BUSINESS INCUBATION CENTRES AND SELF-EMPLOYMENT SUCCESS OF UNIVERSITY BUSINESS EDUCATION GRADUATES IN RIVERS STATE

Abstract

The study examined the impact of Business Incubation Centres on self-employment success of University Business Education graduates in Rivers State. Two research questions were raised and two hypotheses were formulated. A descriptive survey research design was adopted for the study. There was no sample nor sampling techniques due to the manageable size of the respondents. The instrument used to generate data for the study was a researcher’s structured questionnaire titled “Business Incubation Centres on self-employment success of University Business Education graduates (BICOSESUBEG) The instrument was structured in a 4-point rating scale and subjected to validation by three experts that is two Business Educators and one Psychometrician. Out of the 233 copies of the instrument distributed 211 that were properly filled were retrieved and used for data analysis. The research questions and hypotheses were answered and tested with the use of Mean and standard deviation and Analysis of Variance respectively to ascertain Business incubation centres’ impact on self-employment success of university Business Education graduates. Based on the analysis, the study revealed that mentorship and networking in Business incubation centre, enhance and have significant impact on self-employment success of university Business Education graduate in Rivers State to a moderate extent. The null hypothesis (H01) was rejected because the result indicated that graduates mentored in business incubation centres report high levels of self-employment success than those not mentored meaning that significant difference exist. Hypotheses (H02) which states that University Business Education graduates who networked in Business Incubation Centres does not differ significantly in self-employment success than those who did not network was retained. This means that there is no significant difference between graduates who networked and those that did not network. It was recommended among others that government, Administrators, and other stakeholders should provide more Business incubation centres to mentor university Business Education graduates and should also provide facilities that will encourage networking.