Evaluating the New Impetus for Entrenching Entrepreneurship Culture in Nigeria (2010 and Beyond): Lessons and Future Public Policy Directions

Abstract:

Purpose: This study was designed to evaluate the impact of Nigeria’s entrepreneurship development policies on the emergence and performance of entrepreneurship in recent decades from 2010 to date. Methodology/Approach: The study adopted the periodization paradigm in examining entrepreneurship development efforts at crucial turning points in developments in Nigeria. Findings: The business environment has been hostile to entrepreneurship. However, the ICT as well as the creative industries sub-sectors recorded some successes. But the power, security, agriculture, and education sub-sectors recorded unsatisfactory performances. Government’s inability to overrun terrorist groups thwarted peace and security upon which development depended. High-level official corruption has been hobbling the implementation of entrepreneurship development policies in Nigeria. Implications: The study pointed at general and specific lessons derived from the hostile global and local/national environments for improving on entrepreneurship development policies. Originality value: Using a conceptual framework we developed, the study showed that security is an overriding factor in achieving success in entrepreneurship development. Contrary to the claims of some strategy scholars, strategic management is not a panacea for achieving successful entrepreneurship; that what are crucially important for success are dynamic capabilities, context-driven public policies, and their competent implementation.