finding out about the laws that affect the venture is part of the homework

plan one must do when developing an entrepreneurial idea.

Financial Plan:

Financial plan is also necessary in planning a venture. The more resources an

entrepreneur require for a venture, the more money that will be needed. Many

entrepreneurs finance their commercial ventures with their own funds and those of their

friends and families. Frequently, funds must be obtained from other investors. Some

commercial ventures are dependent on outside financing. Your idea must be

marketable enough to enable you to make the necessary in road to profit.

Decision making:

After exploring and exploiting the opportunities in the environment and

developing ideas relevant to establishing and managing a business venture, concrete

decisions has to be made to move ahead to plunge into the turbulent waters. Decisions

on the legal form of business to go into comes handy and also the structure of the
organisation. Certain questions will help in this case such as: Do you make the

decisions based on the relevant information and by weighing the potential

consequences? Are you confident in the decisions that you make? Do you trust your

judgment? Answers to these questions will boost the decision making skills.

Personality Characteristic (Traits) required by OTM graduates for starting a small

business enterprise.

The first skill to develop as an entrepreneur is the personal skill. Personal

characteristic skills according to (Ajaero, 2010) simply mean those skills that are

attached to ones personality, (more like characteristics). They are the characters

possessed by successful entrepreneurs. These involve inner locus of control

(discipline), risk taking, being innovative and creative, being change oriented, being

persistent and being a visionary leader, coaching others, perseverance in the face of

uncertainty, self awareness and self motivation and others.

For instance, to be a professional proof reader, then it is important to develop a

keen eye for spotting errors and to be successful in any business venture, it is important

to develop eyes for sighting and identifying an opportunity in the environment being able

to capture the opportunity.

Developing personality trait skills with respect to building business means

developing entrepreneurial mindset. That is, change of mindset that is typical of

successful entrepreneurs. An entrepreneur has to be in the right mindset before ever

starting a business. Being in the right mindset entails having to abandon the “get rich

quick” mentality and above all, having integrity and being focused. Again having a
reputation for honesty, being courageous, passionate are all attributes of successful

entrepreneurs for their entrepreneurial calling (Lavinsky, 2005).

The following are some of personality trait skills according to Lavinsky, (2005)

that are built in the strategies for managing a small scale business venture:

Optimism: Orientation towards positive goals and things in connection with faith

in success. Optimism is truly an asset, and it will help get you through the tough times

that many entrepreneurs experience as they find a business model that works for them.

Vision: The entrepreneur can easily see where thing can be improved and

can quickly grasp the “big picture” and explain this to others.

Flexibility Skill: Entrepreneurs must have a vision of what type of venture they

want to go into, where they want their venture to be in the future; that is, by setting

attainable goals for themselves. In addition, the entrepreneur must be able to

communicate this vision in an exciting manner to employees and investors, so that they

share the vision and are motivated to help achieve it.

Negotiation Skills: Starting a business requires, quite literally, hundreds of

negotiations. Entrepreneurs are not always the best negotiators (Okechukwu, 2009;

Lavinsky, 2005). According to the author, they step into the shoes of a business owner

for the first time and find to their surprise that nearly everything involves negotiation of

some kind, and they may not always have those negotiation techniques down.

Sometimes they are the buyers; other times the sellers. Either way, the skills needed to

be a good entrepreneur are the same. For small scale business owner, it comes

naturally, for most of others; however, it comes through effort and experience. Rarely,

according to Lavinsky, (2005) it is something learned as part of a formal education.

Although some of the trick involved in negotiation can be learnt. In the course of

building a business, the entrepreneur is bound to negotiate deals. Deals could be with

the customers and suppliers over goods and services offered, negotiate with bankers,

financiers, funders, over loan terms and conditions, just as you negotiate with investors

over equity and stakes. Also negotiate with suppliers, staff, partners, customers, may

be, even government agencies. If an entrepreneur cannot negotiate, Lavinsky further

state, they end up getting good deals at exorbitant prices or worst still, getting nothing.

So if one cannot negotiate, lack persuasion skills, building a business may just be a

dream. Negotiation or persuasion is an art that can be learned.

Team work:The varying degree of options in choosing for a more realizable new

venture depends on the assemblage of a good entrepreneurial team to access the

origination of a new venture. Opinion of two or more people with relevant skill in

initiating, nothing is acceptable as a success factor in business (Ajaero, (2010);

Lavinsky, 2005).

Networking Skills:This skill is needed to build awareness for product or services

but also to develop relationships with people who have knowledge, expertise or

connections that you need to win agreement and/or to get things done Lavinsky (2005).

Creativity/Innovation:Creativity entails seeing situations from a variety of

perspectives and come up with original ideas (Lavinsky, 2005; Ajero, 2010). The

entrepreneur must be good at coming up with sound solutions to the problems on the

ground. The entrepreneur or intrapreneur must be creative and innovative in the area of

achieving the business established goals. The entrepreneur must be resourceful,

creative and innovative in his plan because he is usually faced with a lot of competitors.
Part of the entrepreneur’s creativity goals is that, he must be able to control his

business environment (internal and external) and apply flexibility in his product and

service choices to be able to determine the consumer’s need.

Having creative ideas will keep an entrepreneur in business for a long period of

time. Creativity, Gardner, in Anyakoha, (2009) says, is the ability to solve problems,

fashion products, define new questions in a way that it is considered novel, ability to

restructure a problem, to see things in new ways, ability to process information in such a

way that the result is new, original and meaningful. His innovative or idea generation

mind will make him take initiatives when problems arise in the course of his undertaking.

In the event of loss he/she bears the risk just as in the event of profit he enjoys the

gains.

Being innovative according to Okechukwu (2009) is to have new ideas being

creative and putting your mind at work to achieve the aim of your established vision,

mission and stated goals.

Focus: Entrepreneurs must have focus. They must focus on goals to ensure

that they are reached, customers to ensure that they are satisfied, and employees to

make sure they are motivated.

Persistence:Persistence is a unique word in qualifying an

entrepreneur/intrapreneur. Business initiation takes longer time than expected before

conceiving the idea. Then, continuity and integrity is what brings good will to the

venture’s existence. An entrepreneur must persist through trying times, since there are

always bad times, and fight as much as needed to achieve the goals they have set

Lavinsky (2005)
 Passion for Work:An entrepreneur must be passionate about what they are

trying to accomplish. Likewise, they must be willing to commit whatever is needed of

them. You must have passion for what you do without it you cannot get anywhere or

anything you desire. With passion, you will have the motivation to overcome challenges

and get to the top of your career Lavinsky (2005).

Commercial awareness:While financiers or funders may require a business

plan, a formal business plan may not be an essential requirement, especially at the

early stages of the organisation or business’s life cycle. More important is having or

developing the ability to get into the market place (or the environment you want to

operate in), understand what is going on there, learn from it and adapt while at the

same time thinking strategically and paying attention to the day to day needs of your

enterprise or activity. This Okechukwu, (2009); Anyakoha, (2009), said is not just about

content knowledge; it is about developing a commercial instinct especially consumer

education. It provides the students with business related consumer knowledge. The

economic welfare of the consumer and consumer groups in everyday life including

money management, purchasing, and utilization of goods and services, banking,

investments, credit, evaluation of consumer research and product testing, and role of

the consumer in the economy (Okechukwu, 2009).

Self-Control or Self Discipline: An entrepreneur having the drive and energy,

creativity, objective, responsibilities, goal, good leadership traits should equally ensure

the application of being self-confident to win the heart of customers. Self confidence is

a signal to success while fear is a signal to failure. Equally, if an entrepreneur wants to

excel in business he/she should be courageous enough to beat competitors who are in

the same line of business (Okechukwu, 2009).

Self motivation skill: as an entrepreneur, the graduate does not have the

luxury of the bosses to tell him what he needs to be done. He should be motivated and

see himself as manager of his enterprise/organisation and resources at his disposal. He

needs to be smart enough to know when he needs to go ahead and when to stop the

day to day activities. Therefore Office Technologists must have the extra drive and

commitment to ensure that they are taking necessary steps to make their dream a

reality as a manager of an enterprise (Ajaero, (2010).

Administrative Management skills required by OTM graduates:

As an office technologist, one needs to possess a great deal of administrative

skills to succeed as a manager of human, material and physical resources. The type

and level of skills required will depend on such issues as whether one is working alone

or with others, whether the development of your product or service is simple or complex

and whether you are working to tight deadlines.

Administrative management skill of an entrepreneur according to Okechukwu,

(2009) is enormous because it involves all aspects of managing a business venture

which may include:

 Locating the business environment

 Identifying product line (procurement)

 Recruitment of staff
  Staff remuneration/motivation

 Determining staff welfare, duty and discipline

 Human capital development.

Managers of the enterprise should be generalist and gain basic skills and

knowledge in managerial functions such as planning, organising, leading, controlling

and co-ordinating Oborah (2003). The author further said; “Managers should also have

an overview of finance, marketing; market development, market competition and so on

to enable them maintain their market share”. Being a manager is not an easy task as

observed by Okechukwu (2009), due to the fact that they work with people. Of all the

production factors, people are the most intricate to manage. Not everybody feels at

ease in managing people. Nevertheless, there are certain personality abilities which

Okechukwu said that can predict the future efficiency and success of a manager.

 Creativity – ability to search and find new solutions,

 Intuition – being able to predict future development from own experience

without analysis,

 Goal-oriented – be able to set real goals and respect the goal’s hierarchy,

 Responsibility – sense for achieving set goals and objectives,

 Self-confidence – belief in own strength and ability to achieve goals,

 Initiative – an effort to look for new possibilities and solutions for reaching set

goals,

 Independence – the courage to make decision based obn own judgement,

 Cautiousness – being able to make decision under stress and unsure

conditions,
  Discipline – self control and regulation of own behaviour,

 Persistence – tenacity needed to overcome barrier when achieving goals,

 Optimism – orientation towards positive goals and things in connection with

faith in success,

 Fantasy – creation of visions and imaginations about future,

 Persuasion – ability to persuade or influence4 others for mobilizing resources,

obtaining inputs, organising productions and selling of his/her product or

services.

Administrators needs to use and influence behaviour of people to reach the goals

of the enterprise (Duniya, 2004). In doing so, Duniya said, they use the managerial

functions which include: Planning, organising, staffing, directing, controlling, co-

ordinating, budgeting blending with the personal attributes to achieve success.

Planning:No skill is more important to the entrepreneur than the planning skills.

Planning is the major function of management. Being able to put together plans, follow

them, and adapt them to new situation is essential to the success of most ventures.

Planning is not an activity that should be left to others. Planning includes the ability to

foresee developments that may affect the venture and to figure out how to respond to

these developments. This involves accurate decision making to avoid failure. Planning

involve bringing together relevant information and organizing it in a way that will be

helpful to make effective decisions.

Organisation:Organisational skills are another aspect of managerial skill. Most of the

work done by entrepreneurs require them to organize information, money, people and

other resources. Good organisational skills permit entrepreneurs to use resources

effectively, efficiently and productively. Organisation according to Duniya (2004) is

concerned with the division of work into sections and departments and with the

allocation of responsibilities, authority and duties to all members of the concern.

Control:Forecasting and planning involve the making of decisions for the future, and

control is then the continuous follow-up to ensure that policies are implemented and

properly interpreted. Control is also the guiding and regulating of a business in order

that it can achieve its objectives. The essence of control falls into three parts: setting up

standards as the result of declared policies; making regular periodic comparisons with

these standards and taking corrective actions where required.

Coordination: This means the unification of efforts by which activities all sides of a

business is aimed at achieving common objectives and to follow common policies. In

this age of specialization, the greater the degree of specialization, the greater is the

need for coordination Duniya, 2004).

Staffing:The main purpose of personnel unit must be to seek and recruit the right

caliber workers, and to keep them in employment subsequently. A high rate of labour

turnover is bad in many ways, and is expensive.

Directing:Decision making skills is one skill the entrepreneur must possess. The ability

to make effective decisions is a skill, just as the willingness to make decision is an

attitude. The decisions like planning should not be left to others. It is important that

entrepreneurs develop a process that work for them in making decisions. The decision

making process normally involves defining the problem clearly, assembling the relevant

information, establishing criteria for making decisions and identifying and evaluating

possible alternative plans (Duniya, 2004).

 Leadership: It has been defined as the capacity and will to rally people to a

common purpose, and the character which inspires confidence. Blackmore, (2006).

This is different from being a manager, Blackmore said; it is about providing vision and

direction, inspiring others to work with you towards that vision and enabling them to do

so. The leader will ensure that employees are resourceful, motivated, and paid as at

when due (Blackmore, 2006). Leadership entails moving people in a planned direction

for the attainment ofpre-determined goals or objectives. As a successful entrepreneur,

you will need to depend on others to get beyond a very early state in the business. The

entrepreneur can lead and motivate others to follow and deliver their visions. In leading,

you should be able to delegate work to others, supervise the work delegated. Leading

followers and surrounding circumstances usually determine a style to adopt. Some

people believe that an entrepreneur runs what is essentially a one person-show. The

entrepreneur makes all the key decisions and the venture’s employees or supporters

take orders. In most cases, this does not work well for the venture.

In a business enterprise, the process of leadership comprises of the identification

of tasks, grouping of tasks into jobs, grouping jobs into departments, assigning of jobs,

allocation of resources and the determination of authority and the channel of

communication. For any form of leadership to be effective, time management is

imperative (Duniya, 2004; Aminu, 2008; Mamman, 2008). For effective entrepreneurial

leadership, the leader need to be empathic, have good listening skills, have negotiation

skills and also motivate others, be able to set goal and take decisions relating to

attainment of the goal.

 In business, leadership skill is not an option it is a necessity (Ajaero, 2010).

Business is all about ones relationship with people. It entails unifying people with

different backgrounds, beliefs, and skills to a common cause. Leadership entails

forging people with different skills and ideologies into a business team. Good

leadership consists of showing average people how to do the work of superior people

by delegating authority and supervising the delegated authority. Business is not just

doing deals; business is having great products, doing great engineering and providing

tremendous service to customers. Business is a cobweb of human relation (Ajaero,

2010). Successful entrepreneurs like Aliko Dangote, Bill Gate etc., were not born

business leaders; they were made. They became business great leaders because they

desired it; they humbled themselves, having self-control and learned the art and science

of leadership. It is within ones reach to become good corporate leader or but other

entrepreneurial skills must be developed for effective leadership.

Financial Records Management Skills Required by OTM graduate

Financial skills: finance is said to be a major lubricant to any economic

endeavour. Without finance entrepreneurial dreams can be said to constitute wishful

thinking. Therefore, an entrepreneur should be an individual possessing savings skill.

Savings skill is the process that results to capital accumulation it is said, wealth is not

determined by the quantum of cash that passes through a person but the major

determinant of wealth is the capacity of the individual to defer his preference for

consumption in preference to accumulation of capital. Some refer to this process as

starving to save (Duniya, 2004).

 The financial skills developed of an entrepreneur also involve the acquisition or

development of an investment skills, project appraisal skills as well as portfolio mix and

management skills. Investment skills enable entrepreneur to learn the act of saving his

money to labour diligently for him and to multiply it.

Financial management skills are necessary in OTM for self-employment by

polytechnic graduates as it concerns with decision on how to procure, expand, account

of funds provided for the implementation of project execution and establishment of

entrepreneurial venture. The central purpose of financial management whether in

government, group business, individual level is the raising of funds and ensuring that

the funds so mobilized are utilised in the most effective and efficient manner. Financial

management is managing the money that comes into the enterprises from customers

who buys products and services and the money that the enterprise pays out for things

such as materials, labour and machinery (Duniya, 2004).

Financial management skills have an impact on all segments of business

organisation and project management. Hence it has been defined by different

authorities from different perspective. Olatunbosun (2006) conceptualised financial

management activities as that which is concerned with the planning and controlling of

financial resources and further emphasized that financial management skills is involved

in the acquisition and allocation of financial resources and trace performance resulting

from such financial allocation. Chike (2010) described financial management is that

managerial activity which is concerned with the planning, acquisition and control of

financial resources of the firm in order to achieve the goals of the firms. It falls on how

business entities raise capital and how they invest it”. Suffice it to say that the decision
functions of financial management will include the following: investing, financing and

assets management decisions. In the same vein, Duniya, (2004) defined Financial

Management as managing the money that comes into the enterprise from customers

who buy products and services, and the money that enterprise pays out for things

bought. Furthermore, Duniya states that people start enterprises for diverse reasons.

No matter the reason, the venture must be kept financially healthy in order to achieve

that objective.

Records keeping measure the progress of the enterprise. With accurate financial

records, it is possible to know whether the enterprise is making a profit or loosing

money, and whether it is growing stronger or is heading for a doom. Appropriate

financial records keeping will help one to make wise decisions like when to order

materials, and how much to order, whether one can afford to expand or not; when it will

be possible to borrow money, and how much to borrow; which products to stop

producing, and which one to make in larger quantities. Types of financial records kept

entrepreneur in an enterprise according to Anyakoha, (2009), include: Incoming

revenue – This is the revenue that comes into the business through sales. Records of

Consumer payments – Record keeping of customer payments can be handled by a

simple purchase and sales day book or simple computer software package or with card

file system. Also to be recorded is the out-going revenue – These are the expenses

incurred by the business. Records of expenses or outgoing revenue can usually be

maintained quite easily through the checking account. It is good business practice for

all expenses in order to maintain records for tax purposes. Staff Records is an all

important records to maintain. It is also imperative to keep record on the staff or

employees of an enterprise. Records of the enterprise facilities and equipments need to

be kept to monitor the wear and tear of such facilities. Facilities include office

equipments like computers, photocopiers, scanners, cars and other amenities used in

the day-to-day running of the business Anyakoha, (2009).

An entrepreneur should note that to neglect financial management at all the

result is always disastrous. This Ihekwoaba, (2007) says is because more

entrepreneurs may be skilled in their techniques or trade. They feel more at home in

workshop than in the office, therefore, they neglect financial management. Many do

not even understand financial management and its implication to the enterprise. They

think it requires expert accountant to set up record keeping system. Some do not want

any financial transaction to be recorded. They are trying to invade tax payment, deceive

partners, workers or their customers. They only succeed in deceiving themselves.

Whatever one plan to be, a sole trader, set up a not for profit organisation or a

commercial enterprise you will need to have basic understanding of forecasting,

budgeting, balance sheets, cash flows, profit and loss statements, and simple

accounting procedures. This is also a valuable skill when working within an

organisation, to understand the financial consequences of actions or to make business

case for change.

Marketing and Sales Skills Required by OTM graduates

Marketing plays a significant role in the conduct of entrepreneurial activities. It is

by marketing that the entrepreneurs establish and maintain contacts with customers,

without whom the enterprises have no purpose to continue to exist. It is also a means of

determining consumer needs, serves as a means of determining the appropriate

products or services to produce (Okechukwu, 2009). Revenue to entrepreneurs

depends on the level of prices of their products. Pricing is a key factor to determine the

level of demand of the product hence marketing helps the entrepreneur to determine a

price that is acceptable to both entrepreneurs and their customers. It is also by means

of marketing that the entrepreneurs create awareness about the existence of their new

product. It is used in persuading consumers through promotion to patronize the said

serve purpose of entrepreneurs and satisfy needs of customers (Ogundele, 2007).

A successful entrepreneur knows to maximally satisfy customers, it is difficult to

measure exactly customers’ level of satisfaction due to dynamic nature of human being.

However, entrepreneurs can use marketing to monitor and have a fair deal of the

customers’ level of satisfaction (Usman, 2006; Ogundele, 2007; Mamman, 2010).

Entrepreneurs also get feedbacks from customers through marketing. Important

marketing and sales skills according to Igbo, (1995) in Anyakoha, (2009), include:

knowledge of seasonal fluctuation of goods, ability to determine the extent to which

products will sell, familiarity with various aspects of sales and salesmanship, ability to

budget and forecast, ability to determine current and future trends in sales of products,

ability to determine availability for goods/raw materials for production and storage of

finished goods, ability to determine and interpret factors which indicate extent and

strength of competition, ability to determine what customers need and knowledge of

advertising. Polytechnic OTM graduates require these marketing and sales skills to sell

themselves and produce/services to employers, customers, clients, funders, employees

and others. This entails understanding the concept of marketing in changing the

perception of their customer towards their product/service as a big enterprise.

