Leveraging E-Commerce and Entrepreneurship Pathway among Unemployed Graduates in Rivers State Nigeria

This paper examined the impact of leveraging on e-commerce as a pathway to entrepreneurship among unemployed graduates in Rivers state Nigeria. The objectives of the study were as follows; to examine the relationship between e-tailing and venture opportunity identification, to ascertain the relationship between e-tailing and new venture lunch, to examine the relationship between e-hailing and venture opportunity identification, ascertain the relationship between e-hailing and new venture lunch. Structured questionnaires were used to collect data from graduates who engage in e-commerce activities. Both primary and secondary sources of data were used. The study population were 700, Taro Yamani was used to determine a sample size of 400 from three LGA (Obio-Akpo, Ikwerre and Port Harcourt) in Rivers state Nigeria. The copies of questionnaires returned were 370, afterwards Pearson’s Product Moment Correlation Coefficient was used for the determining validation and the reliability of the instrument at 0.75. Exploratory research design was adopted for the study. SPSS Version 20.0 was used to analyze the retrieved questionnaires. From the analyses, the study found out that leveraging on e-commerce has significantly impacted on entrepreneurship pathway among unemployed graduates in Rivers state Nigeria. The study recommended that unemployed graduates in Rivers state should stop waiting for white collar jobs instead they should consider becoming entrepreneurs by leveraging on e-commerce opportunities such as e-tailing and e-hailing, it is essential for unemployed graduates to acquire the required digital skills to enable them take advantage of these opportunities posed by e-commerce also, both Federal and State government should endeavor to establish youth development training centers that will help train unemployed graduates on ICT and entrepreneurial skills.