Cash Waqf for Entrepreneurship Development

Introduction

Entrepreneurs involve in activities of innovation, incubation, invention, risk taking, creativity in making businesses for the wellbeing of the societies and mankind in general. Entrepreneurship could be on a micro, small, medium and large scale with absolute creative ideas in a niche area for a possible business opportunity that may not be seen by many as a viable business to operate on (Musa & Che Mohd Salleh, 2018).

In different countries government are known to support and promote entrepreneurship development such as in China. In Nigeria, the government have made efforts to support the micro entrepreneurs. Amongst their initiatives on economic development is micro financing for entrepreneurs, low interest rate on loans such as the introduction of entrepreneurship studies to be taught in Nigeria education system, provision of grants, direct subsidies, tax incentives or government procurement for them (Ebiringa, 2012). Notwithstanding these efforts to financially boost the micro entrepreneurs in the country, inadequate funding still plaques micro small and medium enterprises in Nigeria (MSMEs) development in the country (Muhammad, 2010). Amongst all other problem such as poor credit facilities, inconsistent government policies, and multiple taxation, faced by the micro entrepreneur, the lack of finances for their businesses is the most persistent. All of these challenges especially on the financial aspect has hindered their growth and success in the country (Obaji, 2014).

The impediments to micro entrepreneur’s development in Nigeria specifically in their funding has given reasons to investigate alternative measures of financing the micro entrepreneurs in Nigeria. Conversely, the Nigeria government strategies to support micro entrepreneurs, to achieve the country’s developmental goals have not been adequately sufficed. A lot of bottle necks such as inadequate funding is experienced. The government funds to support entrepreneurs is limited, thereby making it difficult for micro entrepreneurs to get finances in business start off, sustainability or in the expansion of their business. This has not only caused recurring financial problems to the entrepreneurs but also an impediment to the entrepreneurship development in the country. In addition, the high lending rates offered by banks or other financial institutions is a discouragement to micro entrepreneurs to apply for finance even though, their other financial support cannot sustain their business activities. It is reported, that in 2014 bank lending interest rate in Nigeria was 27 percent per year. This shows why most often than not entrepreneurs who patronizes bank loans are always faced with bigger challenges of paying back their loans. Apart from the high interest rate imposed on funding, micro entrepreneurs have limited or no access to bank loans compare to the macro entrepreneurs. This is because most of the time not eligible to bank loans due to their level of poverty, illiteracy and inability to produce a bank loan collateral which is a requirement for a bank loan. Inclusively, the unemployment problem in Nigeria is a concern.

Apart from adopting the conventional means of funding, this researched alternative source of funding such as cash Waqf can be utilized for entrepreneurship advancement in the country Although, previous researches have proved Waqf can be used for poverty alleviation and for education advancement in Nigeria (Muhammad, 2010), still it has not been proven to be utilized in the context of entrepreneurship advancement in the country. Cash Waqf practice in Nigeria can be a replicate successful practice from other countries, such as Bangladesh cash Waqf certificate model either through the Islamic banks or by setting up of cash Waqf management institutions like in Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia. However, Waqf practice has not yet been popular in Nigeria. However, before cash Waqf can be used to achieve micro advancement in Nigeria, there is need to know the perception of entrepreneur on cash Waqf awareness, religion, also using the variables of the theory of planned behavior. The theory of planned behavior (TPB) proposes a model which can measure how human actions are guided and it also predicts the occurrence of a particular intentional behavior. The variables in the TPB model are attitude towards behavior or act, subjective norms and perceived behavioral control. It holds that only specific attitudes toward the act in question can be expected to predict that behavior (Ajzen & Fishbein, 1980). Hence this research concerns with, to examine the perception of MSMEs entrepreneurs in Nigeria on cash Waqf usefulness for perceived micro entrepreneurship development