 Every business venture is established to sell one thing or the other hence sales

skill is regarded as very important because life is all about selling Duniya, 2004). A

man’s success in business today, Ajaero, (2010) says, turns upon his/her power of

getting people to believe he/she has something they want. Success in business is also

about selling, you must first sell yourself to your investors, next to your suppliers, your

business team and employees and then to your customers. The moment an

entrepreneur stop selling, they cease to be an entrepreneur. The ability to sell is the

number one skill in business (Ajero,2010).

Interpersonal Communication skills required by OTM graduates:

As an entrepreneur, one will have to work closely with people – this is where it is

critical to be able to build great relationships with your team, customers, suppliers,

shareholders, investors and more. Some people are more gifted in this area than

others, but, fortunately, one can learn and improve these skills (Osso, 2001).

Interpersonal skills refer to mental and communicative algorithms applied during

social communication and interaction in order to reach certain effects or results

(Okechukwu, 2009). The term interpersonal skill is used often in business contexts to

refer to the measure of a person’s ability to operate within business organisations

through social communication and interactions. It is how people relate to one another. In

this era of highly competitive business environment, where customerism is key player,

interpersonal communication plays a vital role. An entrepreneur needs interpersonal

skills to be able satisfy their customers.

 Having good interpersonal skill means relating well to others and being sensitive

to their needs, giving a good listening ear, and being empathic Ezeh 2011). According

Ezeh, Entrepreneurs usually interact with a wide variety of people, such as investors,

lawyers, insurance agents, accountants, employees, suppliers, customers, clients,

government officials, donors and volunteers. Interacting with these people effectively

increases the value of the contribution they are likely to make to the new venture.

Successful entrepreneurs must relate effectively to others, understand what motivates

them, and the sense of motivation in them. These has to be achieved though one to

one communication.

Communication in interpersonal relations according to Agboola and Ademiluyi

(2011), is the means or the system of sharing and exchanging of ideas, attitudes,

opinions, feelings, information, and so on within a person (intra-personal) and among

persons (interpersonal) and collective (mass). In the views of Olutayo, (2005),

communication is a sum of significant human interaction on physical planes.

In an organisation, communication goes on at all levels among and between

executives, managers, staff/personnel, supervisors, foremen and employees, the

communication process is continuously in action, conveying information, idea and

feelings among individuals and groups. This explains why communication skill is a

requisite skill to be possessed by entrepreneurs. Hence Ademiluyi, (2007) assert that

communication skills is very important to the entrepreneur. Also, it is the very centre of

the entrepreneurial process (Okeke and Ukuza, 2007).

Entrepreneurship often demands that business partners, customers and relevant

official be convinced about one’s technical ability. This Ademiluyi say, often draws upon

an entrepreneur’s reserve of oral and written communication ability. Furthermore,

Ademiluyi maintain that the effort to win and retain sponsorship and support also often

demand superior interpersonal skills of the entrepreneur. These interpersonal skills

according to the author include:

Leadership and Motivation: As a successful entrepreneur, you will have to depend on

others to get beyond a very early stage in your business – there is just too much to do

on your own. You should be able to motivate others to follow you and deliver your

vision.

Communication skills: You need to be able to communicate well to sell your vision of

the future to investors, potential clients, team members and more.

Listening: Listening to others is a skill that must be acquired by an entrepreneur. Your

ability to listen can make or break you as an entrepreneur. Make sure that you are

skilled at active listening and empathetic listening.

Personal Relations:There is need to be a multiple intelligent person when dealing with

people. The higher your emotional intelligence (EI), the easier it will be for you to work

with others. Your emotional intelligence can be improved on.

Negotiation: Not only does an entrepreneur need to negotiate keen prices and

finances, they also need to be able to resolve differences between people in a positive,

mutually beneficial way.

Ethics: An entrepreneur needs to lead ethically to be successful. Dealing with people

should base on respect, integrity, fairness and high moral standard? The entrepreneur

will find it hard to build a happy, committed team if they deal with people- staff,

customers or suppliers – in shoddy way.

Communication skills include: verbal and written, of being able to inform

succinctly, inspire, sell ideas and or products and services, and persuade a wide range
of audiences, required for communicating with partners, funders, staff, customers,

clients, colleagues and other stakeholders also being able to adopt the non-verbal cues

when communicating. Motivation and direction both depends on effective

communication. It is a bridge between meaning and understanding. It involves a

systematic and continuous process of telling, listening and understanding. It is the chain

of understanding that binds an enterprise from top to bottom and from side to side.

Information Technology Skills Required by OTM Graduates.

Modern business office is rapidly changing as a result of office automation, which

has brought about new methods in carrying out functions performed by people in

organizations (Etonyeaku, 2010). At the centre of the new trends in the office

Etonyeaku went further, are the office information technologies which place greater

responsibilities on business educator (OTM lecturers) and secretarial studies (now

Office technology and Management) students. Office technology systems refers to all

the automated or electronic processes by which office information is gathered,

processed, reproduced, transmitted, stored, protected and retrieved (Nwosu, 2000 in

Etonyeaku, 2010).

The office is all about information handling. Information according to Bongotons

and Onyenwe, (2010), occupies a strategic role in the scheme of human existence;

through communication of information development is facilitated. Agomuo (2005) refers

to information as facts, instructions and processed data that have been organized in any

medium of form, such organized facts/data which is meaningful to the end users or

recipients. Communication is kind of social interaction where at least two interacting

agents share common set of signs and a common set of semiotic rules (Ochai, 2007).

Communication in this information age has been influenced by modern technology.

Technology is regarded as a major platform for societal development.

Technology is the application of the scientific knowledge in practical ways (Ajaero,

2010). In the same vein, technology according to Obayi, (2006) is a form of knowledge

that uses concepts and skills from other disciplines especially science and the

application of this knowledge to meet an identified need or solve a specified problem

using materials, energy, tools and computers. Supporting Obayi, (2006), Brenna and

Mahon (2007) in Ezemoyih and Okafor (2010), observed that technology is a problem

solving process which has its goals, the improvement of the quality of human life,

human needs and resources. Ochai, (2007) define ICT as any equipment or

interconnected system or sub systems of equipment, that is used in the automatic

acquisition, storage, manipulation, management, retrieval, movement, control, display,

switching, interchange, transmission, reception of date information and communication

technology. Njie (2009) state, ICT means the use of computers and telecommunication

gadgets in information processing.

ICT according to Ajaero, (2010) is an umbrella term that includes any

communication device or application encompassing: radio, television, cellular phones

computer network, hardware and software, satellite systems and so on, as well as

various services and applications associated with each of these such as

videoconferencing and distance learning. However, Ajaero, further stated that ICT is

different from information technology (IT). According to the author, IT has to do with

knowledge and skills needed to apply information and communication technology (ICT)
appropriately. However, Wikipedia (2008) indicate that IT is the capability (skill) to

electronically input, process store, output, transmit and retrieve data/information.

The technological changes prevalent in modern enterprises have not spared the

secretarial/OTM profession. Presently, the effects of technology is felt in word

processing, micrographics system, photocopying, communication gadgets, electronic

mails, (E-mail), facsimile transmission (Fax) remote conferencing, the internet and so

on. Skills are required in word perfect, spread sheet, data base management. Such

skills would include skills in using software in carrying out research on the World Wide

Web (www), skills in handling and operating hardware like computer, printers, facsimile,

telecommunication gadgets, use of the internet to send e-mail, conduct market using e-

commerce, edit and produce correspondence using the computer.

Office technology, Atuenyi, (2010) says, is the application of modern office

technologies which allows the various form of information to be processed, transmitted,

manipulated, stored and retrieved with speed, accuracy and efficiency. Major

technologies that affects office according to the author include:

(a) Data processing: The automation equipment for processing data increases

the efficiency of business.

(b) Word Processing: Word processing equipment and software are important

features in today’s office environment;

(c) Graphics: Using graphic is often an effective way to convey information;

(d) Image: A scanner can reproduce images for use in word processing desktop

publishing application.
 (e) Voice: Using the human voice to produce information can be as simple as

speaking on the telephone

(f) Networking: Linking computers and other office machines used for processing

information expands the possibilities for managing information effectively.

Office Technology and Management programme is loaded with information

technology as core courses. Therefore, for the Polytechnics OTM students to be

relevant and functional in the modern automated business environment, it is imperative

for them to be loaded with entrepreneurial skills in IT. Such skills would include skills in

using software in carrying out research. Word Processing skills, Internet skills, Data

Base Management skills, Desktop Publishing skills, Web-page Design skills,

Reprographic Skills, and Micrographic skills (Ochai, 2007; Ajaero, 2010; Etonyeaku,

2010). These skills will enable the graduates to fit into modern offices as well as being

self-employed.

Theoretical Framework

Various writers have developed several theories on entrepreneurship and

popularized the concept among the common people to explain the field of

entrepreneurship. Researchers use theories to explain phenomena, and these theories

consists of concepts and constructs.

A theory as described by Pearson (2007) is an idea or set of ideas intended to

explain something. In the views of Kerlinger in Obi (2003); Bull in Kurger, (2004), a

theory is a set of interrelated concepts, definitions and proposition that present a

systematic view of phenomena by specifying relations among variables with the

purpose of explaining and predicting phenomena.

In view of the importance and centrality of entrepreneurship to human

development, there have been many attempts by scholars to explain factors behind the

presence of entrepreneurial ability/activity in some people and its absence in others

Mamman, (2010). Most management researchers agree that there is not a single

universally accepted theory of entrepreneurship. This is because entrepreneurship is

viewed differently by different scholars from different disciplines. The multidisciplinary

nature of entrepreneurship is given a close attention in this study. The theories have

their roots in psychology, sociology, economic and management and others.

Psychology Theory of Entrepreneurship (McClelland 1961) - Trait and Behavioural

The psychology theory was propounded by McClelland in 1961. The theory dealt

with entrepreneur’s characteristics and entrepreneurial process. In the views of

psychologists, the entrepreneurial ability of an individual is determine by his her levels

of need for achievement, autonomy and problem solving. The theorist assumption is

the higher the needs for achievement, autonomy and problem solving, the higher will be

the entrepreneurial ability and vice versa (Mamman, 2010).

In the psychological theory, motives and personality traits play a significant role

in determining the entrepreneurial ability of an individual. Coon (2004) defines

personality traits as “stable qualities that a person shows in most situations”. To the trait

theorists there are enduring inborn qualities or potentials of the individual that naturally

make him an entrepreneur. According to Kurger, (2004), explaining personality traits

means making inference from behavior. Some of the characteristics or behaviors

associated with entrepreneurs Kurger said, are that they tend to be more opportunity

driven (they nose around), demonstrate high level of creativity and innovation, and show

high level of management skills and business know-how. They have also been found to

be optimistic, (they see the cup as half full than as half empty), emotionally resilient and

have mental energy, they are hard workers, show intense commitment and

perseverance, thrive on competitive desire to excel and win, tend to be dissatisfied with

the status quo and desire improvement, entrepreneurs are also transformational in

nature, who are life-long learners and use failure as a tool and springboard and so on (

Mohar, Singh and Kishore 2007). This theory is related to the present study as it

emphasized the role played by the personality traits and motives in developing

entrepreneurial ability in OTM graduate of North-western geopolitical zone. However,

this theory gives some insight into these traits or inborn qualities by identifying the

characteristics associated with the entrepreneur. The characteristics give a clue or an

understanding of these traits or inborn potentials. The identification such characteristics

as perseverance, inner locus of control, flexibility to change, creativity and innovation,

persuasiveness and so on will enable the graduates to harness the other resources to

ensure growth of their start-ups.

Sociological Theory of Entrepreneurship (Raynolds, 1991) – Social and Cultural

The thrust of the sociological theory of entrepreneurship is that entrepreneurial

ability/aspiration is largely determined by the environment (Byers, and Sutton, 2004).

The theory viewed entrepreneurship from the social rather than individual context as in

the case of psychological theory. One’s sociological background is one of the decisive
“push” factors to become an entrepreneur. For instance, the social background of a

person determines how far he/ she can go (Kurger, 2004). Marginalized groups may

violate all obstacles and strive for success, spurred on by their disadvantaged

background to make life better. This postulation is true of the Igbo race and their post

civil war stigma. According to the sociological theorists, the environment in which an

individual lives plays a significant role in determining his/her level of entrepreneurial

ability (Raynolds, 1991). They believe that an individual residing in a challenging

environment where there are many entrepreneurs may likely have a higher

entrepreneurial ability/aspiration than an individual residing in a less challenging

environment with few or no entrepreneurs (Mamman, 2010). Going by this postulation,

it is likely that some areas or tribes may produce more entrepreneurs than others. For

instance, there are more entrepreneurs among the Igbos and Yorubas than in Hausa,

Angas, Kaje, Kataf and Kanuri. In the a similar vein, there are more entrepreneurs in

highly challenging environments of Lagos, Port Harcourt and Kano than in Jigawa,

Zamfara and Kebbi and other rural areas across the country Mamman, (2010).

Environmental factors like the political system, government legislation, customers,

employees and competition Baskerville, (2003) posit play an important role in the

survival of business ventures.

The sociologist theorists also postulate the point that entrepreneurship is the

product of culture. Entrepreneurial talents they say, come from cultural values and

cultural system embedded into the cultural environment (Schumpeter, 1985) of the

people in the community plays an important role in venture creation. Cultural practices

lead to entrepreneurial attitudes such as innovation that also lead to venture creation
behaviour. This is the reason that Baskerville said that individual ethnicity affects

attitude and behaviour and that culture reflects particular ethnic , social, economic,

ecological, and political complexities in individuals. This theory is true of the area of

study in this research, The socio/cultural attitude and behaviours of the people in the

Northern Nigeria (Northwest geo-political zone in particular) make them dependent on

the government for virtually everything including job creation. The theory is important to

this present study in the sense that the theory serves as a pointer to effects of

socio/cultural background of the graduates in the area of study (North-western zone)

when developing their entrepreneurial ability. This theory will help the teachers to know

the best teaching and learning approaches to adopt to effectively redirect the mind-set

of the graduates in these areas.

Economic Theory of Entrepreneurship (Schumpeter, 1934)

The economic theory was postulated by Schumpeter (1934). The theory studied

the relationships between economic environment and entrepreneurship (Kurger, 2004).

Entrepreneurship and economic development the author propounds are interdependent.

Economic development takes place when a country’s real national income increases

overall period of time wherein the role of entrepreneur is an integral part. In the

economists’ perspective, entrepreneurial ability in a man is a product of his desire to

acquire wealth and the fear of unemployment and poverty (Virtanem in Mamman,

2010). The desire for wealth and the fear of poverty are positively related. A higher

fear of poverty in a man may translate into a higher entrepreneurial ability/aspiration. A

lower fear of poverty on the hand may likely translate into a lower entrepreneurial

ability/aspiration. For instance, the fear of unemployment, stagnation or poverty may

likely lead to OTM graduates to look into starting their own small scale business

enterprise on graduation.

For entrepreneurship to grow or to develop, it requires some boosters or

challenges. The challenges, economists believe, include among others, consumers’

crave for new products or services, a desire for new methods of production,

transportation and the emergence of new markets. The level of entrepreneurship

development in any society will largely depend on the extent of which entrepreneurs are

able to face the challenges. This theory is also related to this study as it provides the

entrepreneur (OTM graduate) an opportunity to see entrepreneurship as a veritable tool

for the reduction of unemployment and enhance the economic capabilities of the

graduate through their income. The fear of being unemployed will propel the OTM

graduates to think of starting a small scale business enterprise of their own on graduate,

especially now that no government is comfortable being the sole employer of labour.

Management Entrepreneurship Theory (Say, 1803)

The Management theory was propounded by Say, (1803) emphasizing on

Entrepreneurs’ skill, management and growth of the enterprises. Say (1803),

recognised the managerial role of the entrepreneur. The management theorist argues

that entrepreneurs have individual specific resources that facilitate the recognition of

new opportunities and the assembling of new resources for the emerging firm (Alvarez

and Busenitz, 2001). Research shows that some persons are more able to recognise

and exploit opportunities than others because they have better access to information

and knowledge (Anderson and Miller, 2003; Shane, 2003; Shane and Venkataraman,

2000). On the issue of social network structure, Shame and Eckhardt (2003) says “an
individual may have the ability to recognise that a given entrepreneurial opportunity

exist, but might lack the social connections to transform the opportunity into a business

start up. It is through that access to a large social network might help overcome the this

problem

In another development, Low, (2001) in Kurger, proposed that entrepreneurship

as a scholarly field should seek to understand how opportunities bring into existence

future good and services that are discovered, created and exploited, by whom and with

what consequences. Entrepreneurship is defined by the management theorist as “The

creation and management of new business, small businesses and family businesses

and the characteristics and special problems of entrepreneurs. According to Drucker

(1985), successful entrepreneurship involves the following things – value and

satisfaction obtained from resources by the consumer are increased. New values are

created. Material is converted into resource or existing resources are combined in a

new or more productive configuration. Drucker stress that entrepreneurship is the

practice which has a knowledge base. Entrepreneurship is not confined to only big

businesses and economic institutions, it is equally important to small business. The

management theory is important to this current study based on the theorists emphasis

on idea generation and opportunity strategies, venture team (networking), self-

employment and owner-manager (self-reliance), on entrepreneurs’ skills, and its place

in the management and growth of an enterprise.

Related Empirical Studies.

Agbogidi, (2007) conducted a study on entrepreneurial skills required by auto

mechanics technology students in the technical colleges in Delta State for establishing
small and medium scale enterprises. Survey study was adopted, while the population

of the study was 84. Mean statistic was used to answer the research questions while t-

test statistic was employed to test the hypotheses. The study revealed 24 managerial

skills, 13 financial management skills, 12 marketing skills and 11 communication skills

required of auto mechanics technology students for establishing small and medium

scale enterprise in Delta State. Prominent among these skills is the use of computer for

word processing, data bases and use of internet for business transactions. The study

relates to the present research work in that both studies determined the entrepreneurial

skills required by Polytechnic graduates for starting a small scale business enterprise.

They differ in the sense that the former studied polytechnic auto mechanic graduates,

while the later focus on the polytechnic OTM graduates.

Lukeman and Oviawe (2010), conducted a study on competencies and skills

needed by technical college teachers for the development of entrepreneurial skills in

students. A descriptive survey design was used for the study. A total population of 300

comprising 100 technical college teachers and 200 students selected through random

sampling technique participated in the study. The descriptive statistics of (mean and

standard deviation) and Pearson Moment Correlation were used for data analysis. The

study revealed that teachers need competencies in all the core areas of

entrepreneurship skills. There exist a significant and positive relationship between

teachers’ attitudes to entrepreneurship and students level of entrepreneurial aspiration.

It was recommended that (ICT) Information and Communication Technology facilities

should be made available in schools to increase teachers’ access to business

information and resources. It was also found that capacity-building workshop should be
mounted to enable teachers acquire modern entrepreneurial skills for instructional

purposes. Their study has a relationship with this present study as it deals with

equipping the teachers with entrepreneurial skills so that they will in turn transfer their

experience to the students through effective teaching and learning. However, the study

differ from the present study as the former studied teacher and students in technical

colleges and not polytechnics as the attitude of teachers and their students towards

entrepreneurship differ from the attitude of lecturers and graduates of polytechnics.

Asuquo, (2010) studied the business and information processing skills needed by

business centre operators. The study aimed to determine the basic information

processing skills needed by business centre operators for efficient and satisfactory

service delivery to their customers. The population of the study was 72, made up of 48

computer operators and 24 managers of registered business centers in Sabon Gari,

Kano. Mean and standard deviation were used to analyze the data collected. It was

revealed from the analysis that the business centre operators needed all the skills in

system operations including: typesetting of all types of documents, handling of special

documents, graphics and architectural designs, performing statistical analysis as well as

doing desktop publishing. The findings also showed that the business centre operators

needed all the human relations skills identified like, ability to create positive atmosphere

of trust and confidence, interact positively with people, exhibit courtesy and

appreciation, and tolerate all kinds of customers including difficult ones as basic human

relations skill found useful for effective discharge of service in their business centers.

