Skilled Hands in Turbulent Winds: Entrepreneurial Skills and New Venture Performance in Conflict-Ridden Northern Nigeria

This paper investigated the relationship between entrepreneurial training, entrepreneurial skills and new venture performance in Northern Nigeria where, in recent years, Boko Haram terrorist insurgency has precipitated a severe humanitarian crisis and a high level of disruption to economic activities. The study is based on new survey data from a representative sample of 331 undergraduate entrepreneurs, analysed using Structural Equation Modelling and Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression. The results show that there is significant impact of entrepreneurship education on business performance partially mediated by entrepreneurial skills. The findings of this study also show that entrepreneurial skills are a significant moderator of the relationship between perceived environmental turbulence and new venture performance. These suggest that enhanced skills make a difference on business survival and performance amid the uncertainty, market disruption, and physical danger precipitated by the insurgency. Finally, the paper highlights the need for entrepreneurship education programmes to be designed around specific skills requirements and the peculiarities of the local contexts.