FINANCIAL DIVERSIFICATION AS A PREDICTOR OF ENTREPRENEURIAL SUCCESS AMONG DIGITAL SMALL-SCALE BUSINESS ENTERPRISES IN ILORIN, KWARA STATE
Abstract
Small businesses are essential to economic growth because they reduce poverty, create jobs and foster innovation. In nations such as Nigeria, small-scale businesses contribute significantly to employment and GDP; but their performance and survival rates remain relatively low. Therefore, the present research attempts to investigate financial diversification as a predictor of entrepreneurial success among digital small-scale business enterprises in Ilorin. The study raised three specific purposes, two research questions and one null hypothesis, which was formulated and tested at the 0.05 level of significance. The study adopted a descriptive survey research design. The population of this study comprises all digital small-scale business enterprises in Ilorin. The accidental sampling technique was used to select 100 respondents out of an unknown total population. The research instrument for the study comprised the financial diversification questionnaire (FDQ) and entrepreneurial success questionnaire (ESQ), which were validated by three research experts, including a test and measurement expert. A pilot study was carried out in Offa and the responses were analyzed using the Cronbach Alpha method, which yielded reliability co-efficients of 0.68 and 0.74 respectively. The findings of the study show that financial diversification predicts entrepreneurial success. Therefore, the study recommended, among others, that dependence on a single financial source may expose small enterprises to greater financial risk, whereas access to multiple appropriate sources can provide flexibility in financing working capital, business expansion and unexpected financial needs. Financial diversification may consequently enhance the capacity of small-scale enterprises to survive financial shocks and achieve entrepreneurial success.
Keywords: Financial Diversification, Entrepreneurial Success, Digital Small-Scale Enterprise
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