Also found is the importance of communication skill. The skills identified include: to

communicate fluently and clearly, good use of grammar, listening ability exercising
strong emotional intelligence. This study has relationship with the current study in the

sense that the skills identified in this study lend credence to the entrepreneurial skills

required by the Polytechnic OTM graduates for starting and managing a small scale

business enterprise in the form of a business centre operation. The researcher

confirmed that all the skills identified are critical skills required to start and manage a

business centre effectively as their own private entrepreneurial venture. Also the area

of study in the former (Kano State) happens to fall into the geo political zone of the later

study (North-western zone). However, while the previous study was on business centre

operators, the present study focused on Office technology and Management (OTM)

graduates of polytechnic.

Okoro and Dajur, (2011), carried out a study to identify the management skill

needs of small and medium scale enterprise in Bauchi Metropolis towards improving

productivity. With a population of 70 respondents, the study adopted a descriptive

survey, using a 24 item questionnaire to solicit response. The mean of the collected

data was ascertained and null hypothesis tested at 0.05 level of significance using t-test

statistic. The findings revealed that all the items listed as planning skills were needed

except items 5, 8 and 14 which were not needed. The items not needed include: “a

business plan must be done by an expert (5), financial resources must be sourced from

a properly constituted financial hour (8), and business registration should only be

authorised based on government approved planning (14)”. From the findings, the

business people avered that they did not need formal business establishment

procedures such as feasibility study by experts and they did not need government

regulatory disposition in their business. These revelations are indication that

businessmen do need business recording in order not to avoid proper assessment for

tax purposes. As regard their position on sources of finances. Sourcing for funds from

approved financial houses constitute a nuisance to the Nigerian business man due

largely to government policies and requirement for such exercise. SMEs the research

study revealed have difficulty in obtaining funds because the do not have established

reputations to impress the bankers or financiers and usually have records of financial

probity.

The findings on communication skills needed by the mangers of small and

medium enterprises in Bauchi, revealed that while all the ten items as listed 15-24 were

needed, items 17,21,22 and 23 were not needed. The items include: the capacity to

draft and process all types of business correspondence; possessing capability to

manipulate computer operating systems; possessing the capability to use the internet

for business communication; possess the capability to send E-mail. These responses

simply imply that while the entrepreneurs make use of GSM cell phones; they do not

consider other systems of communication important. This further implies that they will

be deficient in such business practices demanding E-commerce and general use of

internet. Businesses depend on communication. People must communicate to plan

products, hire, train, and motivate workers, coordinate production and delivery,

persuade customers to buy, convince investors to invest their monies. This study differ

from the current one in the sense that the former dealt on planning and communication

skills of practicing entrepreneurs in the field while the later is relating to the required by

graduating OTM students. However, the findings of the former study will serve as a
benchmark to the current study as the gap created in the findings will be dealt with in

this current study.

Ezeh, (2011) conducted a study on the critical entrepreneurial skills required by

graduates of secretarial studies of the Polytechnics. The study adopted survey

research design, using the questionnaire to elicit the opinion of the subject on the

entrepreneurial skills required by secretarial study graduates to be self-employed in

Kogi East Senatorial Zone. The population was 126 secretaries on paid-employment

and self-employment. Purpose of the study was to identify the managerial skill,

marketing skills and risk management skills required by graduate secretaries to be self-

employed. From the findings: For managerial skills required by the graduate

secretaries, all the 15 items scores above 3.0 and therefore were required such as:

basic steps in starting business, plan, direct and effectively control business operations

and so on. Responses on marketing skills required for self-employment by graduate

secretaries, it as found that all the 12 items (29-40) were required. Marketing skills such

as: ability to capture and retain the attention of customers, promote and sell the

organisation product, analyse demand and supply situation and the rest.

On the risk management skills, all the nine(9) items listed from (41-49) were all

required with their mean ranging from 4.04-4.78. Based on the findings of the study, it

would be concluded that graduate secretaries require entrepreneurial skills in the

clusters of managerial, marketing and risk management skills. These skills according to

the researcher will enable them to establish and manage small scale businesses. This

study is related to present study in that they both look at the critical entrepreneurial skills

required by the secretarial studies graduates, the difference lies in the change of
nomenclature to Office Technology and Management (OTM) graduates. Another

relationship is that both studies took place in the Polytechnics. ICT has enriched and

widened the scope and practice of secretaries in terms of work qualities, speed,

accuracy and variety. Both secretaries and the new office professionals require

managerial (administrative skills), marketing skills to produce and sell their

product/services and risk management skills to be able to handle the uncertainties

involved in starting and managing small scale business enterprise.

Summary of Literature Reviewed

Related literature on the study was reviewed with a view to identify the

entrepreneurial skills required for success in private small scale business enterprise by

the Polytechnic OTM graduates. The review shows that lately, entrepreneurship

research focus on two basic dimensions: individual (trait) approach and firm (behavioral

approach, concluding on the outcome- new value creation that fuels economic growth.

The trait approach support the individual as the primary level of analysis, while at the

behavioral approach the organisation is the primary level of analysis Argawal and

Chatterjee, 2007).

The conceptual framework of the study was based on the concepts of

entrepreneurship skills of polytechnics OTM graduates. Approaches for entrepreneurial

skill identification include: The old war story approach; the case study approach, the

planning approach and the generic approach were used in the study. Theoretically, the

study was based on psychological (personality trait) theory, sociological theory,

economic theory and management theory. The review of related literature where on the
entrepreneurial skills polytechnics OTM graduate require for a small scale business

success covering: skills for planning new business venture, personality traits,

administrative management, financial records management, marketing management,

interpersonal communication, information and communication management.

The existing literature revealed that business planning is a major factor in the

success of a venture. Obviously an entrepreneur needs a more detailed plan before

launching into a business (small or large). The literature also revealed that personality

traits are some in-born qualities or potential exhibited by entrepreneurs. It was revealed

that trait model is not supported by research evidence, that the only way to explain or

claim that it exists is to look through one’s characteristics/behaviors. The review on

interpersonal communication skills revealed the influence of interpersonal

communication skill on small scale business enterprise. It was highlighted that effective

interpersonal communication promote cordial relationship among executive and

workers, superior to subordinate, worker to worker and superior to superior. It create

openness and atmosphere of trust which promote organisational growth.

The literature revealed that the management of finance is crucial in the operation

of any enterprise be it small, medium or large. Effective management of finance could

be achieved through financial record management, proper book-keeping and financial

reporting. Available literature has showed that the founding of new firms is more

common when people have access to financial capital. By implication this suggests that

people with financial capital are more able to acquire resources to effectively exploit

entrepreneurial opportunities, and set up a firm.

 It was equally revealed from available literature that successful operation of small

scale business is largely dependent on marketing mix and set prices, product/services

and marketing tasks and information. Literature reviewed also showed that small scale

enterprises serve as ground breaking instrument for economic growth as well as means

of mobilization and utilization of domestic savings. The literature revealed how small

scale businesses secure start up funds, managing cash flow, especially dealing with

bad debt and late payments, coping with stress, especially without friends who

understand the demands of self-employment. Employing right staff and managing other

people for the first time, management of business expansion and their share of the

market.

The success of any specific programme in business education such as the Office

Technology Management (OTM) in meeting the stated objectives requires empirical

researches to identify area of inadequacy for prompt policy intervention. Although

several studies have been conducted on skills, it is imperative to state that, most of the

empirical work and local studies had not been specifically conducted on entrepreneurial

skills required by the polytechnic Office Technology and Management (OTM) graduates

for starting small scale business enterprise. This study, therefore, aimed at filling this

gap.
 CHAPTER III

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

This chapter describes the procedures that were used by the researcher in

carrying out this study. These include the Design of the Study, Area of the Study,

Population for the Study, Sample and sampling techniques, Instrument for Data

Collection, Validation of the Instrument, Reliability of the Instrument, Method of data

Collection and Method of data Analysis.

Design of the Study

This study adopted descriptive survey research design. Survey research

according to Osuala (2005), involves the collection of detailed description of public

opinion in existing phenomena with the intent to justify current conditions and practices

to make better plans for improving phenomena. Survey research design is suitable for

this study because it used questionnaire to elicit the opinions of respondents on the

entrepreneurial skills required by Polytechnics OTM graduates for starting a small scale

business on graduation.

Area of the Study

The study area was North-western geo-political zone of Nigeria, comprising of

seven states namely: Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Sokoto, and Zamfara

States. The total population of North-western Nigeria according to National Pupation

Commission (2006) is 35,786,944 people. The majority of the population are traders

(livestock and grains), crop and livestock farmers. The area is blessed with state and

federal owned institutions such as Colleges of Education, Polytechnics and Universities.

The study will be conducted in all the state and federal polytechnics offering Office
87
Technology and Management (OTM) in the North-western Nigeria. The polytechnics

are: Hussaini Adamu Polytechnic, Jigawa State (federal) Kaduna Polytechnic, Kaduna

(federal), Kano State Polytechnic, Kano (state), Hassan Usman Katsina Poly, Katsina

(state), Sokoto State Poly, Sokoto, (Sokoto), Nuhu Bamali Poly, Zaria, Kaduna State,

(state) and Federal Polytechnic, Kaura Namoda, Zamfara State (federal.

Population of the Study

The target population of the study comprised 145 Office Technology and

Management (OTM) lecturers and the lecturers in the Centre for Entrepreneurship

Development and Research (CEDR) in the area of study. They are made up of 95

Office Technology and Management (OTM) lecturers and 50 lecturers from Centre for

Entrepreneurship Development (CEDR) in the institutions. These individuals were

chosen because of their knowledge of office technology and entrepreneurship

education, and factors that influence entrepreneurial skills acquisition. Not all the states

of North-western geo-political zone had both federal and state polytechnics hence only

those Polytechnics that offer Office Technology and Management were involved in the

study. The statistics of the lecturers used for the population was culled from the

Polytechnic Academic Staff Statistics officially collected from National Board for

Technical Education (NBTE, 2010/2011). The breakdown of the population for the study

is presented in (Appendix I). No sampling was made due to the relatively small size of

the population.

Instrument for Data Collection

 A structured questionnaire with 104 items developed from reviewed literature on

entrepreneurial skill studies based on the research questions for the study was used for

data collection. Part 1 was used to elicit information on the respondent’s bio data while

part 2 is divided into seven sections, A-G in line with the research questions for the

study. Section ‘A’ dealt with entrepreneurial skills required by the polytechnics OTM

graduates for planning a small scale business venture, Section ‘B’ dealt with personality

traits required by OTM graduates to start up small scale business, Section ‘C’ elicited

data on administrative management skills required by OTM graduates to start up small

scale business, section ‘D’ was used to gather data on interpersonal communication

skills required by OTM graduates to start up small scale business, section ‘E’ was

made to generate data on financial records management skills required by OTM

graduates to start up small scale business, section ‘F’ dealt with data on marketing

Management skills required by OTM graduates to start up small scale business, while

section ‘G’ was made to capture data on information technology skills required by OTM

graduates. The questionnaire items are structured on five a point rating scale. The

response categories are: Very Highly Required (VHR) – 5 point; Highly Required (HR) –

4 point; Averagely Required (AR) – 3; Slightly Required (SR) – 2 point and Not

Required (NR) – 1 point (See Appendix II).

Validation of Instrument

The face-validity of the questionnaire was established by experts in

entrepreneurship education. Two of the validates were from Department of Vocational

Teacher Education, University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN) and one from Centre for

Entrepreneurship Development and Research, Kaduna Polytechnic, Kaduna State.

Each of the validates were given a copy of the questionnaire and was requested to

correct the questionnaire by deleting any ambiguous statement or any wrongly written

entrepreneurial skill items or word(s) presented by the researcher. The validates were

also requested to make suggestions for the improvement of the instrument towards

meeting the purpose of the study. Their suggestions were integrated to improve the

quality of the final copy of the questionnaire (See Appendix IV).

Reliability of Instrument

The questionnaire was pilot tested on Office Technology and Management

(OTM) lecturers (n=15) and Kaduna State CEDR lecturers (n=5) in Kaduna metropolis,

making a total of 20 Polytechnic Office Technology and Management (OTM) lecturers

and entrepreneurship experts in the Centre for Entrepreneurship Development and

Research in Jigawa state and Audu Gusau, Zamfara State Polytechnics who are not

part of the respondents to determine the internal consistency of the questionnaire. A

Cronbach Coefficient Alpha test was used to determine the internal consistency of the

questionnaire. A total reliability coefficient of 0.79 was obtained for the instrument. The

reliability co-efficient was determined separately for each of the 7 sections of the

questionnaire which yielded reliability indices of 0.74 for planning skills; 0.69 for

personality traits; 0.76 for administrative management skills, 0.84 for interpersonal

management skills; 0.80 for financial records management skills; 0.77 for marketing

management skills and 0.77 for information technology skills. The overall coefficient

value of 0.79 was obtained. The use of Cronbach Alpha to determine the reliability of

the instrument was informed by the fact that it yields information about the precision of

the various items in an instrument in measuring the common underlying phenomenon

(See Appendix III).

Method of Data Collection

The data for the study were collected through the help of three research

assistants in addition to the researcher who administered the 145 copies of the

questionnaire to the respondents. The research assistants were duly instructed by the

researcher on how to administer the instrument, so as to ensure safe handling and

return of the instrument. Each of the three research assistants was hired from three

states where they were probably covered for the administration and retrieval of the

instrument while the researcher covered Kaduna state. The researcher coordinated the

activities of the research assistants and collated the retrieved questionnaire after two

weeks of administration for data analysis. Out of the 145 copies of the instrument

administered, 141 copies were duly filled and retrieved representing about 97% rate of

return.

Method of Data Analysis

The data generated from the questionnaire were analyzed using mean to answer

the research questions while t-test statistic was used to test the hypotheses at 0.05

level of probability. The mean of the questionnaire items was computed and interpreted

based on the statistical real limit of numbers as presented below.

Very Highly Required (VHR) = 4.50 – 5.00

Highly Required (HR) = 3.50 – 4.49

Averagely Required (AR) = 2.50 – 3.49

Slightly Required (SR) = 1.50 – 2.49

Not Required (NR) = 1.00 – 1.49

For the research questions therefore, mean scores of between 4.50 – 5.00 were

regarded as Very Highly Required; 3.50 – 4.49 were regarded as Highly Required; 2.50
– 3.49 were regarded as Averagely Required; 1.50 – 2.49 were regarded as Slightly

Required while mean scares of between 1.00 – 1.49 were treated as Not Required.

However, the hypothesis of no significant difference was accepted for any

cluster whose t-calculated (t-cal) value is less than the t–table (t-tab) value of 1.96 at

P<0.05 level of significance and at the obtained degree of freedom. On the other hand,

the hypothesis of no significant difference was rejected for any cluster whose t-

calculated (t-cal) value is greater than the t-table (t-tab) value of 1.96 at P<0.05 level of

significance and at the obtained degree of freedom.

 CHAPTER IV

PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS OF DATA

This chapter presents the analysis, interpretation of data and discussion of

findings for answering the research questions and testing the research hypotheses at

P<0.05 level of significance.

Research Question 1

What are the entrepreneurial skills required in the planning of a small scale
business by the Polytechnic OTM graduates?

The data used for answering Research Question 1 is presented in Table 1.

93
Table 1:
Mean ratings of the responses of Respondents on entrepreneurial skills required
in the planning of small scale business by Polytechnic OTM graduates.

S/N Item Statements X SD Remarks

1 Develop critical business idea 4.52 0.50 VHR

2 Recognize business opportunities in the 4.35 0.48 HR

environment
3 Take a decision to go into the right legal form of 4.40 0.49 HR
business (small scale business enterprise)
4 Identify potential competitors and alternative course 4.72 0.45 VHR
of action.
5 Take the risk of going into the business identified 4.12 0.89 HR

6 Plan staff needs before securing the services of 4.11 0.75 HR

anybody.
7 Set attainable strategic goals 4.43 0.69 HR

8 Strategically plan and position the business for 4.22 0.64 HR

effectiveness
9 Take decision on financial plan 4.31 0.79 HR

10 Take decision on marketing strategies 4.40 0.76 HR

11 Take decision on the form of product/service 4.57 0.55 VHR

12 Have knowledge of monitoring and evaluation of 4.23 0.79 HR

business plan.
13 See the ‘big picture’ of the enterprise as one entity. 3.82 0.88 HR

14 Decide on the administrative structure of the 3.94 0.83 HR

business enterprise.
Note: X = Mean. VHR = Very Highly Required
SD = Standard Deviation. HR = Highly Required
N = Number of Respondents.

Data presented in Table 1 showed that the mean ratings of the responses of the

respondents on 11 out of the 14 items had mean values ranging from 3.82 to 4.43 which

are within the real limit of 3.50 – 4.49. The results indicated that the respondents agreed
that all the 11 identified items in the table are Highly Required by Polytechnics OTM

graduates for planning small scale businesses.

The data presented further showed that, the mean ratings of the responses of the

respondents on the remaining 3 items, specifically items 1, 4 and 11 had mean values

of 4.52, 4.72 and4.57 respectively which are within the real limit of 4.50 – 5.00. This

finding means that the respondents agreed that the remaining 3 items in the table are

Very Highly Required by Polytechnics OTM graduates for planning small scale

businesses. The values of the standard deviation of the 14 items ranged from 0.45 –

0.89 which indicated that the responses of the respondents are close to one another

and to the mean.

Research Question 2

What are the personality traits required for managing a small scale business by the
Polytechnic OTM graduates?
The data for answering the Research Question 2 is presented in Table 2.

Table 2:
Mean ratings of the responses of Respondents on personality traits required for
managing small scale business by Polytechnic OTM graduates.

S/N Item Statements X SD Remarks

1 Being very creative and innovative 4.32 0.67 HR

2 Demonstrate high level of persistence in the 4.06 0.83 HR

face of uncertainty
3 Perseverance at odd situations 4.08 0.78 HR

4 Have high sense of judgment 4.39 0.64 HR

5 Demonstrate high level of openness 4.26 0.77 HR

6 Demonstrate high sense of integrity 4.23 0.54 HR

7 Have a visionary leadership quality 4.42 0.50 HR

8 Have the drive for self-motivation 4.51 0.56 VHR

9 Be presentable at all times 4.29 0.70 HR

10 Be task-result oriented 4.57 0.55 VHR

11 Being smartly flexible to change 4.33 0.64 HR

12 Coaching and teaching others 3.87 0.80 HR

13 Being assertive and having positive self image 4.40 0.49 HR

14 Have confidence in oneself 4.65 0.48 VHR

15 Have high inner-locus of control 3.92 0.91 HR

Note: X = Mean. VHR = Very Highly Required

SD = Standard Deviation. HR = Highly Required
N = Number of Respondents.
 Data presented in Table 2 revealed that the mean ratings of the responses of the

respondents on 12 out of the 15 items had mean values ranging from 3.87 to 4.42 which

are within the real limit of 3.50 – 4.49. The results indicated that the respondents agreed

that all the 12 identified items of personality traits are: Highly Required by Polytechnics

OTM graduates for managing a small scale business.

The data presented in the Table revealed further that, the mean ratings of the

responses of the respondents on the remaining 3 items, specifically items 8, 10 and 14

had mean values of 4.51, 4.57 and 4.65respectively which are within the real limit of

4.50 – 5.00. This finding indicated that the respondents agreed that the remaining 3

items of personality traits are Very Highly Required by Polytechnics OTM graduates for

managing small scale businesses. The values of the standard deviation of the 15 items

ranged from 0.48 – 0.91 which indicated that the responses of the respondents are

close to one another and to the mean.

Research Question 3
What are the entrepreneurial skills required in administrative management of a
small scale business by the Polytechnic OTM graduate?
The data used for answering the Research Question 3 is presented in Table 3.
Table 3:
Mean ratings of the responses of the Respondents on entrepreneurial skills required
in administrative management of small scale business by Polytechnic OTM
graduates.

