Up to 86 per cent of 1,000 Nigerians questioned prefer to run their own business rather than work for a company, according to a survey conducted by Djembe Communications in conjunction with Forbes Insights on entrepreneurship and job creation.
Some 40 per cent agreed that entrepreneurs and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) will be the top drivers of job creation by 2020.
Entrepreneurs are seen as major economic advancers in creating jobs and introducing innovation in other part of the world.
A total 4,000 people aged 16 to 40 in Angola, Ghana, Mozambique, and Nigeria participated in the research, which showed that Nigerians are the most pro-enterprise compared to the other countries.
There is also a widespread belief that entrepreneurs play a key role in advancing the economy in job creation (59 per cent) and introducing innovative products and services (38 per cent).
The survey, titled “Job Creation in sub-Saharan Africa: Entrepreneurs. Governments, Innovation”, was unveiled in Lagos.
Those who discussed the report at the event included Bola Adesola (managing director and chief executive officer, Standard Chartered Bank), Henry Erimodafe (executive director, head UBS Nigeria representative office), Tani Fafunwa (CEO, Resourcery), and Adenike Ogunlesi (founder and CEO, Ruff ‘n’ Tumble).
The report showed that young Nigerians have a highly positive outlook on the impact of entrepreneurship on their country’s future economic growth and job creation efforts.
Up to 40 per cent of those interviewed in Nigeria believe that entrepreneurs and SMEs will be the top driver of job creation in the next five years, ahead of technology (39 per cent) and government policies and programmes (37 per cent).
“Nigerians today appreciate entrepreneurs as drivers of the new economy, which is a strong indicator that we are ready to move on from our dependence on the oil sector.
“This is the time for Nigeria’s public and private sectors to establish solid institutional frameworks that will boost SMES and promote entrepreneurship,” said Djembe Communications Country Manager in Nigeria, Onome Okwah.
The top three sectors Nigerians expect will create the most entrepreneurs over the next five years are agriculture and agribusiness (58 per cent), information and communications technology (39 per cent), and manufacturing (38 per cent).
These findings strongly reflect the country’s current landscape in which agriculture is a major employer and driver of economic growth.
They also point towards the increasing scope for adding to the value chain and creating jobs through integration with other sectors.