Harnessing Social Media for Nascent Agribusiness Entrepreneurs in a Peri-Urban Community in Nigeria: Implications for Business Performance

This paper examines how the use of social media impacts the performance of businesses among new agriculture entrepreneurs in a peri-urban neighbourhood in southwestern Nigeria. The survey, conducted between May and July 2024, involved 100 people who began their own agribusiness during the last five years and are still running it. A multi-stage sampling process was employed. The research methodology was cross-sectional, and data were collected using a structured questionnaire. Business performance was measured as a composite of growth, profit and sustainability indicators. The Chi-square test and multiple linear regression were applied. The results showed that the majority (52%) of respondents agreed that social media use improves agricultural performance. At the bivariate level of analysis, it was found that social media usage (p = 0.001) and marital status (p = 0.01) have a significant relationship with opportunity identification, while social media usage (p = 0.002) has a strong association with business performance. We determined that social media use strongly predicts business performance (Coef = 0.2089, p = 0.034) after accounting for other important independent variables. The study indicated that improving agribusiness performance among nascent entrepreneurs in peri-urban settings can be achieved by focusing efforts on increasing digital inclusion, particularly social media use, among the population.