S/N Item Statements X SD Remarks

1 Undertake basic steps in starting a business 3.89 0.89 HR

2 Set appropriate goals 3.96 1.04 HR

3 Organise human and material resources to achieve 4.25 0.88 HR

set goals.
4 Perform the managerial functions of planning, 4.50 0.70 VHR
organizing, controlling a coordinating and directing
business operations
5 Implement plans for goal attainment 4.16 0.52 HR

6 Evaluate all activities in the process of goal 4.40 0.49 HR

attainment
7 Manage time to meet job schedules 4.26 0.65 HR

8 Have knowledge of inventory control 4.29 0.82 HR

9 Know factors involved in overhead control 4.26 0.81 HR

10 Develop, interprets and explain budgets for all levels 4.12 0.86 HR
within the organization
11 Raise funds from internal and external revenue for 4.61 0.47 VHR
the business
12 Have knowledge of personnel management 4.40 0.49 HR

13 Effectively delegate authority to subordinates 4.42 0.48 HR

14 Effectively supervise those delegated authorities. 4.45 0.49 HR

15 Appraise employee performance 4.48 0.50 HR

Note: X = Mean. VHR = Very Highly Required

SD = Standard Deviation. HR = Highly Required
N = Number of Respondents.
 The data presented in Table 3 showed that the mean ratings of the responses of

the respondents on 13 out of the 15 items had mean values ranging from 3.89 to 4.48

which are within the real limit of 3.50 – 4.49. The results indicated that the respondents

agreed that all the 13 identified administrative management skills are Highly Required

by Polytechnics OTM graduates for managing a small scale business.

The data presented in the Table showed further that, the mean ratings of the

responses of the respondents on the remaining 2 items, specifically items 4 and 11 had

mean values of 4.50 and 4.61respectively which are within the real limit of 4.50 – 5.00.

This finding indicated that the respondents agreed that the remaining 2 administrative

management skill items are Very Highly Required by Polytechnics OTM graduates for

managing small scale businesses. The values of the standard deviation of the 15 items

ranged from 0.47 – 1.04 which indicated that the responses of the respondents are

close to one another and to the mean.

Research Question 4
 What are the entrepreneurial skills required in interpersonal communication in
managing small scale business by the Polytechnic OTM graduate?
The data used for answering the Research Question 4 is presented in Table 4.

Table 4:
Mean ratings of the responses of the Respondents on entrepreneurial skills required
in interpersonal communication in managing small scale business by
Polytechnic OTM graduates.

S/N Item Statements X SD Remarks

1 Project a good image 4.00 0.87 HR

2 Being empathic with others 4.02 0.74 HR

3 Have good listening habit 4.04 0.88 HR

4 Demonstrate high level of cooperation with other 4.18 0.85 HR

stakeholders
5 Be a good team builder 4.66 0.46 VHR

6 Have even psychological disposition 3.86 0.87 HR

7 Maintain an atmosphere of trust 4.47 0.77 HR

8 Have high integrity and good moral conduct 4.59 0.49 VHR

9 Interpret and pass information to others effectively 4.27 0.78 HR

10 Have a high emotional intelligence to interact 3.88 0.85 HR

positively to get along with all types of people
11 To tolerate customers of aggressive disposition 4.11 0.89 HR

12 Create good network chain for the business 4.15 0.87 HR

13 Prepare and present effective speech 4.19 0.83 HR

14 Prepare good written communication 3.77 0.68 HR

15 Accept constructive criticisms 4.33 0.83 HR

16 Conduct quality oral presentation 4.25 0.85 HR

17 Recognize and effective use non verbal cues 4.16 0.85 HR

Note: X = Mean. VHR = Very Highly Required

SD = Standard Deviation. HR = Highly Required
N = Number of Respondents.
 Data presented in Table 4 revealed that the mean ratings of the responses of the

respondents on 15 out of the 17 items had mean values ranging from 3.77 to 4.47 which

fall within the real limit of 3.50 – 4.49. This shows that the respondents agreed that all

the 15 identified interpersonal communication skills are Highly Required by Polytechnics

OTM graduates for managing a small scale business.

The data presented in the Table revealed further that, the mean ratings of the

responses of the respondents on the remaining 2 items, specifically items 5 and 8 had

mean values of 4.66 and 4.59respectively which fall within the real limit of 4.50 – 5.00.

This indicated that the respondents agreed that the remaining 2 interpersonal

communication skills are Very Highly Required by Polytechnics OTM graduates for

managing small scale businesses. The values of the standard deviation of the 17 items

ranged from 0.46 – 0.89 which indicated that the responses of the respondents are

close to one another and to the mean.

Research Question 5

What are the entrepreneurial skills required in financial record management of

small scale business by the Polytechnic OTM graduate?
The data used for answering the Research Question 5 is presented in Table 5.

Table 5:
Mean ratings of the responses of the Respondents on entrepreneurial skills required
in financial record management in small scale business by Polytechnic OTM
graduates.

S/N Item Statements X SD Remarks

1 Having knowledge of various accounting books and 4.56 0.49 VHR
how to prepare them.
2 Keep accurate daily financial records 3.83 0.51 HR

3 Manage cash flow 4.48 0.50 HR

4 Prepare and interpret financial statement to measure 4.28 0.82 HR

enterprise performance
5 Understand payroll and various deductions 4.25 0.74 HR

6 Understand gross and net profits 3.60 0.90 HR

7 Recognize various sources of funds 4.45 0.49 HR

8 Have knowledge of basic accounting rules 4.35 0.48 HR

9 Knowledge of government levies, taxes regulations 4.40 0.49 HR

as they affect the business
10 Make an effective business decisions based on 4.21 0.90 HR
available accounting records
11 Negotiate effectively with the funders, bank for funds 4.12 0.89 HR

12 Make effective financial decisions based on records 4.16 0.70 HR

available
13 Use accounting software for financial transaction 4.08 0.70 HR

14 Make use of some professional bodies like bankers, 3.83 0.65 HR

accountants, lawyers and advertising agents.
15 Maintain basic business records (double entry book 4.46 0.61 HR
keeping)

Note: X = Mean. VHR = Very Highly Required

SD = Standard Deviation. HR = Highly Required
N = Number of Respondents.
 The data presented in Table 5 showed that the mean ratings of the responses of

the respondents on 14 out of the 15 items had mean values ranging from 3.60 to 4.48

which fall within the real limit of 3.50 – 4.49. This indicated that the respondents agreed

that all the 14 identified financial records management skills are Highly Required by

Polytechnics OTM graduates for managing a small scale business.

The data presented in the Table revealed further that, the mean rating of the

responses of the respondents on item 1 is 4.56 which fall within the real limit of 4.50 –

5.00. This indicated that the respondents agreed that having knowledge of various

accounting books is Very Highly Required by Polytechnics OTM graduates for

managing small scale businesses. The values of the standard deviation of the 15 items

ranged from 0.48 – 0.90 which indicated that the responses of the respondents are

close to one another and to the mean.

Research Question 6

What are the entrepreneurial skills required in marketing management of small

scale business by the Polytechnic OTM graduate?
The data used for answering the Research Question 6 is presented in Table 6..

Table 6:
Mean ratings of the responses of the Respondents on entrepreneurial skills
required in marketing management in small scale business by Polytechnic
OTM graduates.

S/N Item Statements X SD Remarks

1 Conduct market survey to determine customers 4.04 0.94 HR
needs
2 Utilize views and data of market research 4.29 0.85 HR

3 Identify customers’ needs that can be satisfied 4.22 0.96 HR

4 Exhibit knowledge of marketing strategies 4.15 0.90 HR

5 Make decisions on marketing mix 4.21 0.82 HR

6 Determine and interpret factors which indicate 4.26 1.11 HR

extend and strength of competition.
7 Determine information needs of the market 3.55 1.10 HR

8 Promote and sell organizational products 4.16 0.85 HR

9 Have knowledge of good sales technique 4.66 0.48 VHR

10 Demonstrate knowledge of forecasting and 4.22 0.90 HR

analysis of the market
11 Conduct effective advertisement 4.52 0.65 VHR

12 Promote and sell the organisation’s products 4.43 0.49 HR

13 Analyse demand and supply situation 3.99 0.89 HR

14 Capture and retain the attention of customers 4.52 0.50 VHR

Note: X = Mean. VHR = Very Highly Required

SD = Standard Deviation. HR = Highly Required
N = Number of Respondents.
 From the data presented in Table 6, it was revealed that the mean ratings of the

responses of the respondents on 11 out of the 14 items had mean values ranging from

3.55 to 4.43 which fall within the real limit of 3.50 – 4.49. This shows that the

respondents agreed that all the 11 identified marketing management skills are Highly

Required by Polytechnics OTM graduates for managing a small scale business.

The data presented in the Table revealed further that, the mean rating of the

responses of the respondents on the remaining 3 items, specifically; items 9, 11 and 14

were 4.66, 4.52 and 4.52 respectively. This showed that the respondents agreed that

the remaining 3 marketing management skills are Very Highly Required by Polytechnics

OTM graduates for managing small scale businesses. The values of the standard

deviation of the 14 items ranged from 0.48 – 1.11 which indicated that the responses of

the respondents are close to one another and to the mean.

Research Question 7
What are the entrepreneurial skills required in information technology (IT)
operation of a small business by the Polytechnic OTM graduates?

The data used for answering the research question 7 is presented in Table 7.
Table 7:
Mean ratings of the responses of the Respondents on entrepreneurial skills required
in information technology (IT) operation in small scale business by Polytechnic
OTM graduates.

S/N Item Statements X SD Remarks

1 Use the internet as an indispensable means of 3.94 0.72 HR
information and communication system.
2 Effectively use ICT element such as word 4.02 0.66 HR
processing package, software, hardware, budgets,
marketing and other concepts including job
searching and career exploration
3 Handle various photocopying machine for 3.77 0.59 HR
reproduction of documents
4 Use repetitive printing methods of reprographics for 3.61 1.39 HR
printing one original hard copy of document.
5 Use electronic scanning, phototypesetting to 4.02 0.66 HR
typeset, edit and reproduce documents using the
computers
6 Do desktop publishing using the computer 3.88 0.75 HR

7 Do accounting spreadsheet with the computer 4.15 0.76 HR

8 Use the telecommunication gadgets effectively 4.03 0.91 HR

(mobile phone, smart phone etc) to communicate
information
9 Operate the on-line business E-commerce 4.48 0.69 HR

10 Use techniques involved in saving, coding indexing, 4.01 0.83 HR

and retrieving documents on disks, microfilms and
other magnetic media.
11 Use data management system. 4.16 0.52 HR

12 Write, send and receive mails using the E-mail 3.98 0.88 HR
internet facility.
13 Use the power point effectively 4.22 0.87 HR

14 Use the computer to do graphic and webpage 3.85 0.90 HR

designs.
Note: X = Mean. HR = Highly Required.
SD = Standard Deviation.
N = Number of Respondents.
 Data presented in Table 7 showed that the mean ratings of the responses of the

respondents on all the 14 items of information and communication technology ranged

from 3.61 to 4.48 which fall within the real limit of 3.50 – 4.49. This shows that the

respondents agreed that all the 14 identified skills of information and communication

technology are Highly Required by Polytechnics OTM graduates for managing a small

scale business. The values of the standard deviation of the 14 items ranged from 0.52 –

1.29 which indicated that the responses of the respondents are close to one another

and to the mean.

 Testing of Hypotheses
Null Hypothesis 1 (Ho1)
There is no significant difference in the mean responses of Polytechnics OTM lecturers
and lecturers at Centre for Entrepreneurship and Development Research (CEDR) on
the planning skills required for small scale business by the Polytechnic OTM graduates.

The data for testing null hypothesis 1 was presented in Table 8.

Table 8: The t – test Analysis of the Mean Ratings of the Responses of OTM Lecturers
and CEDR Lecturers on entrepreneurial skills required in planning in managing
small scale business by the Polytechnic OTM graduates.

SN Item Statements X1 SD1 X2 SD2 t-cal t-tab Rmks

1 Develop critical business idea 4.51 0.50 4.53 0.50 -0.22 1.96 NS

2 Recognize business opportunities in the 4.36 0.48 4.30 0.46 0.74 1.96 NS
environment
3 Take a decision to go into the right legal 4.40 0.49 4.40 0.49 0.06 1.96 NS
form of business (small scale business
enterprise)
4 Identify potential competitors and 4.72 0.44 4.69 0.46 0.42 1.96 NS
alternative course of action.
5 Take the risk of going into the business 4.07 0.92 4.20 0.81 -0.81 1.96 NS
identified
6 Plan staff needs before securing the 3.85 0.74 4.40 0.76 2.12 1.96 S
services of anybody.
7 Set attainable strategic goals 4.40 0.71 4.48 0.64 -0.71 1.96 NS

8 Strategically plan and position the business 4.18 0.62 4.28 0.67 0.88 1.96 NS
for effectiveness
9 Take decision on financial plan 4.28 0.81 4.34 0.75 -0.45 1.96 NS

10 Take decision on marketing strategies 4.36 0.79 4.46 0.71 0.73 1.96 NS

11 Take decision on the form of 4.58 0.55 4.55 0.54 0.36 1.96 NS
product/service
12 Have knowledge of monitoring and 4.15 0.79 4.38 0.78 1.67 1.96 NS
evaluation of business plan.
13 See the ‘big picture’ of the enterprise as 3.93 0.88 3.61 0.83 2.09 1.96 S
one entity.
14 0.83 4.00 0.81 0.66 1.96 NS

N1-OTM Lecturers= 92, N2 - CEDR Lecturers = 49

 Data presented in Table 8 showed that 12 out of 14 planning skills required by

Polytechnic Office Technology and Management (OTM) graduates for managing small

scale business had their calculated t-values ranged from -0.81 to 1.67 which were less

than t-table value of 1.96 at p≤ 0.05 level of significance and at 139 degree of freedom

(df). This showed that there were no significant differences in the mean ratings of the

responses of the two groups of respondents (OTM lecturers and Entrepreneurship

lecturers) on the 12 planning skills required by Polytechnic OTM graduates for

managing small scale business. Therefore, the null hypothesis of no significant

difference in the mean ratings of the responses of the two groups of respondents on the

12 items was accepted.

The data also showed further that the remaining two items, specifically items 6

and 13 had t-calculated values of 2.12 and 2.09 respectively which were both greater

than t-table value of 1.96 at p≤ 0.05 level of significance and at 139 degree of freedom

(df). This showed that there were significant differences in the mean ratings of the

responses of the two groups of respondents (OTM lecturers and Entrepreneurship

lecturers) on the two planning skills required by Polytechnic OTM graduates for

managing small scale business. Therefore, the null hypothesis of no significant

difference in the mean ratings of the responses of the two groups of respondents on the

two items was rejected.

 Null Hypothesis 2 (Ho2)

There is no significant difference in the mean responses of the Polytechnic OTM

lecturers and lecturers at Centre for Entrepreneurship Development on the Personality
Traits required for small scale business by Polytechnic OTM graduates.
The data for testing null hypothesis 2 are presented in Table 9.

Table 9:
The t – test Analysis of the Mean Ratings of the Responses of OTM Lecturers and
CEDR Lecturers on the Personality Traits required for managing small scale
business by Polytechnic OTM graduates.

SN Item Statements X1 SD1 X2 SD2 t-cal t-tab Rmks

1 Being very creative and innovative 4.26 0.67 4.42 0.64 1.42 1.96 NS

2 Demonstrate high level of persistence in 4.05 0.84 4.08 0.81 -0.18 1.96 NS
the face of uncertainty

3 Perseverance at odd situations 4.38 0.75 3.96 0.82 2.18 1.96 S

4 Have high sense of judgment 4.40 0.61 4.38 0.70 0.12 1.96 NS

5 Demonstrate high level of openness 4.28 0.76 4.20 0.79 0.57 1.96 NS

6 Demonstrate high sense of integrity 4.01 0.55 4.44 0.52 3.08 1.96 S

7 Have a visionary leadership quality 4.41 0.49 4.44 0.50 0.40 1.96 NS

8 Have the drive for self-motivation 4.51 0.54 4.53 0.58 -0.20 1.96 NS

9 Be presentable at all times 4.29 0.68 4.28 0.73 0.06 1.96 NS

10 Be task-result oriented 4.58 0.53 4.55 0.57 0.36 1.96 NS

11 Being smartly flexible to change 4.15 0.62 4.48 0.67 1.99 1.96 S

12 Coaching and teaching others 3.89 0.80 3.81 0.80 0.52 1.96 NS

13 Being assertive and having positive self 4.40 0.49 4.40 0.47 -0.06 1.96 NS
image

14 Have confidence in oneself 4.67 0.47 4.61 0.49 0.72 1.96 NS

15 Have high inner-locus of control 3.93 0.88 3.89 0.96 0.22 1.96 NS

N1-OTM Lecturers= 92, N2 - CEDR Lecturers = 49

 Data presented in Table 9 showed that 12 out of 15 personality traits required by

Polytechnic Office Technology and Management (OTM) graduates for managing small

scale business had their calculated t-values ranged from -0.20 to 1.42 which were less

than t-table value of 1.96 at p≤ 0.05 level of significance and at 139 degree of freedom

(df). This showed that there were no significant differences in the mean ratings of the

responses of the two groups of respondents (OTM lecturers and Entrepreneurship

lecturers) on the 12 personality traits required by Polytechnic OTM graduates for

managing small scale business. Therefore, the null hypothesis of no significant

difference in the mean ratings of the responses of the two groups of respondents on the

12 items was accepted.

The data also showed further that the remaining three items, specifically items 3,

6 and 11 had t-calculated values of 2.18, 3.08 and 1.99 respectively which were all

greater than the t-table value of 1.96 at p≤ 0.05 level of significance and at 139 degree

of freedom (df). This showed that there were significant differences in the mean ratings

of the responses of the two groups of respondents (OTM lecturers and

Entrepreneurship lecturers) on the three personality traits required by Polytechnic OTM

graduates for managing small scale business. Therefore, the null hypothesis of no

significant difference in the mean ratings of the responses of the two groups of

respondents on the three items was rejected.

 Null Hypothesis 3

There is no significant difference in the mean responses of the federal

Polytechnic OTM lecturers and the state polytechnic lecturers on the Administrative
Management skills required for small scale business by the Polytechnic OTM
graduates.
The data for testing null hypothesis 3 are presented in Table 10.
Table 10
The t-test Analysis of the Mean Ratings of the Responses of OTM Lecturers and
CEDR Lecturers on the Administrative Management skills required for managing small
scale business by the Polytechnic OTM graduates.

SN Item Statements X1 SD1 X2 SD2 t-cal t-tab Rmks

1 Undertake basic steps in starting a 3.83 0.90 4.00 0.86 2.03 1.96 S
business
2 Set appropriate goals 3.95 0.99 3.95 1.13 0.01 1.96 NS

3 Organise human and material resources 4.28 0.86 4.18 0.90 0.63 1.96 NS
to achieve set goals.
4 Perform the managerial functions of 4.51 0.71 4.48 0.68 0.16 1.96 NS
planning, organizing, controlling a
coordinating and directing business
operations
5 Implement plans for goal attainment 4.15 0.51 4.18 0.52 -0.34 1.96 NS

6 Evaluate all activities in the process of 4.40 0.49 4.40 0.49 -0.06 1.96 NS
goal attainment
7 Manage time to meet job schedules 4.28 0.63 4.22 0.68 0.50 1.96 NS

8 Have knowledge of inventory control 4.26 0.81 4.34 0.83 3.59 1.96 S

9 Know factors involved in overhead control 4.31 0.79 3.86 0.82 1.06 1.96 NS

10 Develop, interprets and explain budgets 4.10 0.84 4.14 0.88 -0.22 1.96 NS
for all levels within the organization
11 Raise funds from internal and external 4.68 0.46 4.61 0.49 0.86 1.96 NS
revenue for the business
12 Have knowledge of personnel 4.40 0.45 4.40 0.49 0.08 1.96 NS
management
13 Effectively delegate authority to 4.43 0.49 4.32 0.48 -0.05 1.96 NS
subordinates
14 Effectively supervise those delegated 4.45 0.50 4.44 0.52 0.07 1.96 NS
authorities.
15 Appraise employee performance 4.51 0.56 4.43 0.50 0.69 1.96 NS

N1 - OTM Lecturers = 92 N2 - CEDR Lecturers = 49

 From the data presented in Table 10, it was showed that 13 out of 15

administrative management skills required by Polytechnic Office Technology and

Management (OTM) graduates for managing small scale business had their calculated

t-values ranged from -0.34 to 1.06 which were less than t-table value of 1.96 at p≤ 0.05

level of significance and at 139 degree of freedom (df). This showed that there were no

significant differences in the mean ratings of the responses of the two groups of

respondents (OTM lecturers and Entrepreneurship lecturers) on the 13 administrative

management skills required by Polytechnic OTM graduates for managing small scale

business. Therefore, the null hypothesis of no significant difference in the mean ratings

of the responses of the two groups of respondents on the 13 items was accepted.

