EVALUATION OF NIGERIAN MARITIME ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND ECONOMIC GROWTH

1.1 Introduction

Maritime Entrepreneurship is the process of designing, launching and running a new business, which is often initially a small maritime business. The people who create these businesses are called maritime entrepreneurs. Maritime entrepreneurship plays a significant role in any economy that is accessible by sea. It has contributed to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of a nation, and it is a catalyst that enhances employment opportunities and stimulates economic growth.

Similarly, Nwabuama (2004) articulated that entrepreneurship is the identification of the general characteristics of entrepreneurs and how potential entrepreneurs can be trained in management techniques needed for effective performance of persons for long time service of an organization after the acquisition of occupational skills. Maritime Entrepreneurship has many things in the variation of people as applicable to their values and observations of what it means to them.

As a prelude to other parts of this study, this chapter will discuss the background upon which this study was initiated, the statement of problems that led to this study, the Aim and Objectives of the study. Others are Significance of the study, Scope of work, Research hypothesis and questions, Limitation of the study and Definition of terms.

1.2 Background of Study

Maritime entrepreneurship is sine qua non to national development poverty eradication and employment generation it is the bed rock of any nation’s industrialization. The role of entrepreneurship in the growth and development of our dear nation cannot be overlooked and as a result of the consistent rise in the level of unemployment and the upward increase in the level of poverty in Nigeria, it has become crucial for Nigerians to quit searching for white collar jobs that are not available and start creating employment for themselves. The forces of entrepreneur are strong in Nigeria because most people see entrepreneurial activities as what is primarily based on essential due to the poor economic situation.

The current Nigerian economy is largely dominated by the oil industry. The labour force is radically growing, as is the unemployment rate currently at 20%, with millions of workers underemployed. Nigeria is endowed with the largest domestic market in Africa a wide range of natural resources coupled with a diversely skilled labour pool. Given these economic realities, the country must constantly create new jobs, and diversify the industrial and commercial sector to take advantage of human and natural resources.

The activities of entrepreneurs have been found to be capable of making impact on the economy of a nation and quality of life of the people through economic growth; employment generation and empowerment of the disadvantaged segment of the population, which include women and the poor. Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) is perceived as a pride of basically every country or state. Because of SMEs’ significant roles in the development and growth of various economies, they have appropriately been termed as the engine of growth and catalysts for socio-economic transformation of any country. SMEs are perceived as a real instrument for the achievement of national economic objectives of employment generation and poverty reduction at low investment cost. Other central benefits of vibrant SMEs are the access to the infrastructural facilities the stimulation of economic activities such as providers of various items and distributive trades for items produced and needed by the SMEs, stemming from rural urban migration, enhancement of standard of living of the employees of the SMEs and their dependents as well as those who are directly or indirectly associated with them.

Various government of the nation have begun to find solutions on how to involve the private sector in the developmental process of their country’s economy which is one of the responses to the challenges of development of entrepreneurial in developing countries. Nigeria had even taken a bold step by including entrepreneurial studies in the academic curriculum of her education system and with the introduction of National Directorate of Employment (NDE) scheme. The belief of such policy makers is that such decision will inculcate entrepreneurial spirit in the mind of people so as to prepare them for wealth creation through entrepreneurship (Fasua, 2006).

The maritime industry is all-encompassing as it embraces all the economic ventures derived from the Nigerian waters. It includes services associated with coastal shipping, tramp service, short sea shipping, port operations, ship management and agencies, dockyard and dock facilities, freight forwarding, customs clearing, import and export trade, banking, and cargo inspection. Airahilobhor (2011) noted seaborne trade accounts for over 60% of the total of the sixteen countries for West Africa State (ECOWAS), and such has a significant impact on the member state. Therefore, early entrepreneurs were characterized with production and manufacturing. In a situation like this, the producers often started with small capital. Early entrepreneurship began with trade by barter even before the advent of money. Therefore most of the modern entrepreneurs were engaged in retail trade and also sole proprietorship.

1.3 Statement of Problems

Investigation revealed that with current challenges in the global economy, new and innovative strategies are emerging in the bid to stimulate and sustain growth in national economies. Entrepreneurship is one model that is deemed critical to the formulation and implementation of these strategies. According to a research by The Global Entrepreneurship and Development Institute, it was found that USA is a world leader when it comes to supporting its entrepreneurs in respect to business formation, expansion, and growth. They also finance new businesses through venture capital. This type of financial capital is provided to early-stage, high-potential and riskier start-up companies. Countries like Australia and Sweden came second and third respectively according to the 2014 statistics.

