GASPRO International Journal of Eminent Scholars

                                                                            ABSTRACT

The aim of the study was to investigate the managerial skill required of business education undergraduate for the establishment of small and medium scale enterprises in Rivers State. Two specific objectives were identified, two research questions were raised and two hypotheses was formulated to guide the study. The study adopted a descriptive survey research design and was carried out in Rivers State of Nigeria. The population of the study was 643 level 300 undergraduates from which 234 were sampled using the Kreyice and Morgan Model sample size table recommendation. The undergraduates were grouped into male and female. The instrument for data collection was developed by the researcher which is titled: Managerial Skills for Establishment of Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (MSESMSE). The instrument was face validated by the three research experts from Ignatius Ajuru University of Education. The reliability of the instrument was obtained using Pearson Product Moment Correlation which yielded reliability co-efficient of 0.80. Out of 234 copies of questionnaire distributed 234 were returned with valid data, mean statistics was used to answer the research questions and t-test used to test the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The study revealed from the hypotheses that planning skills and organizing skills, are required in a high extent by undergraduates of business education for the establishment of small and medium scale enterprises in Rivers State. It was recommended that greater attention should be focused on teaching business education student practical lessons that would make them become self-employed upon graduation rather than learning for the sake of passing examination.

KEYWORDS: Planning Skills, Organizing Skills and Medium Scale Enterprises.