The data also showed further that the remaining two items, specifically items 1

and 8 had t-calculated values of 2.03 and 3.59 respectively which were all greater than

the t-table value of 1.96 at p≤ 0.05 level of significance and at 139 degree of freedom

(df). This showed that there were significant differences in the mean ratings of the

responses of the two groups of respondents (OTM lecturers and Entrepreneurship

lecturers) on the two personality administrative management required by Polytechnic

OTM graduates for managing small scale business. Therefore, the null hypothesis of no

significant difference in the mean ratings of the responses of the two groups of

respondents on the two items was rejected.

 Null Hypothesis 4

There is no significant difference in the mean responses of the Polytechnic OTM

lecturers and the state polytechnic lecturers on the Interpersonal Communication skills
required for small scale business by the Polytechnic OTM graduates.
The data for testing null hypothesis 4 are presented in Table 11.

Table 11
The t-test Analysis of the Mean Ratings of the Responses of OTM Lecturers and CEDR
Lecturers on the Interpersonal Communication skills required for managing
small scale business by the Polytechnic OTM graduates.

SN Item Statements X1 SD1 X2 SD2 t-cal t-tab Rmks

1 Project a good image 3.97 0.86 4.06 0.87 -0.54 1.96 NS
2 Being empathic with others 4.24 0.73 3.77 0.74 2.48 1.96 S
3 Have good listening habit 3.94 0.86 4.20 0.88 1.66 1.96 NS
4 Demonstrate high level of cooperation with 4.13 0.87 4.26 0.78 -0.89 1.96 NS
other stakeholders
5 Be a good team builder 4.65 0.47 4.75 0.43 -1.25 1.96 NS
6 Have even psychological disposition 3.81 0.91 3.93 0.77 -0.80 1.96 NS
7 Maintain an atmosphere of trust 4.45 0.79 4.51 0.76 -0.38 1.96 NS
8 Have high integrity and good moral conduct 4.58 0.49 4.81 0.49 2.28 1.96 S
9 Interpret and pass information to others 4.26 0.79 4.30 0.76 -0.32 1.96 NS
effectively
10 Have a high emotional intelligence to interact 3.91 0.86 3.81 0.85 0.63 1.96 NS
positively to get along with all types of people
11 To tolerate customers of aggressive 4.08 0.93 4.16 0.79 -0.48 1.96 NS
disposition
12 Create good network chain for the business 4.11 0.88 4.20 0.84 0.54 1.96 NS
13 Prepare and present effective speech 4.04 0.83 4.38 0.81 3.08 1.96 S
14 Prepare good written communication 3.75 0.68 3.81 0.66 -0.55 1.96 NS
15 Accept constructive criticisms 4.34 0.84 4.30 0.82 0.28 1.96 NS
16 Conduct quality oral presentation 4.31 0.83 4.12 0.85 1.29 1.96 NS
17 Recognize and effective use non verbal cues 4.31 0.84 3.96 0.85 2.03 1.96 S

N1 - OTM Lecturer = 92, N2 - CEDR Lecturer = 49

 Data presented in Table 11 showed that 13 out of 17 interpersonal

communication skills required by Polytechnic Office Technology and Management

(OTM) graduates for managing small scale business had their calculated t-values

ranged from -0.89 to 1.66 which were less than t-table value of 1.96 at p≤ 0.05 level of

significance and at 139 degree of freedom (df). This showed that there were no

significant differences in the mean ratings of the responses of the two groups of

respondents (OTM lecturers and Entrepreneurship lecturers) on the 13 interpersonal

communication skills required by Polytechnic OTM graduates for managing small scale

business. Therefore, the null hypothesis of no significant difference in the mean ratings

of the responses of the two groups of respondents on the 13 items was accepted.

The data also showed further that the remaining four items, specifically items 2,

8, 13 and 17 had t-calculated values of 2.48, 2.28, 3.08 and 2.03respectively which

were all greater than the t-table value of 1.96 at p≤ 0.05 level of significance and at 139

degree of freedom (df). This showed that there were significant differences in the mean

ratings of the responses of the two groups of respondents (OTM lecturers and

Entrepreneurship lecturers) on the four administrative management skills required by

Polytechnic OTM graduates for managing small scale business. Therefore, the null

hypothesis of no significant difference in the mean ratings of the responses of the two

groups of respondents on the four items was rejected.

 Null Hypothesis 5
There is no significant difference in the mean responses of the Polytechnic OTM
lecturers and lecturers at Centre for Entrepreneurship Development on the Financial
Records Management required for small scale business by the Polytechnic OTM
graduates.

The data for testing null hypothesis five are presented in Table 12.
Table 12
The t-test Analysis of the Mean Ratings of the Responses of OTM Lecturers and CEDR
Lecturers on the Financial Records Management skills required for managing
small scale business by the Polytechnic OTM graduates.

SN Item Statements X1 SD1 X2 SD2 t-cal t-tab Rmks

1 Having knowledge of various accounting 4.61 0.48 4.46 0.50 1.72 1.96 NS
books and how to prepare them.
2 Keep accurate daily financial records 4.02 0.52 3.73 0.47 3.11 1.96 S

3 Manage cash flow 4.51 0.50 4.42 0.50 0.92 1.96 NS

4 Prepare and interpret financial statement to 4.34 0.83 4.14 0.84 1.41 1.96 NS
measure enterprise performance
5 Understand payroll and various deductions 4.26 0.72 4.22 0.77 0.27 1.96 NS

6 Understand gross and net profits 3.57 0.95 3.63 0.82 -0.35 1.96 NS

7 Recognize various sources of funds 4.45 0.50 4.44 0.50 0.08 1.96 NS

8 Have knowledge of basic accounting rules 4.36 0.48 4.30 0.46 0.74 1.96 NS

9 Knowledge of government levies, taxes 4.40 0.49 4.42 0.49 -0.06 1.96 NS
regulations as they affect the business
10 Make an effective business decisions based 4.22 0.89 4.16 0.89 0.41 1.96 NS
on available accounting records
11 Negotiate effectively with the funders, bank 3.97 0.92 4.30 0.81 1.98 1.96 S
for funds
12 Make effective financial decisions based on 4.11 0.70 4.24 0.69 1.00 1.96 NS
records available
13 Use accounting software for financial 4.03 0.73 4.16 0.68 1.05 1.96 NS
transaction
14 Make use of some professional bodies like 3.79 0.65 3.89 0.65 -0.90 1.96 NS
bankers, accountants, lawyers and
advertising agents.
15 Maintain basic business records (double 4.61 0.57 4.44 0.67 1.58 1.96 NS
entry book keeping)
N1 - OTM Lecturers = 92 N2 - CEDR Lecturers = 49
 From the data presented in Table 12, it was showed that 13 out of 15 financial

record management skills required by Polytechnic Office Technology and Management

(OTM) graduates for managing small scale business had their calculated t-values

ranged from -0.90 to 1.72 which were less than t-table value of 1.96 at p≤ 0.05 level of

significance and at 139 degree of freedom (df). This showed that there were no

significant differences in the mean ratings of the responses of the two groups of

respondents (OTM lecturers and Entrepreneurship lecturers) on the 13 financial record

management skills required by Polytechnic OTM graduates for managing small scale

business. Therefore, the null hypothesis of no significant difference in the mean ratings

of the responses of the two groups of respondents on the 13 items was accepted.

The data also showed further that the remaining two items, specifically items 2

and 11 had t-calculated values of 3.11 and 1.98 respectively which were both greater

than the t-table value of 1.96 at p≤ 0.05 level of significance and at 139 degree of

freedom (df). This showed that there were significant differences in the mean ratings of

the responses of the two groups of respondents (OTM lecturers and Entrepreneurship

lecturers) on the two financial record management skills required by Polytechnic OTM

graduates for managing small scale business. Therefore, the null hypothesis of no

significant difference in the mean ratings of the responses of the two groups of

respondents on the two items was rejected.

 Null Hypothesis 6

There is no significant difference in the mean responses of the Polytechnic OTM

lecturers and lecturers at Centre for Entrepreneurship Development on the Marketing
Management skills required for small scale business by the Polytechnic OTM graduates
The data for testing null hypothesis six are presented in Table 13.

Table 13
The t-test Analysis of the Mean Ratings of the Responses of OTM Lecturers and CEDR
Lecturers on the Marketing Management skills required for managing small
scale business by the Polytechnic OTM graduates.

SN Item Statements X1 SD1 X2 SD2 t-cal t-tab Rmks

1 Conduct market survey to determine 3.98 0.96 4.12 0.90 0.79 1.96 NS
customers needs
2 Utilize views and data of market research 4.17 0.87 4.51 0.76 2.27 1.96 S
3 Identify customers’ needs that can be 4.28 0.95 4.10 0.98 1.05 1.96 NS
satisfied
4 Exhibit knowledge of marketing 4.13 0.91 4.18 0.90 -0.33 1.96 NS
strategies
5 Make decisions on marketing mix 4.14 0.84 4.32 0.77 1.27 1.96 NS

6 Determine and interpret factors which 4.20 1.16 4.36 0.99 -0.82 1.96 NS
indicate extend and strength of
competition.
7 Determine information needs of the 3.23 1.09 3.66 1.11 3.15 1.96 S
market
8 Promote and sell organizational products 4.08 0.83 4.22 0.88 0.41 1.96 NS
9 Have knowledge of good sales technique 4.64 0.48 4.69 0.46 -0.62 1.96 NS

10 Demonstrate knowledge of forecasting 4.19 0.91 4.26 0.88 0.43 1.96 NS

and analysis of the market
11 Conduct effective advertisement 4.52 0.65 4.51 0.64 0.10 1.96 NS

12 Promote and sell the organization’s 4.41 0.49 4.44 0.52 -0.40 1.96 NS
products
13 Analyze demand and supply situation 3.96 0.90 4.34 0.88 1.97 1.96 S

14 Capture and retain the attention of 4.51 0.55 4.53 0.50 -0.22 1.96 NS
customers
N1 - OTM Lecturers = 92, N2 - CEDR Lecturer = 49
 Data presented in Table 13 showed that 11 out of 14 marketing management

skills required by Polytechnic Office Technology and Management (OTM) graduates for

managing small scale business had their calculated t-values ranged from -0.82 to 1.27

which were less than t-table value of 1.96 at p≤ 0.05 level of significance and at 139

degree of freedom (df). This showed that there were no significant differences in the

mean ratings of the responses of the two groups of respondents (OTM lecturers and

Entrepreneurship lecturers) on the 11 marketing management skills required by

Polytechnic OTM graduates for managing small scale business. Therefore, the null

hypothesis of no significant difference in the mean ratings of the responses of the two

groups of respondents on the 11 items was accepted.

The data also showed further that the remaining three items, specifically items 2,

7 and 13 had t-calculated values of 2.27, 3.15 and 1.97 respectively which were all

greater than the t-table value of 1.96 at p≤ 0.05 level of significance and at 139 degree

of freedom (df). This showed that there were significant differences in the mean ratings

of the responses of the two groups of respondents (OTM lecturers and

Entrepreneurship lecturers) on the three marketing management skills required by

Polytechnic OTM graduates for managing small scale business. Therefore, the null

hypothesis of no significant difference in the mean ratings of the responses of the two

groups of respondents on the three items was rejected.

 Null Hypothesis 7

There is no significant difference in the mean responses of the federal Polytechnic OTM
Lecturers and the state polytechnic lecturers on the Information Technology skills
required for small scale business by the Polytechnic OTM graduate.
The data for testing null hypothesis seven are presented in Table 14.

The t – test Analysis of the Mean Ratings of the Responses of OTM Lecturers and
CEDR Lecturers on the Information Technology skills required for managing
small scale business by the Polytechnic OTM graduates.

SN Item Statements X1 SD1 X2 SD2 t-cal t-tab Rmks

1 Use the internet as an indispensable means of 3.70 0.72 4.23 0.70 1.98 1.96 S
information and communication system.
2 Effectively use ICT element such as word processing 3.98 0.67 4.18 0.64 -0.79 1.96 NS
package, software, hardware, budgets, marketing and
other concepts including job searching and career
exploration
3 Handle various photocopying machine for reproduction 3.77 0.55 3.77 0.65 0.03 1.96 NS
of documents
4 Use repetitive printing methods of reprographics for 3.53 1.44 3.75 1.29 -0.90 1.96 NS
printing one original hard copy of document.
5 Use electronic scanning, phototypesetting to typeset, 3.78 0.67 4.28 0.64 2.79 1.96 S
edit and reproduce documents using the computers
6 Do desktop publishing using the computer 3.84 0.75 3.93 0.74 -0.68 1.96 NS

7 Do accounting spreadsheet with the computer 4.17 0.76 4.10 0.77 0.53 1.96 NS
8 Use the telecommunication gadgets effectively (mobile 4.03 0.90 4.02 0.92 0.07 1.96 NS
phone, smart phone etc) to communicate information
9 Operate the on-line business E-commerce 4.52 0.68 4.22 0.70 2.75 1.96 S

10 Use techniques involved in saving, coding indexing, 3.96 0.84 4.08 0.81 -0.77 1.96 NS
and retrieving documents on disks, microfilms and
other magnetic media.
11 Use data management system. 4.15 0.51 4.18 0.52 0.34 1.96 NS

12 Write, send and receive mails using the E-mail internet 3.93 0.89 4.06 0.85 -0.80 1.96 NS
facility.
13 Use the power point effectively 4.09 0.89 4.46 0.83 2.45 1.96 S

14 Use the computer to do graphic and webpage designs. 3.78 0.87 3.97 0.94 1.23 1.96 NS

N1 - OMT Lecturers = 92, N2 - CEDR Lecturers = 49

 Data presented in Table 14 showed that 10 out of 14 information technology

skills required by Polytechnic Office Technology and Management (OTM) graduates for

managing small scale business had their calculated t-values ranged from -0.90 to 1.23

which were less than t-table value of 1.96 at p≤ 0.05 level of significance and at 139

degree of freedom (df). This showed that there were no significant differences in the

mean ratings of the responses of the two groups of respondents (OTM lecturers and

Entrepreneurship lecturers) on the 10 information technology skills required by

Polytechnic OTM graduates for managing small scale business. Therefore, the null

hypothesis of no significant difference in the mean ratings of the responses of the two

groups of respondents on the 10 items was accepted.

The data also showed further that the remaining four items, specifically items 1,

5, 9 and 13 had t-calculated values of 1.98, 2.79, 2.75 and 2.45respectively which were

all greater than the t-table value of 1.96 at p≤ 0.05 level of significance and at 139

degree of freedom (df). This showed that there were significant differences in the mean

ratings of the responses of the two groups of respondents (OTM lecturers and

Entrepreneurship lecturers) on the four information technology skills required by

Polytechnic OTM graduates for managing small scale business. Therefore, the null

hypothesis of no significant difference in the mean ratings of the responses of the two

groups of respondents on the four items was rejected.

Findings of the Study.

Based on the presentation and interpretation of the data analyzed, the following

findings were made:

1. It was found out that the 14 identified entrepreneurial skills in planning a small

scale business were highly required by the Polytechnics OTM graduates,

2. It was found out that the 15 identified personality traits are highly required for

managing small scale business by the Polytechnics OTM graduates,

3. It was found out that the 15 identified administrative management skills are highly

required by Polytechnics OTM graduates for managing small scale business,

4. It was found out that the 17 identified interpersonal communication skills are

highly required by Polytechnics OTM graduates for managing small scale

business,

5. It was found out that the 15 identified financial records management skills are

highly required by Polytechnics OTM graduates for managing small scale

business,

6. It was found out that the 14 identified marketing management skills are highly

required by Polytechnics OTM graduates for managing small scale business and,

7. It was found out that the 14 identified information technology skills are highly

required by Polytechnics OTM graduates for managing small scale business.

8. It was found out that there is no significant difference between the mean ratings

of the responses of Polytechnics OTM Lecturers and CEDR Lecturers on

planning skills required by the Polytechnic OTM graduates for managing small

scale business.
9. It was found out that there is no significant difference between the mean ratings

of the responses of Polytechnics OTM Lecturers and CEDR Lecturers on

personality traits required by the Polytechnic OTM graduates for managing small

scale business.

10. It was found out that there is no significant difference between the mean ratings

of the responses of Polytechnics OTM Lecturers and CEDR Lecturers on

administrative management skills required by the Polytechnic OTM graduates for

managing small scale business.

11. It was found out that there is no significant difference between the mean ratings

of the responses of Polytechnics OTM Lecturers and CEDR Lecturers on

interpersonal communication skills required by the Polytechnic OTM graduates

for managing small scale business.

12. It was found out that there is no significant difference between the mean ratings

of the responses of Polytechnics OTM Lecturers and CEDR Lecturers on

financial records management skills required by the Polytechnic OTM graduates

for managing small scale business.

13. It was found out that there is no significant difference between the mean ratings

of the responses of Polytechnics OTM Lecturers and CEDR Lecturers on

marketing management skills required by the Polytechnic OTM graduates for

managing small scale business.

14. It was found out that there is no significant difference between the mean ratings

of the responses of Polytechnics OTM Lecturers and CEDR Lecturers on

 information technology skills required by the Polytechnic OTM graduates for

managing small scale business.

Discussion of Findings

The findings of this study were discussed under the following sub-headings in

line with the research questions answered:

Planning in managing small scale business

The findings of this study in respect to research question one showed that the

Polytechnics OTM graduates require all the identified 14 planning skills for managing

small scale business. Some of the identified planning skills include: recognizing

business opportunities in the environment, taking a decision to go into the right legal

form of business (small scale business enterprise), developing critical business idea,

identifying potential competitors and alternative course of action, taking decision on the

form of product/service, taking the risk of going into the business identified, planning

staff needs before securing the services of anybody, setting attainable strategic goals,

strategically planning and positioning the business for effectiveness, taking decision on

financial plan, taking decision on marketing strategies and having knowledge of

monitoring and evaluation of business plan.

The above findings of this study agreed with the findings of Okoro and Dajur,

(2011) who carried out a study to identify the management skill needs of small and

medium scale enterprise in Bauchi Metropolis towards improving productivity. The

authors found out that planning skills such having business plan done by experts and

that business registration should only be authorised based on government approved

planning are needed for managing small scale businesses. In addition, Ezeh, (2011)

conducted a study on the critical entrepreneurial skills required by graduates of

secretarial studies of the Polytechnics and found out that managerial skills required by

the graduate secretaries include basic steps in planning, starting business, directing and

effectively control business operations.

Personality Traits required for managing small scale business

The findings of this study in respect to research question two revealed that the

Polytechnics OTM graduates require all the identified 15 personality traits for managing

small scale business. The identified personality traits as found out in the study are:

being very creative and innovative, have the drive for self-motivation, be task-result

oriented, have confidence in oneself, demonstrating high level of persistence in the face

of uncertainty, being perseverance at odd situations, having high sense of judgment,

demonstrating high level of openness, demonstrating high sense of integrity, having a

visionary leadership quality, being presentable at all times, being smartly flexible to

change, coaching and teaching others, being assertive and having positive self image

and having high inner-locus of control.

The findings of this study on personality traits required for business management

by the polytechnics OTM graduates is in conformity with the findings of Nash (2010) and

Owonde (2009) whose findings showed that behaviors’ of workers such as co-operation

with colleagues, punctuality to work, responsibility, care for materials, tools, equipment

and self are among the personality traits expected of competent workers. Also in

agreement with the findings of this study, Petty (2009) identified affective or personality

competencies needed on-the-job by workers to include; having ambition or strong

desire to succeed, have the drive for self-motivation, be task-result oriented, have

confidence in oneself, accuracy and quality of work, pleasance, friendliness and

cheerfulness, responsiveness in following direction, perseverance, patience, endurance

and tolerance, neatness, orderliness, and personal appearance, being assertive and

having positive self image and dedication, devotion, honesty, loyalty and

consciousness.

Administrative Management skills required for managing small scale business

The findings of this study in respect to research question three showed that the

Polytechnics OTM graduates require all the identified 15 administrative management

skills for managing small scale business. Some of the identified administrative

management skills are: performing the managerial functions of planning, organizing,

controlling a coordinating and directing business operations, raising funds from internal

and external revenue for the business, having undertaking basic steps in starting a

business, setting appropriate goals, organising human and material resources to

achieve set goals, implementing plans for goal attainment, evaluating all activities in the

process of goal attainment, managing time to meet job schedules, having good

knowledge of inventory control, knowing factors involved in overhead control,

developing, interpreting and explaining budgets for all levels within the organization and

having knowledge of personnel management.

