Article Gold Open Access 2025

Sustainability and Determinants of Entrepreneurship Propensity Among Young Graduates in Nigeria

SAGE Open
Journal · Vol. 15 · Issue 1
Abstract

Creating and Sustaining entrepreneurship inclination among young and educated people are important pillars for building strong and prosperous economy. Studies have shown consistent improvement in entrepreneurship interest and practices among Nigerian undergraduates since the introduction of entrepreneurship education in 2006. However, it remains unclear whether they are able to sustain the interest after graduation and more importantly whether entrepreneurial interest is actually translated to self-employment. This study examines entrepreneurial inclination and practice among fresh graduates using a large-scale cross-sectional data collected through a self-reported validated structured questionnaire. The results showed higher entrepreneurial intention among the graduates than in previous datasets. Further analysis revealed that parent’s business experience, apprenticeship, having a business plan, and entrepreneurship education are positive significant factors influencing entrepreneurship activities among the graduates. Expectedly, age of the graduates is also found to be negatively significant to their entrepreneurial inclination, while gender and marital status are not significant. The study concludes with appropriate managerial and policy implications and suggests measures to sustain and strengthen entrepreneurship ecosystems in the country. © The Author(s) 2025.

Keywords

Author Keywords

Entrepreneurship education Sustainability SDGs employment graduates

Index Keywords

Author Affiliations
North-West University, Potchefstroom, North West, South Africa, National Centre for Technology Management, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ife, Ogun, Nigeria
North-West University, Potchefstroom, North West, South Africa
Funding & Acknowledgements
Stanford University, SU
This study has also reinforced that entrepreneurship education and parent\u2019s business experience have huge influence on EI and EP (, ; ; ; Olofinyehun et al., 2018; ). The significance of entrepreneurship education indicates that the program is, at least, stimulating and sustaining entrepreneurship among students and graduates. The main improvement to the program in school is the provision of technology and business incubation facilities, innovation labs, hubs, and co-working spaces where the students can practice before graduation. For instance, the HP computer was developed by students and a professor in a garage after the students graduated from Stanford University, using a fellowship fund. This shows that the provision of take-off grants for students who have sound business proposals and providing them with facilities to operate from could create multi-billion-dollar business in the future.
References 10 References
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