The Venturesome Poor and Entrepreneurial Activity in Nigeria

Abstract

Based on a cross-sectional study using a data set of 77,400 households in 37 regions of Nigeria, the authors examine how the ability of the poor to use information and communication technology-based products (their ‘venturesomeness’) influences the location of entrepreneurial firms in urban and rural regions. They investigate in particular the role of human capital in mediating the relationship between such venturesome consumption and the location of entrepreneurial firms. They test three sets of hypotheses to examine this relationship using multiple regression analyses, bivariate correlations and t-tests. The authors find that the use of information and communication technology by both the urban and rural poor is significantly linked to the location of entrepreneurial firms. While human capital mediates this relationship with regard to the poor in urban areas, the same is not the case for the rural poor. Implications are drawn for theory, practice and policy.