Business Mentoring: Panacea to sustainable entrepreneurship in South-East Nigeria

Business mentoring is the process of ensuring the survival of mentee enterprises by the mentor. The study investigated mentorship in business as a panacea to entrepreneurship sustainability in Nigeria South-East zone. A survey was employed as the study design. The study was restricted to the commercial centres of the states in Nigeria south-east zone. 10,887 registered small-scale companies (Aba 3062, Abakaliki 1489, Enugu 1516, Onitsha 3126, and Owerri 1694) make up the study population. Using Yamane's (1967) statistical formula 386, the sample size was calculated. Bowley's(1926) allocation formula was used to proportionally distribute the sample size (Aba 108, Abakaliki 53, Enugu 54, Onitsha 111, and Owerri 60). A systematic, self-administered questionnaire was used to gather data. The hypothesis was tested using multiple regressions. With p-values below 0.05 significance, and positive t-values (t = 9.133), the test hypotheses demonstrated that apprenticeship has a significant and beneficial impact on sustainable entrepreneurship. In contrast, the p-value is more than 0.05 and the t-values are positive (t = 1.634), indicating a weak but positive association between business networking and sustained entrepreneurship. According to the study's findings, young business owners need to find a mentor to help them hone their abilities and expertise in a given industry.