CAPACITY BUILDING OF YOUTHS THROUGH ENTREPRENEURIAL SKILLS ACQUISITION FOR GREEN ECONOMY

Abstract

The study investigated the “Capacity Building of Youths on Entrepreneurship Skills Acquisition for Green Economy”.  Three research questions and three null hypotheses guided the study. A cross sectional survey design was adopted for this study. The population of the study comprised all the 612 participants from 10 Business Training Centres in the four clans of Uyo, Akwa Ibom State to include 100 instructors and 512 trainees. The sample of this study comprised 242 participants to include 80 instructors and 224 trainees drawn from the four clans in Uyo and was statistically determined by Taro Yamane sampling technique. The researcher-made structured questionnaire with 15 items which was titled: “Capacity Building of Youths through Entrepreneurship Skills Acquisition for Green Economy Questionnaire (CBYESAGEQ)” was used for data collection. The research instrument was face validated by three entrepreneurial experts in Business Training Centres in Uyo. The internal consistency of the instrument was determined using Cronbach Alpha Reliability Coefficient with the coefficient index obtained was of .87. The data collected were analyzed using independent t-test was used to test the null hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. Based on the findings of this study, it was concluded that there is need gap in technical skills, managerial skills and ICT skills for green economy. Youths need more training to have capacity for green economy. It was recommended among others that the Ministry of Commerce and Industry should embark on capacity building, continual training, and education on life skills for youths, which should include business management skills, technical skills, marketing competencies, and ICT. Such capabilities would enable the enterprises founded and run by these recipients to prosper even in difficult economic times.