The findings of this study on administrative management skills required by

graduates is in consonance with the submission of Okechukwu, (2009) who reported

that administrative management skills for the success of an entrepreneur are enormous

and include locating the business environment, identifying product line (procurement),
recruitment of staff, staff remuneration/motivation, determining staff welfare, duty and

discipline, human capital development. Performing leadership functions, managerial

functions of planning, organizing, controlling a coordinating and directing business

operations, raising funds from internal and external revenue for the business are also

part of administrative management skills required of a successful entrepreneurs. Also in

line with the findings of this study, Ajaero (2010) leadership skills in business is all about

ones relationship with people, being able to unify people with different backgrounds,

having good leadership qualities of showing average people how to do the work of

superior people by delegating authority and supervising the delegated authority, having

great products, doing great engineering and providing tremendous service to

customers.

Interpersonal Communication skills required for managing small scale business

The findings of this study as regards to research question four showed that the

Polytechnics OTM graduates require all the identified 17 interpersonal communication

skills for managing small scale business. Some of these skills as found out by the study

include: being a good team builder, having high integrity and good moral conduct,

projecting a good image, being empathic with others, having good listening habit,

demonstrating high level of cooperation with other stakeholders, having even

psychological disposition, maintaining an atmosphere of trust, interpreting and pass

information to others effectively, having a high emotional intelligence to interact

positively to get along with all types of people, tolerating customers of aggressive

disposition, creating good network chain for the business, preparing and present
effective speech and preparing good written communication, accepting constructive

criticisms.

Interpersonal skills are mental and communicative algorithms applied during

social communication and interaction in order to reach certain effects or results

(Okechukwu, 2009). The findings of this study on interpersonal communication skills

agree with the finding of Blair, (2002) who reported that ability to tolerate customers,

interpreting and effectively pass information to others, creating good network chain for

the business maintaining an atmosphere of trust, having a high emotional intelligence to

interact positively to get along with all types of people are needed for success of an

entrepreneurs. In addition, the findings of Okafor (2004) also agreed with that of this

study where the author found out that superior interpersonal skills of the entrepreneurs

include: leadership and motivation, good communication skills, ability to communicate

well to ones vision, ability to listen, negotiate and dealing with people should based on

respect, integrity, fairness and high moral standard are good interpersonal qualities that

are required by entrepreneurs.

Financial Records Management skills required for managing small scale business

The findings of this study as regards to research question five indicated that the

Polytechnics OTM graduates require all the identified 15 financial records management

skills for managing small scale business. Some of those financial records management

skills require are: keeping accurate daily financial records, managing cash flow,

preparing and interpreting financial statement to measure enterprise performance,

understanding payroll and various deductions, understanding gross and net profits,

recognizing various sources of funds, having knowledge of basic accounting rules,

having knowledge of government levies, taxes regulations as they affect the business,

making an effective business decisions based on available accounting records,

negotiating effectively with the funders, bank for funds and making effective financial

decisions based on records available.

The findings of this study on financial record management skills required by the

polytechnics OTM graduates conform with the submission of Olatunbosun (2006)

conceptualized financial management activities as that which is concerned with the

planning and controlling of financial resources which involved the acquisition and

allocation of financial resources and trace performance resulting from such financial

allocation. Also in agreement with this study on financial record management skills,

Duniya (2004) stated that ability to manage the money that comes into the enterprise

from customers who buy products and services, and the money that enterprise pays out

for things bought are critical in financial management. Enete, Amusa and Eze (2010)

while identifying entrepreneurial competency required by students of schools of

agriculture in southwestern Nigeria for processing cocoyam into flour and chips for

employment on graduation found out that entrepreneurial skills such as ability to fix

appropriate prices for the products, open a sale book record for all products sales made

and balance the enterprise account at the end of every sale to ascertain profit or loss

are required for the success of entrepreneurs. This finding of Enete, et al (2010) is

corroborated with the findings of the present study.

Marketing Management skills required for managing small scale business

The findings of this study in respect to research question six showed that the

Polytechnics OTM graduates require all the identified 14 marketing management skills
for managing small scale business. Some of the marketing management skills include:

having knowledge of good sales technique, conducting effective advertisement,

capturing and retain the attention of customers, conducting market survey to determine

customers needs, utilizing views and data of market research, identifying customers’

needs that can be satisfied, exhibiting knowledge of marketing strategies, making

decisions on marketing mix, determining and interpret factors which indicate extend and

strength of competition, determining information needs of the market, promoting and sell

organizational products and demonstrating knowledge of forecasting and analysis of the

markets.

In conformity with the findings of this study, Anyakoha, (2009) reported that

important marketing and sales skills required for business management include:

knowledge of seasonal fluctuation of goods, ability to determine the extent to which

products will sell, familiarity with various aspects of sales and salesmanship, ability to

budget and forecast, ability to determine current and future trends in sales of products,

ability to determine availability for goods/raw materials for production and storage of

finished goods, ability to determine and interpret factors which indicate extent and

strength of competition, ability to determine what customers need and knowledge of

advertising. In addition, the findings of this study further support that of Ezeh, (2011)

who conducted a study on the critical entrepreneurial skills required by graduates of

secretarial studies of the Polytechnics and found out that marketing skills such as:

ability to capture and retain the attention of customers, promote and sell the

organisation product, analyse demand and supply situation and the rest are required by
graduates of secretarial studies of Polytechnics as entrepreneurs on graduation from

schools.

Information Technology (IT) skills required for managing small scale business

The findings of this study as regards to research question seven revealed that

the Polytechnics OTM graduates require all the identified 14 information technology (IT)

skills for managing small scale business. Some of the identified IT skills include: using

the internet as an indispensable means of information and communication system,

effectively using ICT element, handling various photocopying machine for reproduction

of documents, using repetitive printing methods of reprographics for printing one original

hard copy of document, using electronic scanning, phototypesetting to typeset, edit and

reproduce documents using the computers, doing desktop publishing using the

computer, doing accounting spreadsheet with the computer, operating the on-line

business E-commerce, using techniques involved in saving, coding indexing, and

retrieving documents on disks, microfilms and other magnetic media, using data

management system, writing, sending and receiving mails using the E-mail internet

facility and ability to use power point effectively.

The finding of this study is in line with the findings of Asuquo, (2010) who studied

the business and information processing skills needed by business centre operators.

The author found out that operators of business centre needed all the information

technology skills in system operations including: typesetting of all types of documents,

handling of special documents, graphics and architectural designs, performing statistical

analysis as well as doing desktop publishing. Also in agreement with the findings of the

present study, Okoro and Dajur (2011) carried out a study to identify the management
skill needs of small and medium scale enterprise in Bauchi Metropolis towards

improving productivity. In the study, Okoro and Dajur found out that IT skills such as

capability to manipulate computer operating systems, ability to use the internet for

business communication and ability to send E-mail are some of the IT skills required for

managing small and medium scale enterprise in Bauchi Metropolis. In addition, the

finding of this study corroborated that of Agbamu (2007) who carried out a study on ICT

competencies need for NCE Business Education graduates and found out that

computer operation competencies such as ability to start up and shut down a computer

system and its peripherals, start an application and create a document, use a word

processing package, using data management system, writing, sending and receiving

mails using the E-mail internet facility are generally required for employment in both the

public and private sectors.

 CHAPTER V

SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

This chapter presented the summary of the statement of the problem, purpose of

the study, procedure used for the study, major findings of the study, conclusion based

on the findings, implications of the study, recommendation for implementation and

suggestions for further study.

Restatement of the Problem

As a result of the significant changes in the modern economy, enterprises are

becoming smaller, and small scale enterprises are being created. In the wider

economy, small enterprises are seen to be the engine of economic growth. As more and

more graduates leave school every year, a great number of them are expected to set up

and run small businesses instead of usual dependence on government to provide jobs.

However, North-western geo-political zone has been noted for ranking low in

entrepreneurial aspirations. This situation is confirmed in the study of Salihu in

Mamman, 2010 with the states in the zone ranking lowest in poverty and

entrepreneurial aspirations table. This has lead to the interest in how to develop

entrepreneurial skills in the zone.

However, Nigeria have in recent time been experiencing the collapse and total

extinction of small scale businesses owned by graduates leaving a high mortality rate

which Ikeme (2007) put at 80 per cent failure in five to eight years of operations.

Anecdotal report showed that the businesses fail because most people who start the

business seemed to lack the critical skills and motivation sets required to start and

manage the business to growth.

133
 No doubt therefore, most OTM graduates in the North-western geo-political

zone go into starting small businesses with the assumption that as they know how to

“do” the specific “technical” skill cluster of a business, they would, therefore, know how

to run a small scale business successfully. The issue is, if the OTM graduates possess

the core entrepreneurial skill clusters, would they have expanded more than their

present scope? The thrust of this study put in question form therefore, was: what are

the entrepreneurial skills required by the polytechnic OTM graduates for success in

small scale business on graduation? To address this problem, therefore, the following

specific objectives were pursued

1. determine the entrepreneurial skills required in planning a small scale

business by the Polytechnic OTM graduates,

2. determine the personality traits required in small scale business by the

Polytechnic OTM graduates,

3. determine the administrative management skills required by Polytechnic OTM

graduates for managing small scale business;

4. determine interpersonal communication skills required by Polytechnic OTM

graduates for managing small scale business,

5. determine financial recording management skills required by Polytechnic

OTM graduates for managing small scale business;

6. determine the marketing management skills required by Polytechnic OTM

graduates for managing small scale business,

 7. determine the information technology skills required by Polytechnic OTM

graduates for managing small scale business.

Summary of the Procedure Used

Seven research questions were developed and answered by the study while

seven null hypotheses were formulated and tested at P≤ 0.05 level of significance. The

study adopted descriptive survey research design and was carried out in Northwestern

geopolitical zone Nigeria. The population for the study consisted of 145 lecturers made

up of 95 Office Technology and Management (OTM) lecturers and 50 lecturers from

Centre for Entrepreneurship Development (CEDR) in Polytechnics in the area. Due to

manageable size of the population, the entire 145 lecturers were involved in the study;

therefore, there was no sampling. The instrument for data collection was a structured

104 item questionnaire titled Entrepreneurial Skills Questionnaire (ESQ). The

instrument was face-validated by three experts in entrepreneurship education. Two of

the validates were from Department of Vocational Teacher Education, University of

Nigeria Nsukka (UNN) and one from Centre for Entrepreneurship Development and

Research, Kaduna Polytechnic, Kaduna State. The reliability of the instrument was

achieved using Cronbach Alpha reliability technique in which reliability coefficients of

0.74 was obtained for planning skills; 0.69 for personality traits; 0.76 for administrative

management skills, 0.84 for interpersonal management skills; 0.80 for financial records

management skills; 0.77 for marketing management skills and 0.77 for information

technology skills.

The data for the study were collected through the help of three research

assistants in addition to the researcher. Out of the 145 copies of the questionnaire
administered, 141 copies were completely responded to and used for data analysis

representing about 97% rate of return. The data collected were analysed using mean for

answering the research questions while t-test statistics was used for testing the

hypotheses (Ho) at P ≤ 0.05 level of significance and at 139 degree of freedom (df).

Summary of the Findings

It was found that:

1. the 14 identified entrepreneurial skills in planning a small scale business,

marketing management and information technology were highly required by the

Polytechnics OTM graduates,

2. the 15 identified personality traits, administrative and financial records

management were highly required for managing small scale business by the

Polytechnics OTM graduates,

3. the 17 identified interpersonal communication skills are highly required by

Polytechnics OTM graduates for managing small scale business,

4. there is no significant difference between the mean ratings of the responses of

Polytechnics OTM Lecturers and CEDR Lecturers on planning, makerting

management and information technology skills, required by the Polytechnic OTM

graduates for managing small scale business.

5. there is no significant difference between the mean ratings of the responses of

Polytechnics OTM Lecturers and CEDR Lecturers on personality traits,

administrative and financial records management skills, required by the

Polytechnic OTM graduates for managing small scale business.

 6. there is no significant difference between the mean ratings of the responses of

Polytechnics OTM Lecturers and CEDR Lecturers on interpersonal

communication skills required by the Polytechnic OTM graduates for managing

small scale business.

Implications of the Study

Entrepreneurship involves identification of business opportunities and gathering

the available resources to the entrepreneurs to tap the opportunities for money making.

The findings of this study have positive implications for Business education in the sense

that the study will create the awareness, knowledge and the skills required by students

for establishing and effectively managing small and medium scale business as

entrepreneurs on graduation from schools. Research carried out in the area of

identification of entrepreneurial skills required by polytechnics OTM graduates for

becoming successful entrepreneurs is grossly inadequate. Therefore, lecturers and

students of Business education would find in this study a valuable literature for scholarly

investigations.

Business education lecturers in particular will be more informed with the wealth

of information that will be made available by this study for equipping their students for

success in establishing and effectively managing small and medium scale ventures on

graduation. This is because, with the shortage of employment opportunities in the

Nigerian labour market, students of Business education on graduation could take the

advantage of the entrepreneurial skills identified in this study to venture into privately

owned business as entrepreneurs for sustainable living on graduation.

Conclusions
 In Nigerian business environment today, large enterprises are broken into

divisions, enterprises are downsizing as technology replaces routine manual work. It is

imperative to noted that Nigeria have in recent time been experiencing the collapse and

total extinction of small scale businesses owned by graduates leaving a high mortality

rate of 80 per cent failure within 5 to 8 years of operations. Research findings showed

that the businesses fail because most people who start the business seemed to lack the

critical skills and motivation sets required to start and manage the business to growth. In

addition most of the Nigerian school graduates who venture into private business due to

lack of job fail due to poor and inadequate entrepreneurial skills and competencies to

establish and manage a business.

In order to address the ugly trends of frequent business failure among Nigerians

including school graduates, the study identified entrepreneurial skills required by

Polytechnic graduates for managing small scale business enterprises using the case of

Office Technology and Management (OTM) graduates in Northwestern Nigeria. Based

on the findings of the study, the study concluded that Polytechnics Office Technology

and Management (OTM) graduates in Northwestern Nigeria highly required

entrepreneurial skills to successfully establish and manage owned business on

graduation.

Recommendations

Based on the findings and conclusions drawn from the study, the following

recommendations were made that:

 1. The governments should help package the identified entrepreneurial skills into

teachable programmes for training graduates for entrepreneurship development

in the Nigerian economy.

2. There should be adequate efforts by the government and its relevant agencies to

provide framework that will ensure timely and constant in-service training to the

Polytechnics lecturers in order to keep updating the required skills and

competencies for instructional delivery in entrepreneurship education.

3. The success of any educational programme depends on the level of availability

of resources provided for the programme. Therefore, it is recommended that

adequate human and material resources be made available to Polytechnics for

effective teaching and learning of entrepreneurship education in high institutions

and entrepreneurship centers in the country.

4. The idle graduates of higher institutions in the area should be encouraged or

counseled to enroll in skill acquisition centres for training in entrepreneurship

skills in order to be self-employed.

Suggestions for Further Research

The following suggestions were made for further research:

1. Entrepreneurial skills required by Business Education graduates for managing

small scale business enterprises in Northwestern Nigeria.

2. A study should be conducted on identifying constraints that militate against the

teaching and learning of entrepreneurship education in Northwestern

Polytechnics in the country.

3. Capacity building needs of Polytechnics Office Technology and Management

(OTM) Lecturers in effective teaching of entrepreneurship skills to Polytechnics

OTM students in Northwestern Nigeria.

4. Capacity building needs of Lecturers in Centre for Entrepreneurship and

Development Research (CEDR) in effective teaching of entrepreneurship skills to

Polytechnics OTM students in Northwestern Nigeria.

5. Identification of challenges facing small and medium scale entrepreneurs in

Northwestern Nigeria.
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 APPENDIX I
Population Destruction of Lecturers and Polytechnics

S/ Name of Institutions Number of Number of Total

N OTM CEDR
Lecturers Lecturers
1 Kaduna Polytechnic, Kaduna 18 09 27

2 Nuhu Bamali Poly, Zaria, Kaduna 13 07 20

3 Zamfara State Poly, Talata Mafara 12 06 17

4 Federal Poly, Kaura Namoda, Zamfara 15 05 20

5 Hussaini Adamu Poly, Kazaure,Jigawa 10 07 17

6 Kano State Poly, Kano 07 05 13

7 Sokoto State Poly, Sokoto 08 06 14

Hassan Usman Katsina Poly, Katsina 14 05 19

8
Total 95 50 145

Source: National Board for Technical Education (NBTE, 2010)

 APPENDIX II

INSTRUMENT FOR DATA COLLECTION

QUESTIONNAIRE ON ENTREPRENEURIAL SKILLS REQUIRED BY POLYTECHNIC

OFFICE TECHNOLOGY AND MANAGEMENT GRADUATES

PART I

PERSONAL DATA

Please kindly read the following statement and tick ( ) with a check or supply
information as appropriate in the boxes provided as the case may be.

(1) Name of School ………………………………………………………

(2) State:...…………………………………………………………………

(3) Status: (i) Polytechnics OTM Lecturer ( )

(ii) Entrepreneurship Lecturer ( )

PART II

The following are opinion rating questionnaire items. Please check ( ) as

considered appropriate in the columns provided indication the extent the following

Entrepreneurial slats are required for a Small Scale Business enterprise by the

Polytechnic Office Technology and Management (OTM) graduates.

NOTE:

VHR = Very Highly Required

HR = Highly Required

AR = Averagely Required

SR = Slightly Required

NR = Not Required
 SECTION A:

Entrepreneurial Skills for Planning a Small Scale business enterprise required by

Polytechnic OTM graduates.

S/N Planning skills required for a small scale VHR HR AR SR NR

business include the ability to:
1 Develop critical business idea

2 Recognize business opportunities in the

environment
3 Take a decision to go into the right legal form
of business (small scale business enterprise)
4 Identify potential competitors and alternative
course of action.
5 Take the risk of going into the business
identified
6 Plan staff needs before securing the services
of anybody.
7 Set attainable strategic goals

8 Strategically plan and position the business for

effectiveness
9 Take decision on financial plan

10 Take decision on marketing strategies

11 Take decision on the form of product/service

12 Have knowledge of monitoring and evaluation

of business plan.
13 See the ‘big picture’ of the enterprise as one
entity.
14 Decide on the administrative structure of the
business enterprise.
 SECTION B:

Personality traits required for managing a small scale business by the

Polytechnic OTM graduates.

S/N Personality traits required for managing VHR HR AR SR NR

small scale business include the ability to:
15 Being very creative and innovative

16 Demonstrate high level of persistence in the

face of uncertainty
17 Perseverance at odd situations

18 Have high sense of judgment

19 Demonstrate high level of openness

20 Demonstrate high sense of integrity

21 Have a visionary leadership quality

22 Have the drive for self-motivation

23 Be presentable at all times

24 Be task-result oriented

25 Being smartly flexible to change

26 Coaching and teaching others

27 Being assertive and having positive self image

28 Have confidence in oneself

29 Have high inner-locus of control

 SECTION C:

Entrepreneurial Skills in Administrative Management of a small scale business

required by Polytechnic OTM graduates

S/N Administrative Skills required for small VHR HR AR SR NR

scale business include the ability to:
30 Undertake basic steps in starting a business
31 Set appropriate goals
32 Organise human and material resources to
achieve set goals.
33 Perform the managerial functions of planning,
organizing, controlling a coordinating and
directing business operations
34 Implement plans for goal attainment
35 Evaluate all activities in the process of goal
attainment
36 Manage time to meet job schedules
37 Have knowledge of inventory control
38 Know factors involved in overhead control
39 Develop, interprets and explain budgets for all
levels within the organization
40 Raise funds from internal and external revenue
for the business
41 Have knowledge of personnel management
42 Effectively delegate authority to subordinates
43 Effectively supervise those delegated
authorities.
44 Appraise employee performance
 SECTION D:

Entrepreneurial Skills in Interpersonal Communication of a Small Scale Business

required by Polytechnic OTM Graduates

S/N Interpersonal Communication Skills VHR HR AR SR NR

required for small scale business include
the ability to:

45 Project a good image

46 Being empathic with others

47 Have good listening habit

48 Demonstrate high level of cooperation with

other stakeholders

49 Be a good team builder

50 Have even psychological disposition

51 Maintain an atmosphere of trust

52 Have high integrity and good moral conduct.

53 Interpret and pass information to others

effectively

54 Have a high emotional intelligence to interact

positively to get along with all types of people

55 To tolerate customers of aggressive

disposition

56 Create good network chain for the business

57 Prepare and present effective speech

58 Prepare good written communication

59 Accept constructive criticisms

60 Conduct quality oral presentation

61 Recognize and effective use non verbal cues

 SECTION E:

Entrepreneurial Skills in Financial Records Management of a Small Scale

business required by Polytechnic OTM Graduates

S/N Financial Records Management skills required VHR HR AR SR NR

for small scale business include the ability to:
62 Having knowledge of various accounting books
and how to prepare them.
63 Keep accurate daily financial records

64 Manage cash flow

65 Prepare and interpret financial statement to
measure enterprise performance
66 Understand payroll and various deductions

67 Understand gross and net profits

68 Recognize various sources of funds

69 Have knowledge of basic accounting rules

70 Knowledge of Federal, State and Local

government levies, taxes regulations as they affect
the business
71 Make an effective business decisions based on
available accounting records
72 Negotiate effectively with the funders, bank for
funds
73 Make effective financial decisions based on
records available
74 Use accounting software for financial transaction
75 Make use of some professional bodies like
bankers, accountants, lawyers and advertising
agents.
76 Maintain basic business records (double entry
book keeping)

SECTION F:
 Entrepreneurial Skills in Marketing Management of a Small Scale business
required by Polytechnic OTM Graduates
S/N Marketing Management Skills required for VHR HR AR SR NR
small scale business include the ability to:

77 Conduct market survey to determine

customers needs

78 Utilize views and data of market research

79 Identify customers’ needs that can be satisfied

80 Exhibit knowledge of marketing strategies

81 Make decisions on marketing mix

82 Determine and interpret factors which indicate

extend and strength of competition.

