Entrepreneurship and Civic Responsibility – JSS3 Social & Citizenship Studies Lesson Note (Third Term)

An entrepreneur is a person who sees a problem in the community and starts a business to solve it.

Behavioural objectives

1. Define an entrepreneur and give two examples from your community.
2. Explain why starting a business is a civic act.
3. State four ways entrepreneurship helps Nigeria grow.
4. List four civic responsibilities of a business.
5. Explain Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) with examples.

Who is an entrepreneur?

An entrepreneur is a person who starts a business to meet a need and takes a risk to create something new.

• Sees a problem: the entrepreneur notices something missing or difficult in the community.
• Takes a risk: the money and time put into the business may not be recovered.
• Creates something new: a product, a service or a better way of doing something.
• Serves others: the aim is more than making money for oneself.

Examples of entrepreneurs

• Pure water seller: your neighbourhood has no clean water, so you start a small “pure water” business.
• Fruit cup seller: students in your school struggle to find healthy snacks, so you start selling fruit cups.

Qualities of a good entrepreneur

• Creativity: thinks of new ideas and better ways to do things.
• Hard work: keeps going when the business is slow.
• Planning: decides in advance what to make, sell and spend.
• Honesty: earns the trust of customers.

Why is starting a business a civic act?

Civic responsibility is a citizen’s duty to act in ways that help the community and the country.

• Common civic acts: voting, obeying laws and paying taxes.
• Business as a civic act: a business also makes life easier for other people.
• Beyond self: an entrepreneur helps the country grow, not only himself or herself.

How does entrepreneurship build the nation?

Entrepreneurship helps Nigeria in four main ways: creating jobs, paying taxes, innovation and reducing imports.

• Picture: national progress is like a big wall, and every business is one brick in it.

1. Creating jobs

• Why it matters: the government cannot give everyone a job.
• Who gets hired: neighbours, cousins and graduates.
• Result: people with jobs can feed their families and are less likely to turn to crime.

2. Paying taxes

• Duty: a legal business pays tax to the government.
• Use: tax money helps to build roads and hospitals.
• Link: when businesses do well, the government has more money to spend on public services.

3. Innovation

• Meaning: finding better ways to do things.
• Examples: new technology and faster ways of working.
• Result: Nigeria becomes more modern and competitive with other countries.

4. Reducing imports

• Imports: goods bought from other countries.
• Local production: when we make clothes, shoes and food in Nigeria, we spend fewer dollars on foreign goods.
• Result: less pressure on the Naira, which helps keep it stronger.

What are the civic responsibilities of a business?

A business has four main civic responsibilities: honesty, protecting the environment, giving back to the community and obeying the law.

1. Honesty and integrity

• Fair dealing: do not cheat customers.
• Quality and measure: sell good products and use correct scales.
• Reputation: selling “fake” products damages the good name of the country.

2. Protecting the environment

• Water: do not pour chemicals into rivers or drains.
• Waste: do not leave rubbish on the streets.
• Surroundings: a responsible business keeps its area clean.

3. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

• Meaning: Corporate Social Responsibility is when a business gives back to the community where it earns money.
• School: painting a local school.
• Water: providing a borehole for a village.
• Education: offering scholarships to brilliant but poor students.

4. Obeying the law

• Registration: register the business with the CAC (Corporate Affairs Commission).
• Safety: follow safety rules for workers and customers.
• Tax: pay the taxes the law requires.

What skills can a JSS3 student build now?

You can start thinking like an entrepreneur now, and you do not need to wait until you are an adult.

• Problem solving: think of ways to fix a problem instead of only complaining about it.
• Saving: keep a little of your pocket money. This can become your “seed capital”, the money that starts a business.
• Reliability: be a person people can trust. In business, your word is your bond.

How does each business action help the nation?

Each action of a business owner has a matching benefit for the community or the country.

Evaluation

1. Who is an entrepreneur?
2. List three ways a small business helps the Nigerian government.
3. Explain “Corporate Social Responsibility” in your own words.
4. Why is it important for a business to protect the environment?

Assignment

Choose a problem in your community and plan a small business to solve it. Write the problem, the business, two ways it helps Nigeria and two civic responsibilities it must keep.