E-BUSINESS AND E-COMMERCE: THE CHALLENGES TO ENTREPRENEURS IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES. THE CASE OF COMMERCIAL CITY OF KANO-NIGERIA.

KABIR MUSA SHUAIB

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CITATION: Shuaib, K. M. E-business and E-commerce: The Challenges to Entrepreneurs in Developing Countries. The Case of Commercial City of Kano-Nigeria. International Journal of Arts and Entrepreneurship 4 (11), 11-32.

Being a paper presented at IJSSE 5th International Interdisciplinary Conference with Theme: "Beyond 2030 - Digital Entrepreneurship and Organizations of the Future". Held at Kenya School of Monetary Studies Campus, Nairobi – Kenya. 4^th – 6^th November, 2015

ABSTRACT

Information and communication technology (ICT) and digital markets pose serious challenges to small scale entrepreneurs in less developed countries like Nigeria. This study critically examined the challenges of e-business and e-commerce to teeming entrepreneurs in the commercial city of Kano where considerable percentage of entrepreneurs are either illiterates or lack knowledge of computer or internet access. E-business refers to the practice of using ICTs to conduct business or facilitate improved business activities and processes, while e-commerce describes the buying and selling of products, services…electronically. The use of other electronic means of transactions are affecting commercial activities in developing economies like Nigeria. Entrepreneurs finds it difficult to cope with new innovations in the use of ICT, such as e-payment, cashless policy, e-marketing and digital markets. The study used secondary data to review the works done in similar areas. Primary data was collected through personal interview with entrepreneurs from seven popular markets around Kano metropolis which was coded and analyzed using thematic synthesis analysis. 400 entrepreneurs were used as sample size for the study. Major findings reveals that: (i) considerable percentage of the entrepreneurs have low level of formal education which affects them from conducting business online (ii) majority of entrepreneurs around Kano metropolitan markets are not computer literate and lacks internet access due to high cost as well as erratic network connectivity (iii) the cashless policy also affects their business transaction. Finally, the study recommends: that, government should provide necessary infrastructures for telecommunication operators to provide internet access at affordable rate; that, entrepreneurs cooperative associations should organize training to sensitize their members on e-commerce and digital markets. These will no doubt improve the entrepreneurs’ capacity to conform to the world web trend for better efficiency.

Key words: E-business, E-commerce, Information and Communication Technology (ICT), Entrepreneurship, Internet and developing countries.

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