The Effects Of Entrepreneurial Characteristics On Business Performance
[A CASE STUDY OF APEX PAINT LTD]

 Entrepreneurship, both technical and commercial, is the driving element behind organization. He further argue that the skills associated particularly with technical entrepreneurship are rare and limited in supply and that the ability of entrepreneurs are so great and so numerous that very few people that exhibit them all in a very high degree. Another research carry out by Penrose (2006) posit that entrepreneurship, particularly technical entrepreneurial activity, involves identifying opportunities within the economics system, filling market deficiency through input – completing activities including the process of identifying, developing and bringing a vision to life. This vision may an innovative idea, an opportunity or a better way of doing something. The end result of this process is the creation of a new venture the expansion of an existing one carried out under condition of risks and considerable uncertainty (Meyer et.al, 1976). Therefore, in recognition of the considerable risk and uncertainty with entrepreneurship, Afonja (1999) made a clear distinction between technical entrepreneurship and commercial enterprenuship. The former involves product manufacture or the provision of technical service while the letter involves trading, buying and selling or provision of non – technical services. The prerequisites for success and risk factors involved differ significantly for the two types of entrepreneurship.
Therefore, the focus of this study is on the effect of technical entrepreneurial characteristics on the performance of small industry manufacturing operators in the food, textiles, and wood processing and fabricated metal products all of which are generally important in the industrialization of a developing economy such as Nigeria.
2.1.2    The Characteristic of an Entrepreneurship
Personality attributes have been studied extensively and a wide range of tests has been developed to identify and even measure them. Such testing, termed “psychometric testing” has become common place and is now standard part of the interview process with many enterprises. The psychometric testing revealed many varying characteristics from an entrepreneur to another. Any attempt to describe entrepreneur characteristics against only one dimension would be inadequate. To give a holistic view, the characteristics of entrepreneur as reported by scholars and researchers of different disciplines are discussed below (Egbe, 2006).
2.2    Need for Achievement
McClelland work on the need for achievement identified psychological characteristics present in entrepreneurs. He specified three attributes from his overall theory of need for achievement as characteristics of entrepreneur
    Individual responsibility for solving problems, settings goals and reaching these goals through their own efforts.
    Moderate risk taking as a function of skill, not chance; and
    Knowledge of result of decision task accomplishment. Since he is result oriented means that he must always set clear and measurable goals.
 A result and action oriented entrepreneur must also, therefore, be goal oriented. He set goals that are high, challenging and difficult but realistic and attainable. After setting the goals and objectives, he then he determined to know the result of his efforts in achievement the set targets. Bearing in mind the goals set, he persists even in the face of adversity and difficulty to achieve these goals. He is preservers, determine and persistent to ensure that his objectives are met. (Obodoechi, 2007). The entrepreneur should define the goal he set for himself in terms of resources, time frame and measurement .for instance , for an entrepreneur to say, `I want to make a profit` this goal is not define in terms of resources, timeframe and not measurable as such. Making profit in any business I a relative term, that involve ambiguity. An entrepreneur should set a goal like this, `I want to make a profit of N10 million, at the end of financial year.
2.3    Risk taking
Virtually all – recent definition of entrepreneurs mention a risk taking component. Risk – taking, whether financial, social, or psychological is a part of the entrepreneurial process. An entrepreneur ought not to be a risk averse or a risk neutral; he must be a risk lover. An entrepreneur before venturing into any venture, he tries to calculate the risk involved. After consideration the risk involved, he weighs his personal capabilities (talent, skill, abilities, experience, technological know - how, etc.) against the risk. If his personal capabilities can not counter the risk identified then the venture to the entrepreneur (Egbe, 2006). There should be a trade – off between risk and return. If the risk out weights the return, the venture is a high – risk venture. But in most cases the level of risk commensurate with the level of return, such a risk is calculated which entrepreneur can take.
The entrepreneur is not afraid of failure once he has made up his mind on the degree of risk to accommodate. He takes full responsibility on the outcome. Risk taking by the entrepreneur can be influenced by internal locus of control. This is because some opportunities are position in success and failure (Basheer, 2005).