EXPLORATORY STUDY ON THE CHARACTERISTICS AND CHALLENGES OF STARTINGA SMALL BUSINESS BY GRADUATES OF BUSINESS EDUCATION PROGRAMMES IN OYOSTATE

Abstract

Literatures have widely acknowledged that there is more closure of small businesses in Oyo state than
their birth by business education graduates, and very little empirical research has been conducted to
reveal the true causes of this phenomenon. As a result, this study investigates the characteristics and
challenges of establishing small businesses by business education graduates in Oyo state in an exploratory
manner. The study was guided by three research questions and three hypotheses. The study used a
descriptive survey design. The study's population consists of all business education graduates from Oyo
state's colleges of education 2017/2018 to 2020/2021 academic session totaling 2,559. 255 of them were
chosen randomly. A 21-item questionnaire served as the data collection instrument. The instrument was
validated by two business education experts and received a reliability coefficient of 0.85 using the
Cronbach Alpha Procedure. For the research questions, data were analyzed using mean and standard
deviation, while the t-test was used to test hypotheses at the 0.05 level of significance. The findings of this
study, graduates of both universities and colleges of education do not differ in their mean ratings of the
characteristics and challenges confronting small business owners in Oyo state. Recommendations were
made that, among other things, the government establish a community bank where university and college
of education business education graduates can borrow without difficulty