Indigenious Entrepreneurship Behaviourand and Local Economic Development of Otuke Community

Purpose: The study examines the link between indigenous entrepreneurial behaviour and local economic development of Otueke community. The specific objectives were to examine the extent to which indigenes in Otuoke are exploiting their entrepreneurial environment; ascertain the factors militating against the involvement of indigenes of Otuoke from capitalizing on their entrepreneurial environment; examine how indigenous entrepreneurship behaviour leads to sustainable socio-economic development. Design/methodology/approach: The study adopted cross sectional survey design. The study employed a census of 200 entrepreneurial firms in Otuoke community. The data for the study were collected through the distribution of structured questionnaire. The data collected were analysed using percentage and frequency distribution, mean and standard deviation and Chi-Square test of significance. Findings: The results indicated that there was a significant difference between indigenes and non-indigenes with regards to entrepreneurship. The second finding demonstrated that inaccessibility to finance and ignorance among others act as impediments to indigenes from taking advantage of their environment. Further, the result indicated that entrepreneurship behaviour contributed to socio-economic development of the local community. Practical implications: In line with the findings, we recommended among others that relevant agencies of government should fashion out community-based entrepreneurial policy regimes to support local communities and rural indigenous entrepreneurship to foster sustainable socio-economic development. Paper type: Research paper