Entrepreneurial Orientation and Performance of Small Enterprises in the Kaduna Textile Industry

This study investigates the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and business performance among small enterprises in Kaduna State's textile and garment manufacturing sector, North West Nigeria. Kaduna was historically Nigeria's foremost textile manufacturing hub and is in a phase of gradual industrial recovery, with small indigenous enterprises filling the gap left by large mill closures. Understanding how entrepreneurial orientation, encompassing innovativeness, risk-taking, and proactiveness, influences the performance of these firms contributes to knowledge about SME competitiveness in recovering industrial sectors. The study employs a descriptive correlational design, administering the Miller-Covin entrepreneurial orientation scale and a business performance questionnaire to 160 small enterprise owners and managers in the Kaduna Textile and Garment Industrial Zone. Data were analysed using Pearson correlation and multiple regression. Findings indicate a significant positive relationship between overall entrepreneurial orientation and composite performance measures including sales growth, customer growth, and profitability. Proactiveness emerges as the strongest individual dimension, with firms that proactively identify market opportunities ahead of competitors consistently outperforming reactive firms. Risk-taking shows a positive but weaker relationship with performance, moderated by firm age, with newer firms benefiting more from risk tolerance than established ones. Innovativeness in product design and fabric sourcing is positively associated with premium market access. Recommendations include business development workshops in Kaduna focused on market sensing and proactive opportunity exploitation strategies for textile SMEs. Keywords: entrepreneurial orientation, SME performance, textile industry, Kaduna, innovativeness.