Socio-Cultural and Demographic Dynamics in Sustainable Entrepreneurial Development in Nigeria

Abstract

Entrepreneurial development is now regarded as the magic bullet that can remedy some of the embedded socio-economic challenges facing the modern state. Poverty, unemployment, falling standards of living and dipping personal economies of citizens have conflated to raise the national temperature of various countries to uncomfortable levels as protests, youth restiveness, economic-related crimes and a militant and irascible citizenry have become common symptoms of an existing economic blight. Literature on entrepreneurship points to the positive effect of entrepreneurial activities on the civil population with greater impact on the vulnerable sectors. This has strengthened the argument for greater entrepreneurial culture in a developing country like Nigeria. Job creation, massive product development, strengthening of the macro economy through export of products and services, inter alia, are some of collateral benefits of entrepreneurial activities within the society. In achieving sustainable entrepreneurial development initiatives in Nigeria, actors within the policy, social and business ecologies must address the socio-cultural and demographic dynamics that could hamper an effective maturation of the entrepreneurial development process. Issues of institution building, creating the right environment for small- and medium-scale businesses and initiatives to thrive and a general paradigm shift towards citizen empowerment will help to overcome the hydra-headed challenges of gender bias, population explosion, poverty, corruption, unemployment, poor infrastructure, insecurity and leadership crisis, which are some of the banes that may tackle entrepreneurial development. Leaning on the State Theory’s position that development can be achieved through internal growth, this paper argues that for sustainable entrepreneurial development to happen in Nigeria, certain internal contradictions bordering on socio-cultural and demographic dynamics must be addressed.

Keywords: Socio-cultural dynamics, demographic factors, entrepreneurial development, Nigeria