Entrepreneurship and Post-Pandemic Future

A demoralizing effect on the enterprise is the cataclysm brought about by the spread of COVID-19. A survey of the information on the impact of COVID-19 on the entrepreneurship-based SME put forward that before it improves, the economic implications of this COVID-19 outbreak will deteriorate for entrepreneurship-based SMEs and their workforces. This article presents pragmatic and proactive strategies to resolve the uncertainties and threats that are especially predominant in the present enterprise setting and to assist in balancing its deleterious influences.

This chapter theoretically examined coronavirus (COVID-19) and entrepreneurship in Africa. Also, the challenges and opportunities of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) innovation were assessed. The researchers adopted a qualitative method to review secondary data, information from previous kinds of literature including pertinent internet sources and working papers. Similarly, the chapter considered an innovative-based perspective of entrepreneurship and explicates the emerging opportunities created by COVID-19. The chapter also analyzed the COVID-19 and its effect on entrepreneurship in Africa by identifying and discussing existing challenges caused by the pandemic. Furthermore, some information about the nature of COVID-19 and its effects in Africa were adequately evaluated. Gleaned evidence from literature revealed that there is a possibility that the unpremeditated damage to entrepreneurship in Africa as caused by the COVID-19 could be persistent. The chapter also showed that the emergence of the COVID-19 has threatened the survival of businesses especially SMEs, thereby increasing the level of unemployment across the African continent and has generated critical challenges for entrepreneurship development. Finally, the chapter will add to the evolving challenges and opportunities of entrepreneurship in Africa. However, entrepreneurs can build on the strengths of innovative activities to develop a survival mindset, develop financial resilience and adjust business archetypes to the realities of COVID-19 and post-COVID-19 era which in the short and long term can accentuate entrepreneurship development within African continent.

The global pandemic has been an issue of concern to every nation of the world. The effect of COVID-19 on entrepreneurial activities has engendered a lot of discussions in existing and ongoing literature. This chapter investigates the challenges, impact and opportunities available to social entrepreneurs in the Nigerian context. The study revealed the role of social entrepreneurs and COVID-19 pandemic incidence and effect in Nigeria. The state mechanism is deemed an accelerator and a stimulus needed to eventually steer investment and economy growth, taking into account the Nigerian social challenges complexities and dynamism; the challenges are too immense to be handled efficiently by the government. The idea of development in the Nigerian context remains an area of learning, which has evolved as a sub-set of entrepreneurship practices and theories. Therefore, it is recommended that the Nigerian government programmes be structured to build enabling environments to promote highly enthusiastic social entrepreneurs who are imaginative and revolutionary in contributing positively to achieve better socio-economic results while encouraging social entrepreneurs' emergence.

The need for continuous improvement in the quality of products and services calls for methodology and strategy that will enhance performance in businesses. When there is a reduction in waste during production, it will give room for a better product and services which at the same time improves the profits of the organization. On the other hand, technology is a means by which processes and skills are introduced into the production of goods and services to achieve organizational goals, and this has been proven effective during COVID-19 lockdown. Technology is more of a scientific investigation that brings transformation into business performance, mostly in the manufacturing industry. This study was ventilated through analysis of relevant themes and premised on the narrative discourse of the structures of the study. This chapter examined how Six Sigma, waste reduction methods and technology, brings change and success in the business performance in the manufacturing system. The chapter discusses the impact of technology and the application of Six Sigma in achieving sustainable business processes during COVID-19 in Nigeria's manufacturing system. The study concludes that Six Sigma is a veritable approach to elicit worthy results in any period especially during a pandemic when everything is no longer working perfectly. Six Sigma and disruptive technology have helped the majority of organizations to stay above board in accomplishing their business performance.

