Abstract

There have been growing concerns over the level of unemployment in Nigeria especially among the teeming youths. Unemployment among the youths has been a major factor responsible for youth gangsterism in most urban centers. This study focuses on the effectiveness of social entrepreneurship in providing gainful employment for the teeming youths in the Nigerian urban communities, especially in the light of declining government resources and decaying infrastructure in less developed economies. Research data were obtained through a structured questionnaire on a random sample of 200 entrepreneurs in Lagos metropolis, the commercial nerve of the country. The three formulated hypotheses were tested with Kolmogorov-Smirnov goodness-of-fit test.

Key words: Social entrepreneurship, youth gangsterism, poverty eradication.