Perceived entrepreneurial competencies of undergraduates and self-employment creation after graduation: implications for youth policy in Ghana

Abstract

Unemployment among the youth between the ages of 18 to 35 years is a major developmental challenge as it accounts for over 45% of the unemployed in Ghana. Entrepreneurial development has been identified by the Ghana National Youth Policy as one of the panaceas to youth unemployment in Ghana. The higher educational institutions are responding to youth unemployment through the development of entrepreneurial spirit and competencies in the curricula for prospective graduate. The study used a content-validated questionnaire to survey 160 undergraduate students who had undergone various courses in entrepreneurship and agribusiness in the University of Cape Coast, Ghana. This was to identify the relationship between the perceived improvement in the level of entrepreneurial competencies and willingness of students to start own business after graduation. The SPSS and STATA softwares were respectively used to generate descriptive statistics and binary logistic regression to describe the variables and relationships. The Cronbach's alpha coefficient of 0.89 on the likert-type scale measured indicated that the questionnaire was reliable. The results from the study showed that majority of the respondents (62%) were willing to start the own businesses after graduation. Generally, the perceived overall entrepreneurial competencies of students were high. Specifically, students possessed high entrepreneurial competencies in areas such as self confidence, self discipline, the desire to start business, responsibility, problem solving ability and perseverance. Results from the logistic regression showed that, of the 20 entrepreneurial competency areas studied, only four namely the desire to start own business, .generosity, good people judgment and knowledge on agribusiness were the significant predictors of the willingness of students to start own business after graduation. The study recommends among others, the development of business incubators and apprenticeship schemes for graduates to reduce youth unemployment since the desire to start own business is high. Moreover, the high risk involved in starting own businesses in Ghana should be minimized through the enforcement of laws governing business operations and provision of technical and financial supports to graduates