Social media came to the limelight in the wake of the early 2000s into the global space to foster interactions among individuals and groups of people. It has shown several positive sides for those who are far off to share vital information across the world, unlike yesteryears when communication seemed difficult for individuals in different locations. This study examines both the positive and adverse impacts of social media on Nigeria's socio-cultural space. It advances how Nigeria utilized social-media platforms during the pandemic and war situation. The study employed narrative discourse to demonstrate crisis communication patterns in Nigeria especially among millennial youths. The narrative discourse portends that there is an indication that social media is both a blessing and a curse to our nation. Often time, people communicate the wrong impression into the polity just to demonstrate their self-serving ideas. They overblow the incidence out of proportion and the majority of the receivers would fail to evaluate the source of the information, messages, and even pictures sent across social media. Most time photoshopped images are sent to prove negative points without having a recuse to the impact of such incidence in society. The chapter offers a vital expository on relevant communication approaches on social media to the audience that will not heat the polity. It examines effective communication strategies and stages of social media crisis management. This paper concludes that the negative effects which it has unleashed on Nigeria are more than its benefits, therefore, a curse rather than a blessing to Nigeria's socio-political and economic space.

Most aspects of brand loyalty rely heavily on brand awareness. However, the information processing of brand awareness in customers, which is significant in buying decisions or customers' feedback experiences, is still unknown in the available literature. This study investigates how dynamic brands awareness affect customers in buying what they buy and how they buy them. The current study's entire goal is to comprehend the phenomenon of customer preferences and choices in the Nigerian context. The study asserts that there is a need to provide critical information that will improve customers' hypotheses testing in making a choice and preferences in creating brand awareness. It is necessary for brand builders and marketers to achieve and maintain the ultimate level of awareness through great gift items, pricing tactics, sales promotion, and sponsorship of programmes and events creatively and consistently. Meaningful customer relationship management programmes and activities must be established to constantly improve brand awareness.

Nigeria, like any other country in the world, was overtaken by the coronavirus, a global pandemic that started as a local problem in China. The pandemic had a complex outlook, coming with threat to health and graduated to threat to the governance of the world community in all respects, including economy, social life and even politics. The threat to global health was a threat to which all nations have to respond, even when the infection level was quite low. The federal government in Nigeria responded in many ways in order to contain the pandemic. The federal government responded to the pandemic through presidential actions, institutional measure and support systems in order to contain the spread of the pandemic. These governance instruments have different outcomes in terms of the limitation of the spread of the pandemic, perception of the pandemic, changing attitudes in order to live with the pandemic and building resilience among the population. The objectives of this chapter are to trace the dynamics of the coronavirus pandemic in Nigeria, examine the executive actions to contain the pandemic, examine the institutional and legal instruments for the containment of the pandemic, to assess the medical management responses of the pandemic, relate the governance process to the outcome of the pandemic and draw lessons for the governance of future health disaster.

The unseen benefit of the COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria is that it presented an insight into the contributions of the manufacturing industry to the socio-economic development of the nation. During the pandemic, the unavailability of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) have demonstrated the low production capability of the Nigerian manufacturing industry to provide essential materials and equipment required by the health sector. This availability of these facilities is vital for the sustenance of public health and lives of frontline health workers. Consequently, this challenge resulted in an increase in infection and deaths of frontline health workers which could have minimized if there were adequate provision of PPE local production. Hence, this study postulates that the COVID-19 pandemic is an entrepreneurial opportunity in Nigeria, especially for the mass production of PPE to service the health sector of Nigeria and sub-Saharan Africa. The study therefore investigated the challenges of entrepreneurship in Nigeria's manufacturing industry and examined how the strategic partnership between educational institutions, corporate bodies and the government can be optimized. Utilizing a qualitative research methodology based on scholarly journals and interview sessions, the study revealed that Nigeria's manufacturing capability is low due to Nigeria's age-long protectionist tendency, lack of integration of entrepreneurship skill in the industry, inadequate knowledge of financial knowledge, lack of synergy in the industry, among others. The study recommended a strategic framework for Nigeria's manufacturing industry for the production of PPE in form of a helix model after an overhauling of the production process of the industry.