Some of these countries’ economies are ranking very high because they understand the effects entrepreneurs play in the growth of their economy. Their GDP are always on the increase thereby increase in their economy. In spite of this, little is known about the profile of the Nigerian entrepreneur and how they engage with the constantly evolving policy context. This study therefore aimed at better understanding their characteristics the impact and role of entrepreneurship on the Nigeria economic growth.

1.4 Aim and Objectives of Study

The aim of the study is to evaluate the Nigerian Maritime Entrepreneurship and Economic Growth using Five Stars Logistics in Lagos State as a case study. In achieving this aim, the following specific objectives were laid out as follows:

1. To investigate the factors that influence maritime entrepreneurs to economic development the Nigerian economic development;
2. To identify the various opportunities accrued to the Nigeria entrepreneurs from the cabotage in the maritime industry;
3. To determine the prevailing problems that hamper the economic viability of the maritime industry services in Nigeria;
4. To identify the impediments of the Nigeria entrepreneur in regards to the cabotage business; and
5. To proffer solutions to Nigeria entrepreneurs in relationship to their problems in the Maritime business.

1.5 Research Questions

The study came up with research questions so as to be able to ascertain the above stated objectives. The specific research questions for the study are stated below as follows:

• Are there factors that influence maritime entrepreneurs to economic development the Nigerian economic development?
• What are the various opportunities accrued to the Nigeria entrepreneurs from the cabotage in the maritime industry?
• What are the prevailing problems that hamper the economic viability of the maritime industry services in Nigeria?
• What are the impediments of the Nigeria entrepreneur in regards to the cabotage business?
• What are the solutions to Nigeria entrepreneurs in relationship to their problems in the Maritime business?

1.6 Research Hypothesis

In order to pursue the objective of this study, the following generalized statements have been designed to guide and aids in obtaining the result for the experiment to be conducted. For this work, the null hypothesis will be represented with H0 while the alternative hypothesis will be represented with hypothesis H1.

Hypothesis One

• H0: Low maritime entrepreneurial activities do not have any significant correlation with economic growth in Nigeria
• H1: Low maritime entrepreneurial activities have a significant correlation with economic growth in Nigeria

Hypothesis Two

• H0: There is no significant relationship between maritime entrepreneurship and economic growth of Nigeria
• H1: There is a significant relationship between maritime entrepreneurship and economic growth of Nigeria

1.7 Significance of Study

Findings from the study will be of immeasurable importance to the Nigerian government all and aspiring entrepreneurs in Nigeria. It will serve as a manual that will guide them on how to about using entrepreneurship to economically develop the country and raise their standard of living. It will as well help to bridge the gap that might have existed in the entrepreneurial activities.

The maritime experts, regulators and entrepreneurs alike, have to rob minds together to provide insights into how to utilize the opportunities in the maritime industry. The potential entrants into the maritime business should see these as good business opportunities to be utilized in order to create job opportunities, training for seafarers, provision of / building of ships and other ocean going vessels to be used, which will have to bear on the nation’s economy and to improve the well-being of the Nigerian maritime entrepreneur.

This study will be of immense benefit to other researchers who intend to know more on this study and can also be used by non-researchers to build more on their research work. This study contributes to knowledge and could serve as a guide for other study.

1.8 Scope of the Study

The scope of this research is focused on the Evaluation of Nigerian Maritime Entrepreneurship and Economic Growth using Five Stars Logistics in Lagos State as a case study.

1.9 Limitations of the Study

During the course of this study, many things militated against its completion, some of which are:

1. Time Constraint: The time frame given to accomplish this project was very short due to school academic calendar and it was carried out under pressure which made the researcher not to implement some necessary features.
2. Research material: availability of research material is a major setback to the scope of the study.
3. Frequent power failure: This made the researcher append more money on fuel to ensure sustainable power.
4. Financial Constraint: Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).

1.10 Definitions of Terms

The following terms were used in the course of this study:

Economy Growth:

This is when the real per capital income of a country increases over time.

Entrepreneur:

This is a person who starts or organizes a business that has a financial risk.

Impact:

It is defined as the action of one object coming forcibly into contact with another or a marked effect or influence.

Organization:

An organization or organization is an entity comprising multiple people, such as an institution or an association, which has a collective goal and is linked to an external environment

Creativity:

Creativity is a phenomenon whereby something new and somehow valuable is formed. The created item may be intangible or a physical object.

Innovation:

Innovation is often also viewed as the application of better solutions that meet new requirements, unarticulated needs, or existing market needs.

Entrepreneurial:

It is a person who organizes and manages any enterprise, especially a business, usually with considerable initiative and risk.