ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCY REQUIRED BY BUSINESS EDUCATION STUDENT IN ESTABLISHING SMALL AND MEDIUM SCALE VENTURES IN ZAMBIA. A CASE STUDY OF CHALIMBANA UNIVERSITY

Abstract

The study investigated perceived entrepreneurship competencies required by business education students for establishing small-scale ventures at chalimbana university. Descriptive survey research design was employed for the survey. A total of 30 comprising business education in at chalimbana university made up the population for the study. Two research questions and three null hypotheses guide the conduct of the study. The instrument used for data collection was a questionnaire with Cronbach reliability coefficient of 0.86. The method used for analyzing the data collected for the study was mean and standard deviation for the research questions and t-test was used to test the null hypotheses at the 0.05 level of significance. The result of the data collected and analyzed indicated that managerial skill, Information and communication technology skills and marketing skills are required by business education students in establishing small-scale venture as perceived by business education students and entrepreneurs. The result of the test of the null hypothesis showed significant difference in the mean rating of students and entrepreneurs. It was concluded that entrepreneurial skills are highly required for establishing small-scale ventures. It was recommended among others that undergraduates in Business education should strive towards skill acquisition because success and progress in the world of work and becoming self- employed, self-reliant is dependent on the skills and abilities possessed.