This chapter appraised customary tenancy and Post COVID-19 agricultural development in Nigeria. In doing this, it discussed customary tenancy as an incident of customary tenure and the impact of Land Use Act 1978 in its evolutionary trend as a sustainable means of accessing land for long term agricultural business in Nigeria. The study made use of socio-legal research methodology involving doctrinal research method and an analysis of social context for information gathering. The primary source of law included the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as altered); the Land Use Act 1978 and related statutes as well as judicial precedents. The secondary sources included books, journal articles, conference proceedings, magazines, newspapers and the internet. The outcome of the study indicated that customary tenancy was a recognized method of accessing land for agriculture on long term basis among many ethnic groups in Nigeria, including but are not limited to Yoruba of Southwest and the Igbo of Southwest, Nigeria. That the method was predominantly used for agricultural purposes, and in agricultural communities. Third, that the Land Use Act 1978 did not stop the customary land practice, but rather recognized and encouraged its use through customary right of occupancy. Fourth, customary tenancy was found to have promoted access to land resources and reduction of tension and bitter acrimonies which could have been attendant to request for land resources in rural communities. It was recommended that efforts should be made by Governors who are trustees under the LUA to use their powers in the interest of the people and that reforms be undertaken to resolve latent contradictions in the Act. It was concluded that customary tenancy should be harnessed for sustainable Post COVID – 19 land use in Nigeria.

The COVID-19 bubonic plague, ravaging and reoccurring in waves globally, has impacted all aspects of human lives including the understanding and practice in the marketing discipline. The situation has pushed human behavior to its fringes with measures such as complete and partial lockdown of communities, cities and countries enforced to mitigate spread. Hence, consumers appeared to have subliminally reviewed their priorities in life as evident in the buying of essentials, neighbourhood shopping and the shift from offline to online buying behavior. Prior to the emergence of the viral disease, there has been a gradual change in consumer behavior, with respect to buying practices, and firm behavior with respect to distribution and supply chain management; largely induced by advances in technology and e-commerce. However, the COVID-19 pandemic appears to have raised the bar and accelerated behavioral change in consumers and marketing organizations. With the attendant economic instability, consumers and organizations are experiencing behavioral transformation in response to the perceived vanities of life, changes in market dynamics, market -competitiveness, and the larger economic indices. In addition, there has been observable decline in capacity utilization and employee retention in response to the forced drop in demand and corresponding supply. This book chapter, with the aid of an in-depth review of literature, discusses the effects of COVID-19 on consumer and firm behavior with emphasis on the consequences of the sustained economic disruption for marketing strategies and policies. This was hinged on the relativity of business down cycles to the present pandemic in providing a basis for future post-COVID-19 crisis studies in order to understand consumer sentiments to crisis and its implications in the marketing discipline.

This study examined public knowledge and compliance with infectious disease preventive measures using COVID-19 as a case study. Exploratory research design was employed to collect primary qualitative data from 23 market-involved individuals through the use of in-depth interviews. Responses from the interviewees were audio-recorded, transcribed and categorised into themes before content analysis was used to decrypt fundamental cognitive processes and patterns. Results showed good public knowledge of the infectious disease signs and symptoms, mode of transmission as well as prevention. However, knowledge of how and why some of these preventive measures should be engaged was inadequate or lacking. Findings further showed knowledge-praxis gaps as expressed in the non-observance of face mask directives, disregarding social distancing requirements, and non-compliance to handwashing obligations. Lastly, results showed that observed preventive inactions were reportedly rooted in scarcity of proximate infectious disease cases, public distrust in government, leadership exemplar deficit, individual's poor responsibility mentality, and difficulties in adapting to preventive and control guidelines. Knowledge of this study is most beneficial to market-involved individuals affected by infectious disease policies. This empirical study has helped to unveil the need to bridge knowledge-praxis gap in order to curtail the spread of any infectious disease especially in market areas. The study concluded that unless health communication of infectious disease is adequately and properly disseminated, knowledge-praxis gaps remains inevitable. The need for detailed dissemination of health information, cum intervention strategies that bridge the observed knowledge-compliance gaps is highly imperative in a progressive and dynamic society.