Novice entrepreneurs' experiences with business coaching: the case of Nigeria

Abstract

Novice entrepreneurs in Nigeria face the risk of failure if they fail to engage the services of a business coach during the start-up stages of the business as they may not have the requisite managerial and technical skills to sustain the venture. This qualitative multiple case study described and documented the perceptions and experiences of novice entrepreneurs in Nigeria regarding business coaching at the start-up stages of their entrepreneurial venture. Seven owners of small businesses registered in Nigeria who had undergone business coaching during the start-up stages of their businesses were selected for this research. The findings underline that for a coaching programme to be successful, the structure of the programme, quality and experience of the coaches, duration and frequency of coach-protege meetings, nature of the coach-protege relationship, and desire and commitment of the proteges must be appropriate.