Microenterprise Performance and Business Education Training: An Empirical Study of SME Operators in Abuja

This study empirically investigated the relationship between business education training and the performance of microenterprises operated by SME owners in Abuja, North Central Nigeria. Microenterprise performance is a critical indicator of economic activity in Nigeria, where small businesses constitute over 90 percent of registered enterprises and employ a significant proportion of the working population. Despite widespread advocacy for business education as a catalyst for enterprise development, rigorous empirical evidence linking specific training components to enterprise performance outcomes remains limited for the Abuja context. Anchored in the Human Capital Theory and Resource-Based View, a correlational survey design was adopted. The population comprised 380 microenterprise operators in Abuja Municipal Area Council who had received business training through tertiary education or skills development programmes. A stratified sample of 190 operators was selected. The Business Education Training Inventory and the Microenterprise Performance Index, both validated through expert review and pilot testing, were used for data collection. Multiple regression and mediation analysis were performed using SPSS 27.0 and PROCESS macro. Findings reveal that financial management training and marketing skills training are the strongest direct predictors of enterprise revenue growth, while entrepreneurial mindset training operates as a significant mediator between general business education and performance outcomes. The study contributes a mediating framework for understanding training-performance linkages and recommends that government enterprise training programmes in Abuja should prioritize practical financial management and marketing modules. Keywords: microenterprise performance, business education training, SME operators, Abuja, Human Capital Theory