83 Determine information needs of the market

84 Promote and sell organizational products

85 Have knowledge of good sales technique

86 Demonstrate knowledge of forecasting and

analysis of the market

87 Conduct effective advertisement

88 Promote and sell the organisation’s products

89 Analyse demand and supply situation

90 Capture and retain the attention of customers

SECTION G:
 Entrepreneurial Skills in Information Technology for managing a Small Scale
business required by Polytechnic OTM Graduates
S/N Information Technology Skills required for VHR HR AR SR NR
small scale business include the ability to:
91 Use the internet as an indispensable means of
information and communication system.
92 Effectively use ICT element such as word
processing package, software, hardware,
budgets, marketing and other concepts
including job searching and career exploration
93 Handle various photocopying machine for
reproduction of documents
94 Use repetitive printing methods of
reprographics for printing one original hard
copy of document.
95 Use electronic scanning, phototypesetting to
typeset, edit and reproduce documents using
the computers
96 Do desktop publishing using the computer
97 Do accounting spreadsheet with the computer

98 Use the telecommunication gadgets effectively

(mobile phone, smart phone etc) to
communicate information
99 Operate the on-line business E-commerce

100 Use techniques involved in saving, coding

indexing, and retrieving documents on disks,
microfilms and other magnetic media.
101 Use data management system.
102 Write, send and receive mails using the E-mail
internet facility.
103 Use the power point effectively
104 Use the computer to do graphic and webpage
designs.
 Appendix III
Print Out of the Result of Data Analyzed
Section A: Entrepreneurial Skills Required for Planning a New Business Venture
N %
Cases Valid 20 100.0
Excludeda 0 .0
Total 20 100.0
Reliability Statistics
Cronbach's
Alpha N of Items
.734 14

Section B: Entrepreneurial Skills in Technical/Operations in new Business Venture.

N %
Cases Valid 20 100.0
Excludeda 0 .0
Total 20 100.0
Reliability Statistics
Cronbach's
Alpha N of Items
.690 15

Section C: Entrepreneurial skills in managerial/administrative management

N %
Cases Valid 20 100.0
Excludeda 0 .0
Total 20 100.0

Reliability Statistics
Cronbach's
Alpha N of Items
.756 15

Section D: Entrepreneurial skills in financial/records management.

N %
 Cases Valid 20 100.0
Excludeda 0 .0
Total 20 100.0
Reliability Statistics
Cronbach's
Alpha N of Items
.803 17

Section E: Entrepreneurial Skills in marketing management.

N %
Cases Valid 20 100.0
Excludeda 0 .0
Total 20 100.0
Reliability Statistics
Cronbach's
Alpha N of Items
.767 15

Section F: Entrepreneurial skills in human/interpersonal relationship.

N %
Cases Valid 20 100.0
Excludeda 0 .0
Total 20 100.0
Reliability Statistics
Cronbach's
Alpha N of Items
.842 14

Section G: Entrepreneurial skills in Information and Communication Technology

N %
Cases Valid 20 100.0
Excludeda 0 .0
Total 20 100.0

Reliability Statistics
Cronbach's
Alpha N of Items
.766 14

OVERALL RELIABILITY RESULT

Case Processing Summary
N %
Cases Valid 20 100.0
Excludeda 0 .0
Total 20 100.0

Reliability Statistics
Cronbach's
Alpha N of Items
.786 104
 APPENDIX IV

RESULT OF DATA ANALYZED

R Q 1: Entrepreneurial Skills for Planning a Small Scale business

Descriptive Statistics

N Mean Std. Deviation

AItem1 141 4.5177 .50147

AItem2 141 4.3475 .47788

AItem3 141 4.4043 .49250

AItem4 141 4.7163 .45239

AItem5 141 4.1206 .89023

AItem6 141 4.1064 .75311

AItem7 141 4.4326 .68977

AItem8 141 4.2199 .64467

AItem9 141 4.3050 .79231

AItem10 141 4.4043 .76512

AItem11 141 4.5745 .55077

AItem12 141 4.2340 .79855

AItem13 141 3.8227 .88061

AItem14 141 3.9362 .82991

Summary A 141 4.2958 .29433

Valid N (listwise) 141

R Q 2: Personality traits required for managing a small scale business

Descriptive Statistics

N Mean Std. Deviation

BItem1 141 4.3191 .66889

BItem2 141 4.0638 .82991

BItem3 141 4.0780 .77525

BItem4 141 4.3972 .64231

BItem5 141 4.2553 .76908

BItem6 141 4.2270 .53943

BItem7 141 4.4255 .49619

BItem8 141 4.5177 .55553

BItem9 141 4.2908 .70243

BItem10 141 4.5745 .55077

BItem11 141 4.3333 .63994

BItem12 141 3.8652 .80374

BItem13 141 4.4043 .49250

BItem14 141 4.6525 .47788

BItem15 141 3.9220 .91082

Summary B 141 4.2884 .23320

Valid N (listwise) 141

R Q 3: Entrepreneurial Skills in Administrative Management of SMEs

Descriptive Statistics

N Mean Std. Deviation

Citem1 141 3.8936 .89205

Citem2 141 3.9574 1.04110

Citem3 141 4.2482 .87958

Citem4 141 4.5035 .70330

Citem5 141 4.1631 .51581

Citem6 141 4.4043 .49250

Citem7 141 4.2624 .65077

Citem8 141 4.2908 .81538

Citem9 141 4.2624 .80751

Citem10 141 4.1206 .85753

Citem11 141 4.6596 .47554

Citem12 141 4.4043 .49250

Citem13 141 4.4043 .49250

Citem14 141 4.4539 .49965

Citem15 141 4.4894 .50167

Summary C 141 4.3012 .22504

Valid N (listwise) 141

R Q 4: Entrepreneurial Skills in Interpersonal Communication of SMEs
Descriptive Statistics

N Mean Std. Deviation

DItem1 141 4.0071 .86600

DItem2 141 4.0213 .74131

DItem3 141 4.0355 .88165

DItem4 141 4.1773 .84755

DItem5 141 4.6879 .46498

DItem6 141 3.8582 .86670

DItem7 141 4.4752 .77994

DItem8 141 4.5957 .49250

DItem9 141 4.2766 .78473

DItem10 141 3.8794 .85753

DItem11 141 4.1135 .88715

DItem12 141 4.1489 .86962

DItem13 141 4.1915 .82734

DItem14 141 3.7730 .68001

DItem15 141 4.3333 .83381

DItem16 141 4.2482 .84647

DItem17 141 4.1631 .85041

Summary D 141 4.1756 .26717

Valid N (listwise) 141

R Q 5: Entrepreneurial Skills in Financial Records Management of SMEs

Descriptive Statistics

N Mean Std. Deviation

EItem1 141 4.5674 .49721

EItem2 141 3.8298 .50649

EItem3 141 4.4823 .50147

EItem4 141 4.2766 .82033

EItem5 141 4.2482 .73830

EItem6 141 3.5957 .90221

EItem7 141 4.4539 .49965

EItem8 141 4.3475 .47788

EItem9 141 4.4043 .49250

EItem10 141 4.2057 .89057

EItem11 141 4.1206 .89023

EItem12 141 4.1631 .70330

EItem13 141 4.0780 .69766

EItem14 141 3.8298 .65419

EItem15 141 4.5603 .61376

Summary E 141 4.2109 .28336

Valid N (listwise) 141

R Q 6: Entrepreneurial Skills in Marketing Management of SMES

Descriptive Statistics

N Mean Std. Deviation

FItem1 141 4.0355 .94424

FItem2 141 4.2908 .84970

FItem3 141 4.2199 .96431

FItem4 141 4.1489 .90187

FItem5 141 4.2057 .82391

FItem6 141 4.2624 1.10612

FItem7 141 3.3475 1.09535

FItem8 141 4.1631 .85041

FItem9 141 4.6596 .47554

FItem10 141 4.2199 .90311

FItem11 141 4.5177 .65031

FItem12 141 4.4255 .49619

FItem13 141 3.9929 .89838

FItem14 141 4.5177 .50147

Summary F 141 4.2148 .27326

Valid N (listwise) 141

R Q 7: Entrepreneurial Skills in Information Technology for managing SMEs
Descriptive Statistics

N Mean Std. Deviation

GItem1 141 3.9362 .71925

GItem2 141 4.0213 .65974

GItem3 141 3.7730 .59002

GItem4 141 3.6099 1.39270

GItem5 141 4.0213 .65974

GItem6 141 3.8794 .75095

GItem7 141 4.1489 .76472

GItem8 141 4.0284 .90981

GItem9 141 4.4894 .69300

GItem10 141 4.0071 .83235

GItem11 141 4.1631 .51581

GItem12 141 3.9787 .88211

GItem13 141 4.2199 .87090

GItem14 141 3.8511 .90187

Summary G 141 4.0091 .47846

Valid N (listwise) 141

 TESTING OF HYPOTHESIS

Hypothesis One
Group Statistics

STATUS N Mean Std. Deviation Std. Error Mean

AItem1 OTM Lecturers 92 4.5109 .50262 .05240
Entrepreneurship Lecturers 49 4.5306 .50423 .07203
AItem2 OTM Lecturers 92 4.3696 .48533 .05060
Entrepreneurship Lecturers 49 4.3061 .46566 .06652
AItem3 OTM Lecturers 92 4.4022 .49302 .05140
Entrepreneurship Lecturers 49 4.4082 .49659 .07094
AItem4 OTM Lecturers 92 4.7283 .44729 .04663
Entrepreneurship Lecturers 49 4.6939 .46566 .06652
AItem5 OTM Lecturers 92 4.0761 .92859 .09681
Entrepreneurship Lecturers 49 4.2041 .81598 .11657
AItem6 OTM Lecturers 92 3.8543 .74663 .07784
Entrepreneurship Lecturers 49 4.4041 .76321 .10903
AItem7 OTM Lecturers 92 4.4022 .71190 .07422
Entrepreneurship Lecturers 49 4.4898 .64944 .09278
AItem8 OTM Lecturers 92 4.1848 .62774 .06545
Entrepreneurship Lecturers 49 4.2857 .67700 .09671
AItem9 OTM Lecturers 92 4.2826 .81640 .08512
Entrepreneurship Lecturers 49 4.3469 .75142 .10735
AItem10 OTM Lecturers 92 4.3696 .79445 .08283
Entrepreneurship Lecturers 49 4.4694 .71011 .10144
AItem11 OTM Lecturers 92 4.5870 .55771 .05814
Entrepreneurship Lecturers 49 4.5510 .54242 .07749
AItem12 OTM Lecturers 92 4.1522 .79745 .08314
Entrepreneurship Lecturers 49 4.3878 .78571 .11224
AItem13 OTM Lecturers 92 3.9348 .88708 .09248
Entrepreneurship Lecturers 49 3.6122 .83707 .11958
AItem14 OTM Lecturers 92 3.9022 .83941 .08751
Entrepreneurship Lecturers 49 4.0000 .81650 .11664
SummaryA OTM Lecturers 92 4.2826 .30726 .03203
Entrepreneurship Lecturers 49 4.3207 .26969 .03853

Independent Samples Test

Levene's Test for
Equality of Variances t-test for Equality of Means
Sig. (2- Std. Error
F Sig. t df tailed) Difference
AItem1 Equal variances assumed .211 .647 -.222 139 .825 .08899
-.222 97.799 .825 .08908
AItem2 Equal variances assumed 2.489 .117 .749 139 .455 .08465
.759 101.660 .450 .08358
AItem3 Equal variances assumed .018 .892 .069 139 .945 .08741
.068 97.460 .946 .08761
AItem4 Equal variances assumed .699 .405 .428 139 .669 .08024
.423 94.705 .673 .08124
AItem5 Equal variances assumed .110 .741 -.812 139 .418 .15763
-.845 109.560 .400 .15153
AItem6 Equal variances assumed .887 .008 2.125 139 .002 .13306
2.118 96.218 .006 .13397
AItem7 Equal variances assumed 1.035 .311 -.717 139 .475 .12220
-.737 106.164 .462 .11881
AItem8 Equal variances assumed 1.808 .181 .885 139 .378 .11410
.864 91.864 .390 .11678
AItem9 Equal variances assumed .097 .756 -.458 139 .648 .14052
-.470 105.362 .640 .13699
AItem10 Equal variances assumed .327 .568 .736 139 .463 .13554
.762 108.010 .448 .13096
AItem11 Equal variances assumed .001 .970 .368 139 .714 .09771
.371 100.470 .711 .09688
AItem12 Equal variances assumed .068 .795 1.679 139 .095 .14032
1.687 99.345 .095 .13968
AItem13 Equal variances assumed .410 .023 2.096 139 .038 .15389
2.134 103.133 .035 .15117
AItem14 Equal variances assumed .458 .500 .665 139 .507 .14707
.671 100.459 .504 .14582
SummaryA Equal variances assumed 1.345 .248 -.731 139 .466 .05214
-.760 109.664 .449 .05010

Hypothesis Two
Group Statistics

STATUS N Mean Std. Deviation Std. Error Mean

BItem1 OTM Lecturers 92 4.2609 .67725 .07061
Entrepreneurship Lecturers 49 4.4286 .64550 .09221
BItem2 OTM Lecturers 92 4.0543 .84339 .08793
Entrepreneurship Lecturers 49 4.0816 .81232 .11605
BItem3 OTM Lecturers 92 4.3870 .75086 .07828
Entrepreneurship Lecturers 49 3.9612 .82685 .11812
BItem4 OTM Lecturers 92 4.4022 .61232 .06384
Entrepreneurship Lecturers 49 4.3878 .70167 .10024
BItem5 OTM Lecturers 92 4.2826 .76065 .07930
Entrepreneurship Lecturers 49 4.2041 .79003 .11286
BItem6 OTM Lecturers 92 4.0174 .55124 .05747
 Entrepreneurship Lecturers 49 4.4449 .52164 .07452
BItem7 OTM Lecturers 92 4.4130 .49508 .05162
Entrepreneurship Lecturers 49 4.4490 .50254 .07179
BItem8 OTM Lecturers 92 4.5109 .54460 .05678
Entrepreneurship Lecturers 49 4.5306 .58102 .08300
BItem9 OTM Lecturers 92 4.2935 .68801 .07173
Entrepreneurship Lecturers 49 4.2857 .73598 .10514
BItem10 OTM Lecturers 92 4.5870 .53764 .05605
Entrepreneurship Lecturers 49 4.5510 .57956 .08279
BItem11 OTM Lecturers 92 4.1587 .62162 .06481
Entrepreneurship Lecturers 49 4.4857 .67700 .09671
BItem12 OTM Lecturers 92 3.8913 .80461 .08389
Entrepreneurship Lecturers 49 3.8163 .80812 .11545
BItem13 OTM Lecturers 92 4.4022 .49302 .05140
Entrepreneurship Lecturers 49 4.4082 .49659 .07094
BItem14 OTM Lecturers 92 4.6739 .47135 .04914
Entrepreneurship Lecturers 49 4.6122 .49229 .07033
BItem15 OTM Lecturers 92 3.9348 .88708 .09248
Entrepreneurship Lecturers 49 3.8980 .96274 .13753
SummaryB OTM Lecturers 92 4.2913 .22918 .02389
Entrepreneurship Lecturers 49 4.2830 .24287 .03470

Independent Samples Test

Levene's Test for
Equality of Variances t-test for Equality of Means
Sig. (2- Std. Error
F Sig. t df tailed) Difference
BItem1 Equal variances assumed .007 .935 1.423 139 .157 .11787
1.444 102.246 .152 .11614
BItem2 Equal variances assumed .337 .563 -.185 139 .853 .14728
-.187 101.321 .852 .14560
BItem3 Equal variances assumed 3.400 .039 2.187 139 .002 .13758
2.182 90.241 .006 .14171
BItem4 Equal variances assumed .506 .478 .126 139 .900 .11400
.121 87.262 .904 .11884
BItem5 Equal variances assumed .033 .857 .576 139 .566 .13634
.569 94.897 .571 .13794
BItem6 Equal variances assumed 2.039 .045 3.087 139 .004 .09571
3.092 102.881 .001 .09411
BItem7 Equal variances assumed .546 .461 .408 139 .684 .08802
.406 96.804 .685 .08842
BItem8 Equal variances assumed .256 .613 -.200 139 .842 .09859
-.196 92.722 .845 .10056
BItem9 Equal variances assumed .043 .836 .062 139 .950 .12467
.061 92.510 .951 .12728
BItem10 Equal variances assumed .683 .410 .368 139 .714 .09771
.359 91.902 .720 .09998
BItem11 Equal variances assumed 2.242 .024 1.993 139 .021 .11341
1.997 91.096 .012 .11642
BItem12 Equal variances assumed .086 .770 .526 139 .600 .14251
.525 97.701 .600 .14270
BItem13 Equal variances assumed .018 .892 -.069 139 .945 .08741
-.068 97.460 .946 .08761
BItem14 Equal variances assumed 1.826 .179 .728 139 .468 .08466
.719 94.441 .474 .08579
BItem15 Equal variances assumed 1.471 .227 .228 139 .820 .16163
.222 91.370 .825 .16574
SummaryB Equal variances assumed .111 .740 .201 139 .841 .04138
.197 93.260 .844 .04213

Hypothesis Three
Group Statistics

STATUS N Mean Std. Deviation Std. Error Mean

Citem1 OTM Lecturers 92 3.8370 .90514 .09437
Entrepreneurship Lecturers 49 4.0000 .86603 .12372
Citem2 OTM Lecturers 92 3.9565 .99353 .10358
Entrepreneurship Lecturers 49 3.9592 1.13577 .16225
Citem3 OTM Lecturers 92 4.2826 .86857 .09056
Entrepreneurship Lecturers 49 4.1837 .90539 .12934
Citem4 OTM Lecturers 92 4.5109 .71858 .07492
Entrepreneurship Lecturers 49 4.4898 .68076 .09725
Citem5 OTM Lecturers 92 4.1522 .51216 .05340
Entrepreneurship Lecturers 49 4.1837 .52732 .07533
Citem6 OTM Lecturers 92 4.4022 .49302 .05140
Entrepreneurship Lecturers 49 4.4082 .49659 .07094
Citem7 OTM Lecturers 92 4.2826 .63464 .06617
Entrepreneurship Lecturers 49 4.2245 .68512 .09787
Citem8 OTM Lecturers 92 4.2609 .81023 .08447
Entrepreneurship Lecturers 49 4.3469 .83044 .11863
Citem9 OTM Lecturers 92 4.3152 .79738 .08313
Entrepreneurship Lecturers 49 3.8633 .82530 .11790
Citem10 OTM Lecturers 92 4.1087 .84459 .08805
Entrepreneurship Lecturers 49 4.1429 .88976 .12711
Citem11 OTM Lecturers 92 4.6848 .46715 .04870
Entrepreneurship Lecturers 49 4.6122 .49229 .07033
Citem12 OTM Lecturers 92 4.4022 .49302 .05140
 Entrepreneurship Lecturers 49 4.4082 .49659 .07094
Citem13 OTM Lecturers 92 4.4022 .49302 .05140
Entrepreneurship Lecturers 49 4.4082 .49659 .07094
Citem14 OTM Lecturers 92 4.4565 .50084 .05222
Entrepreneurship Lecturers 49 4.4490 .50254 .07179
Citem15 OTM Lecturers 92 4.5109 .50262 .05240
Entrepreneurship Lecturers 49 4.4490 .50254 .07179
SummaryC OTM Lecturers 92 4.3043 .23206 .02419
Entrepreneurship Lecturers 49 4.2952 .21344 .03049

