Journal of Emerging Trends in Economics and Management Sciences: Home

Article Title:
Effectiveness of Millennium Development Goal Programmes on Entrepreneurial Development: An Appraisal of the Nigerian Experience
by Onaolapo, Abdurahmon. A and Oladejo, Moruf. O

Abstract:
Towards the close of the last century, world leaders from both developed and developing nations met in order to evaluate progress made in social, economic and political dimensions of national and international development, and to strategize for improvements in the twenty-first century. The analysis of realities on the ground indicates that many United Nations resolutions and developmental targets had remained elusive while some important projects and programmes are either unimplemented or they could not yield the anticipated outcomes. The fact is that the gap between the developed and underdeveloped countries was widening rather than closing up. The interactions, awareness and negotiations led to the United Nations establishing the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to guide plans and programmes of nations and development partners. The year 2015 was chosen as an important milestone at which point a comprehensive assessment of goal achievements would be made. A link between the MDGs programmes and entrepreneurship development, is worthy of assessment. The paper examines the direct influence of the Nigerian MDGs programmes on entrepreneurship development, specifically the growth in the number of beneficiary SMEs since 2001 to date. Using mean score analysis and Z-score statistics to test the stated hypotheses our empirical analysis suggests that the existence of SMEDAN has a significant impact on small scale businesses financing and entrepreneurship development in Nigeria and if the programme is seriously pursued it is expected to influence the attainment of MDG relating to poverty eradication and sustainable development.

Keywords: millennium development goals, entrepreneurship, SMEs, entrepreneurial development, SMEDAN

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