BUSINESS MENTORSHIP AND ENTREPRENEURIAL SUCCESS: A STUDY OF SMALL-SCALE ENTERPRISES IN ILORIN METROPOLIS
Keywords:
Business mentorship, entrepreneurial success, sustainability, profitabilityAbstract
Small-scale enterprises in Nigeria have been recognized to often rely on business mentorship to boost performance. Yet, the extent to which aspects such as mentorship engagement level, quality of guidance and access to mentorship network contributes to entrepreneurial success remained underexplored. This leads the current study to purposely examine the effect of business mentorship on entrepreneurial success of 100 small-scale enterprises owners in Ilorin Metropolis using structured questionnaire with a descriptive survey design. Analyzing the data using regression in SPSS Version 25, the results revealed that mentorship engagement level significantly enhanced business growth rate. Also, mentor guidance quality significantly improved business sustainability, and likewise access to a mentor’s network had a partial effect on profitability. The study concludes that active engagement, high-quality guidance, and strategic network access are good drivers of entrepreneurial success. Hence, the study recommends small-scale enterprise owners to promote structured mentorship programs that emphasize regular interaction, clear guidance, and targeted networking opportunities to their mentees to maximize business outcomes.
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