Independent Samples Test

Levene's Test for
Equality of Variances t-test for Equality of Means
Sig. (2- Std. Error
F Sig. t df tailed) Difference
Citem1 Equal variances assumed 2.364 .126 2.034 139 .003 .15772
2.048 101.906 .007 .15560
Citem2 Equal variances assumed 2.162 .144 .014 139 .989 .18478
.014 87.438 .989 .19250
Citem3 Equal variances assumed .398 .529 .635 139 .527 .15589
.627 94.601 .532 .15789
Citem4 Equal variances assumed .161 .689 .169 139 .866 .12482
.172 102.781 .864 .12276
Citem5 Equal variances assumed .256 .613 -.344 139 .731 .09151
-.341 95.618 .734 .09234
Citem6 Equal variances assumed .018 .892 -.069 139 .945 .08741
-.068 97.460 .946 .08761
Citem7 Equal variances assumed .160 .690 .504 139 .615 .11540
.492 91.787 .624 .11814
Citem8 Equal variances assumed 2.138 .711 3.595 139 .002 .14454
3.591 95.995 .006 .14564
Citem9 Equal variances assumed .002 .967 1.065 139 .289 .14274
1.053 95.183 .295 .14426
Citem10 Equal variances assumed .975 .325 -.224 139 .823 .15218
-.221 93.738 .826 .15463
Citem11 Equal variances assumed 2.502 .116 .862 139 .390 .08418
.848 93.713 .399 .08554
Citem12 Equal variances assumed .018 .892 .069 139 .945 .08741
.068 97.460 .946 .08761
Citem13 Equal variances assumed .018 .892 -.069 139 .945 .08741
-.068 97.460 .946 .08761
Citem14 Equal variances assumed .030 .862 .085 139 .932 .08868
.085 97.782 .932 .08877
Citem15 Equal variances assumed .801 .372 .696 139 .487 .08889
.696 98.085 .488 .08888
SummaryC Equal variances assumed 1.135 .288 .228 139 .820 .03993
.234 105.425 .815 .03892

Hypothesis Four
Group Statistics

STATUS N Mean Std. Deviation Std. Error Mean

DItem1 OTM Lecturers 92 3.9783 .86416 .09010
Entrepreneurship Lecturers 49 4.0612 .87579 .12511
DItem2 OTM Lecturers 92 4.2435 .73996 .07715
Entrepreneurship Lecturers 49 3.7796 .74972 .10710
DItem3 OTM Lecturers 92 3.9457 .86905 .09061
Entrepreneurship Lecturers 49 4.2041 .88928 .12704
DItem4 OTM Lecturers 92 4.1304 .87978 .09172
Entrepreneurship Lecturers 49 4.2653 .78463 .11209
DItem5 OTM Lecturers 92 4.6522 .47889 .04993
Entrepreneurship Lecturers 49 4.7551 .43448 .06207
DItem6 OTM Lecturers 92 3.8152 .91302 .09519
Entrepreneurship Lecturers 49 3.9388 .77482 .11069
DItem7 OTM Lecturers 92 4.4565 .79023 .08239
Entrepreneurship Lecturers 49 4.5102 .76710 .10959
DItem8 OTM Lecturers 92 4.5870 .49508 .05162
Entrepreneurship Lecturers 49 4.8122 .49229 .07033
DItem9 OTM Lecturers 92 4.2609 .79655 .08305
Entrepreneurship Lecturers 49 4.3061 .76931 .10990
DItem10 OTM Lecturers 92 3.9130 .86000 .08966
Entrepreneurship Lecturers 49 3.8163 .85813 .12259
DItem11 OTM Lecturers 92 4.0870 .93353 .09733
Entrepreneurship Lecturers 49 4.1633 .79966 .11424
DItem12 OTM Lecturers 92 4.1196 .88755 .09253
Entrepreneurship Lecturers 49 4.2041 .84112 .12016
DItem13 OTM Lecturers 92 4.0413 .83313 .08686
Entrepreneurship Lecturers 49 4.3857 .81650 .11664
DItem14 OTM Lecturers 92 3.7500 .68940 .07188
Entrepreneurship Lecturers 49 3.8163 .66688 .09527
DItem15 OTM Lecturers 92 4.3478 .84431 .08802
Entrepreneurship Lecturers 49 4.3061 .82169 .11738
DItem16 OTM Lecturers 92 4.3152 .83770 .08734
Entrepreneurship Lecturers 49 4.1224 .85714 .12245
DItem17 OTM Lecturers 92 4.3174 .84938 .08855
Entrepreneurship Lecturers 49 3.9612 .85167 .12167
SummaryD OTM Lecturers 92 4.1624 .27025 .02818
Entrepreneurship Lecturers 49 4.2005 .26222 .03746

Independent Samples Test

Levene's Test for
Equality of Variances t-test for Equality of Means
Sig. (2- Std. Error
F Sig. t df tailed) Difference
DItem1 Equal variances assumed .086 .770 -.540 139 .590 .15354
-.538 96.939 .592 .15418
DItem2 Equal variances assumed 3.000 .984 2.486 139 .008 .13146
2.484 96.962 .009 .13199
DItem3 Equal variances assumed .558 .456 1.668 139 .098 .15494
1.656 96.131 .101 .15604
DItem4 Equal variances assumed .932 .336 -.899 139 .370 .15000
-.931 108.212 .354 .14484
DItem5 Equal variances assumed 7.279 .008 -1.254 139 .212 .08207
-1.292 106.658 .199 .07966
DItem6 Equal variances assumed 4.118 .044 -.805 139 .422 .15347
-.846 112.729 .399 .14599
DItem7 Equal variances assumed .326 .569 -.388 139 .699 .13836
-.392 100.637 .696 .13710
DItem8 Equal variances assumed .358 .051 2.289 139 .003 .08739
2.290 98.555 .003 .08724
DItem9 Equal variances assumed .010 .922 -.325 139 .746 .13923
-.329 101.082 .743 .13775
DItem10 Equal variances assumed .030 .862 .636 139 .526 .15198
.637 98.258 .526 .15188
DItem11 Equal variances assumed 1.179 .279 -.485 139 .628 .15733
-.508 111.880 .612 .15008
DItem12 Equal variances assumed .758 .385 .548 139 .584 .15418
.557 102.751 .579 .15166
DItem13 Equal variances assumed 2.320 .990 3.087 139 .005 .14633
3.093 99.806 .003 .14543
DItem14 Equal variances assumed .679 .411 -.550 139 .583 .12056
-.556 100.943 .580 .11934
DItem15 Equal variances assumed .226 .635 .282 139 .778 .14795
.284 100.414 .777 .14672
DItem16 Equal variances assumed .012 .913 1.291 139 .199 .14935
1.282 96.136 .203 .15040
DItem17 Equal variances assumed 2.305 .022 2.039 139 .001 .15036
2.038 97.843 .002 .15048
SummaryD Equal variances assumed .595 .442 -.805 139 .422 .04731
-.812 100.676 .419 .04687

Hypothesis Five
Group Statistics

STATUS N Mean Std. Deviation Std. Error Mean

EItem1 OTM Lecturers 92 4.6196 .48815 .05089
Entrepreneurship Lecturers 49 4.4694 .50423 .07203
EItem2 OTM Lecturers 92 4.0261 .52642 .05488
Entrepreneurship Lecturers 49 3.7367 .47201 .06743
EItem3 OTM Lecturers 92 4.5109 .50262 .05240
Entrepreneurship Lecturers 49 4.4286 .50000 .07143
EItem4 OTM Lecturers 92 4.3478 .80431 .08386
Entrepreneurship Lecturers 49 4.1429 .84163 .12023
EItem5 OTM Lecturers 92 4.2609 .72430 .07551
Entrepreneurship Lecturers 49 4.2245 .77097 .11014
EItem6 OTM Lecturers 92 3.5761 .95196 .09925
Entrepreneurship Lecturers 49 3.6327 .80865 .11552
EItem7 OTM Lecturers 92 4.4565 .50084 .05222
Entrepreneurship Lecturers 49 4.4490 .50254 .07179
EItem8 OTM Lecturers 92 4.3696 .48533 .05060
Entrepreneurship Lecturers 49 4.3061 .46566 .06652
EItem9 OTM Lecturers 92 4.4022 .49302 .05140
Entrepreneurship Lecturers 49 4.4082 .49659 .07094
EItem10 OTM Lecturers 92 4.2283 .89077 .09287
Entrepreneurship Lecturers 49 4.1633 .89784 .12826
EItem11 OTM Lecturers 92 3.9761 .92859 .09681
Entrepreneurship Lecturers 49 4.3041 .81598 .11657
EItem12 OTM Lecturers 92 4.1196 .70854 .07387
Entrepreneurship Lecturers 49 4.2449 .69314 .09902
EItem13 OTM Lecturers 92 4.0326 .70245 .07324
Entrepreneurship Lecturers 49 4.1633 .68760 .09823
EItem14 OTM Lecturers 92 3.7935 .65529 .06832
Entrepreneurship Lecturers 49 3.8980 .65335 .09334
EItem15 OTM Lecturers 92 4.6196 .57114 .05955
Entrepreneurship Lecturers 49 4.4490 .67888 .09698
SummaryE OTM Lecturers 92 4.2159 .29258 .03050
Entrepreneurship Lecturers 49 4.2014 .26788 .03827

Independent Samples Test

 Levene's Test for Equality
of Variances t-test for Equality of Means
Sig. (2- Std. Error
F Sig. t df tailed) Difference
EItem1 Equal variances assumed 2.467 .119 1.720 139 .088 .08733
1.703 95.350 .092 .08820
EItem2 Equal variances assumed 3.805 .071 3.118 139 .006 .08989
3.122 107.726 .003 .08694
EItem3 Equal variances assumed 1.726 .191 .927 139 .355 .08873
.929 98.519 .355 .08859
EItem4 Equal variances assumed .033 .857 1.418 139 .158 .14456
1.398 94.287 .165 .14659
EItem5 Equal variances assumed .348 .556 .278 139 .782 .13100
.272 92.906 .786 .13354
EItem6 Equal variances assumed 1.523 .219 -.353 139 .724 .16006
-.371 112.641 .711 .15230
EItem7 Equal variances assumed .030 .862 .085 139 .932 .08868
.085 97.782 .932 .08877
EItem8 Equal variances assumed 2.489 .117 .749 139 .455 .08465
.759 101.660 .450 .08358
EItem9 Equal variances assumed .018 .892 -.069 139 .945 .08741
-.068 97.460 .946 .08761
EItem10 Equal variances assumed .002 .968 .411 139 .681 .15797
.410 97.401 .682 .15835
EItem11 Equal variances assumed .110 .041 1.982 139 .018 .15763
1.985 109.560 .014 .15153
EItem12 Equal variances assumed .470 .494 1.008 139 .315 .12438
1.015 99.964 .313 .12354
EItem13 Equal variances assumed .262 .610 1.059 139 .291 .12333
1.066 99.910 .289 .12252
EItem14 Equal variances assumed .682 .410 -.902 139 .368 .11577
-.903 98.325 .369 .11567
EItem15 Equal variances assumed 4.545 .035 1.580 139 .116 .10797
1.499 84.664 .138 .11380
SummaryE Equal variances assumed .440 .508 .290 139 .772 .05028
.298 105.837 .766 .04894

Hypothesis Six

Group Statistics
 STATUS N Mean Std. Deviation Std. Error Mean

FItem1 OTM Lecturers 92 3.9891 .96641 .10076

Entrepreneurship Lecturers 49 4.1224 .90445 .12921

FItem2 OTM Lecturers 92 4.1739 .87214 .09093

Entrepreneurship Lecturers 49 4.5102 .76710 .10959

FItem3 OTM Lecturers 92 4.2826 .95303 .09936

Entrepreneurship Lecturers 49 4.1020 .98414 .14059

FItem4 OTM Lecturers 92 4.1304 .90441 .09429

Entrepreneurship Lecturers 49 4.1837 .90539 .12934

FItem5 OTM Lecturers 92 4.1413 .84621 .08822

Entrepreneurship Lecturers 49 4.3265 .77427 .11061

FItem6 OTM Lecturers 92 4.2065 1.16296 .12125

Entrepreneurship Lecturers 49 4.3673 .99360 .14194

FItem7 OTM Lecturers 92 3.2370 1.09220 .11387

Entrepreneurship Lecturers 49 3.6673 1.11232 .15890

FItem8 OTM Lecturers 92 4.0848 .83770 .08734

Entrepreneurship Lecturers 49 4.2224 .88111 .12587

FItem9 OTM Lecturers 92 4.6413 .48225 .05028

Entrepreneurship Lecturers 49 4.6939 .46566 .06652

FItem10 OTM Lecturers 92 4.1957 .91674 .09558

Entrepreneurship Lecturers 49 4.2653 .88448 .12635

FItem11 OTM Lecturers 92 4.5217 .65429 .06821

Entrepreneurship Lecturers 49 4.5102 .64944 .09278

FItem12 OTM Lecturers 92 4.4130 .49508 .05162

Entrepreneurship Lecturers 49 4.4490 .50254 .07179

FItem13 OTM Lecturers 92 3.9674 .90725 .09459

Entrepreneurship Lecturers 49 4.0408 .88880 .12697

FItem14 OTM Lecturers 92 4.5109 .50262 .05240

Entrepreneurship Lecturers 49 4.5306 .50423 .07203

SummaryF OTM Lecturers 92 4.1925 .28448 .02966

Entrepreneurship Lecturers 49 4.2566 .24826 .03547

 Independent Samples Test
Levene's Test for Equality
of Variances t-test for Equality of Means
Sig. (2- Std. Error
F Sig. t df tailed) Difference
FItem1 Equal variances assumed .235 .629 .797 139 .427 .16721
.814 103.866 .418 .16385
FItem2 Equal variances assumed 4.045 .046 2.271 139 .025 .14809
2.362 109.474 .020 .14240
FItem3 Equal variances assumed 1.111 .294 1.059 139 .291 .17047
1.049 95.373 .297 .17216
FItem4 Equal variances assumed .000 .984 -.333 139 .740 .16001
-.333 97.980 .740 .16006
FItem5 Equal variances assumed .806 .371 1.274 139 .205 .14539
1.309 105.894 .193 .14148
FItem6 Equal variances assumed .839 .361 -.821 139 .413 .19585
-.862 112.117 .391 .18668
FItem7 Equal variances assumed 3.027 .020 3.156 139 .006 .19440
3.155 96.529 .007 .19549
FItem8 Equal variances assumed .430 .513 .413 139 .680 .15085
.407 93.866 .685 .15320
FItem9 Equal variances assumed 1.696 .195 -.624 139 .534 .08429
-.630 101.100 .530 .08339
FItem10 Equal variances assumed .687 .408 .435 139 .664 .16018
.440 101.172 .661 .15843
FItem11 Equal variances assumed .002 .961 .100 139 .921 .11542
.100 98.709 .920 .11516
FItem12 Equal variances assumed .546 .461 -.408 139 .684 .08802
-.406 96.804 .685 .08842
FItem13 Equal variances assumed .294 .589 .461 139 .646 .15933
.464 99.839 .644 .15833
FItem14 Equal variances assumed .211 .647 -.222 139 .825 .08899
-.222 97.799 .825 .08908
SummaryF Equal variances assumed .071 .790 1.328 139 .186 .04820
1.385 110.189 .169 .04623

Hypothesis Seven
 Group Statistics

STATUS N Mean Std. Deviation Std. Error Mean

GItem1 OTM Lecturers 92 3.7022 .72718 .07581

Entrepreneurship Lecturers 49 4.2300 .70711 .10102

GItem2 OTM Lecturers 92 3.9891 .67114 .06997

Entrepreneurship Lecturers 49 4.0816 .64021 .09146

GItem3 OTM Lecturers 92 3.7717 .55674 .05804

Entrepreneurship Lecturers 49 3.7755 .65400 .09343

GItem4 OTM Lecturers 92 3.5326 1.44078 .15021

Entrepreneurship Lecturers 49 3.7551 1.29953 .18565

GItem5 OTM Lecturers 92 3.7891 .67114 .06997

Entrepreneurship Lecturers 49 4.2816 .64021 .09146

GItem6 OTM Lecturers 92 3.8478 .75498 .07871

Entrepreneurship Lecturers 49 3.9388 .74744 .10678

GItem7 OTM Lecturers 92 4.1739 .76473 .07973

Entrepreneurship Lecturers 49 4.1020 .77041 .11006

GItem8 OTM Lecturers 92 4.0326 .90725 .09459

Entrepreneurship Lecturers 49 4.0204 .92398 .13200

GItem9 OTM Lecturers 92 4.5217 .68706 .07163

Entrepreneurship Lecturers 49 4.4286 .70711 .10102

GItem10 OTM Lecturers 92 3.9674 .84452 .08805

Entrepreneurship Lecturers 49 4.0816 .81232 .11605

GItem11 OTM Lecturers 92 4.1522 .51216 .05340

Entrepreneurship Lecturers 49 4.1837 .52732 .07533

GItem12 OTM Lecturers 92 3.9348 .89938 .09377

Entrepreneurship Lecturers 49 4.0612 .85167 .12167

GItem13 OTM Lecturers 92 4.0957 .89245 .09304

Entrepreneurship Lecturers 49 4.4653 .83605 .11944

GItem14 OTM Lecturers 92 3.7826 .87488 .09121

Entrepreneurship Lecturers 49 3.9796 .94626 .13518

SummaryG OTM Lecturers 92 3.9852 .48382 .05044

Entrepreneurship Lecturers 49 4.0539 .46987 .06712

 Independent Samples Test
Levene's Test for Equality
of Variances t-test for Equality of Means
Sig. (2- Std. Error
F Sig. t df tailed) Difference
GItem1 Equal variances assumed 3.906 .023 1.982 139 .004 .12739
1.975 100.487 .002 .12630
GItem2 Equal variances assumed .000 .984 -.792 139 .430 .11683
-.803 102.172 .424 .11515
GItem3 Equal variances assumed .910 .342 .036 139 .971 .10472
.034 85.487 .973 .10999
GItem4 Equal variances assumed 2.726 .101 -.903 139 .368 .24647
-.932 107.190 .354 .23881
GItem5 Equal variances assumed 3.043 .984 2.792 139 .002 .11683
2.803 102.172 .002 .11515
GItem6 Equal variances assumed .454 .502 -.684 139 .495 .13306
-.686 98.931 .495 .13265
GItem7 Equal variances assumed .101 .752 .530 139 .597 .13559
.529 97.442 .598 .13590
GItem8 Equal variances assumed .087 .769 .076 139 .940 .16148
.075 96.527 .940 .16239
GItem9 Equal variances assumed .225 .636 .759 139 .449 .12275
.752 95.652 .454 .12383
GItem10 Equal variances assumed .265 .607 -.775 139 .440 .14742
-.784 101.439 .435 .14567
GItem11 Equal variances assumed .256 .613 .344 139 .731 .09151
.341 95.618 .734 .09234
GItem12 Equal variances assumed 1.476 .226 -.809 139 .420 .15620
-.823 102.820 .412 .15361
GItem13 Equal variances assumed 4.415 .036 2.451 139 .003 .15446
2.460 103.779 .006 .15140
GItem14 Equal variances assumed 1.790 .183 1.237 139 .218 .15920
1.208 91.637 .230 .16307
SummaryG Equal variances assumed .123 .726 -.811 139 .419 .08472
-.818 100.598 .415 .08396