EVALUATION OF ENTREPRENEURIAL SKILLS REQUIRED BY POLYTECHNIC OFFICE TECHNOLOGY AND MANAGEMENT (OTM) GRADUATES FOR MANAGING SMALL SCALE BUSINESS ENTERPRISES IN DELTA STATE

This research evaluated the entrepreneurial skills required by polytechnic office technology and management (OTM) graduates for manning small scale business enterprises in delta state. Three research questions and 3 hypotheses guided the study. The study covers Delta State in Nigeria. Relevant literatures were reviewed. The descriptive survey design was used for the study. The population of the study comprised of 145 lecturers in Department of Office Technology and Management and lecturers in the Centre for Entrepreneurial Centre in the 3 state polytechnics in Delta State. The entire population was used as the sample because of its manageable size. The instrument for data collection was a structured questionnaire validated by two experts in the Department of Office Technology and Management, Delta State Polytechnic, Ogwashi-Uku. The questionnaire was pilot tested on 10 (ten) Office Technology and Management (OTM) lecturers (n=15) in Edo State Polytechnic, Usen, to determine the internal consistency of the questionnaire. A Cronbach Coefficient Alpha test was used to determine the internal consistency of the questionnaire. A total reliability coefficient of 0.79 was obtained for the instrument thus making the instrument reliable. The mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions while t-test was used to test the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. Finding and conclusion were made. Based on the findings, it was recommended amongst others that governments should help package the identified entrepreneurial skills into teachable programmes for training graduates for entrepreneurship development in the Nigerian economy.