Business education has to do with the type of education that gives the individual what he needs to succeed in either a small scale or large scale business. This type of education can be formal or informal. Formal business education in Nigeria historically was not a government initiative but was introduced through the efforts of Nigerian entrepreneurs whose advocacy pushed the government to make it a part of our schools.
Business education enables one to know the business to venture on as well as how to make that business succeed. In Nigeria, business education exists in different forms around the country. Business education has to do with teaching the students the fundamentals of business, concepts, theories and business processes.
This topic is a vital part of general education process and it lays emphasis on skills to be implemented on office and business related occupations. Business education is made up of education for business administration, business management, and office occupations.
One feature of business education program is that its products can function in an independent manner either as self-employed or as employers of labor.
The scope of business education encompasses office environment and vocational practices, business understanding and vocational practices, teaching career and entrepreneurship. In the field of business education, it occurs at all levels and this includes primary, secondary, and higher education.
Objectives Of Business Education
- To give the necessary guidelines for starting a business: Business Education offers the recipient the necessary information and guidelines for starting a business. Starting a business involves certain measures which ought to be taken. Business education offers details on all types of business start-ups and how they can be advanced to reach their maximum potential.
- To give proper orientation in dealing with business risks: Businesses involve risks. Business education gives the receiver the necessary measures that can lead to the avoidance of risks and the best way to manage risks. Risk management is a vital part of every business and the more this area is properly taken care of, the more the business tends to flourish.
- To provide the necessary background for teaching business studies: Students who want to extend their teaching career in business training will find business education a preparatory tool necessary for them to advance their career. This is necessary before they go for further training.
- To develop the necessary skills for office occupation: Business education gives the receiver the necessary skills necessary to develop a decent office occupation. Office occupation is one of the topics in formal business education and this topic details the scope of office occupation.
- To promote national development: National development is promoted by business education as this type of education promotes national economic awareness and gives the necessary details needed to promote businesses thereby promoting the Nigerian economy. Business education facilitates job competence among Nigerians.
- Development Of Entrepreneurship: Business education enables the growth of entrepreneurship in the following ways:
- Identification of viable business opportunities: Business education enables the identification of viable business opportunities for entrepreneurs. This will enable them to see opportunities in very critical condition. It will help them to utilize SWOT (strength, weakness, opportunity and strength) in order to function well as entrepreneurs.
- Provision of skills for financial management: One of the integral aspects of business education is accounting education. This is necessary for the promotion of business success and accounting prudence. Improper keeping of records in business by small and medium scale entrepreneurs affect the growth of their businesses and also limit their ability to secure loans from banks. This helps the entrepreneur in terms of cost analysis, inventory control and profit determination.
- Utilization of proper marketing skills: One of the attributes of business education is that it assists the implementation of proper marketing skills. These marketing skills are necessary for the entrepreneurs to develop better management techniques necessary to develop their businesses. This happens this way because the knowledge of marketing will make entrepreneurs to use properly the four vital aspects of marketing which are; price, place, promotion and product. Business education will lead to the implementation of products that will thrive well in the market. This form of education will lead to the proper acceptability and pricing of a product by giving entrepreneurs the necessary skill to make the products available at the right place in the right time as well as using the appropriate techniques to encourage customers to buy the product.
- Business management skills: Management is an integral part of business education. There has to be proper management techniques among businesses in order to advance the businesses. Lack of proper management techniques degrades the potentials of a business. Entrepreneurs who exhibit proper managerial skills tend to expand the frontiers of their businesses. Business education gives the receivers what they need to effectively manage a business. In this way they are made better business managers that promote their businesses through the implementation of the best management skills.
Procedures For Promoting Business Education In Nigeria.
The following steps can be taken to promote business education in Nigeria. The steps are:
- Adequate funding should be made available for business education: The government, NGOs etc should make more funds available to promote business education in Nigeria. Schools will now utilize these funds for better business education in Nigeria.
- The Nigerian youths should be encouraged to study business education: The youths in Nigeria should be encouraged to study business education as this will help them to manage businesses more effectively in Nigeria.
- Use of effective business education agencies: Business education agencies like Small And Medium-scale Enterprise Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) and the National Directorate of Employment (NDE) should be encouraged. Such agencies have the capacity to impact effective business skills upon Nigerian entrepreneurs. More agencies for this function should be encouraged by the government.
- Use of effective business educators: The use of competent staff to handle business education in our schools should be encouraged. This will go a long way to increase the impact on those who participate in the study of this subject in schools.