EFFECT OF ENTREPRENEURIAL ORIENTATION ON SMES INNOVATION A STUDY OF AGRICULTURAL SMES IN ABEOKUTA

The disposition of entrepreneurial orientation or its tendency to appeal to proactiveness, innovativeness, risk taking, autonomy, and competitiveness, has recently been discovered to be major drivers of innovation, especially in the environment marked by constant change in the business domain. How being entrepreneurial and innovative go together for small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) have continued to attract scholarly attention. This study investigated how being entrepreneurial affects farming SMEs in Abeokuta, Ogun State, with a view to underscoring the impact on innovation. Survey design was used. Data were generated using a scale of 1 to 5 questions questionnaires, which were randomly served to 292 SME bosses out of 1,080 farming SMEs. Data were analysed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences. Being proactive really helped SMEs to do better with innovation (β = 0.098, p = 0.036). Ideas, being independent, taking risks, and being competitive did not have a strong impact. Businesses were usually good at being proactive and somewhat supported being independent, coming up with new ideas. SME bosses did not take a lot of risks, probably because things were unsure. They did not have a lot of resources. It was agreed that to get more innovation, people in charge and groups that help SMEs should push them to be proactive by giving them training, ways to guess what is coming, and access to info on the market. These findings underscore the need to give out more money for innovation and make rules that make taking risks less scary and encourage SMEs to take chances. Keywords: Being entrepreneurial, Innovation and Proactiveness, Risks-taking in business, Unofficial economy