Effect of Street Entrepreneurship Transformation on Small and Medium Enterprises Performance

Street entrepreneurship is universal across the world but most common in less developed and emerging economies. The difficulties confronting roadside small business owners in Nigeria is connectivity to funding assistance, as a shortage of resources and metropolitan regulatory requirements and by-laws forced numerous SMEs to convert from licenced to unregistered enterprises. The study examines the impact of roadside entrepreneurship on the performance of SMEs, with a particular focus on operators in the Ilorin city. Since the study population is large and unknown Cochran sample size formula was used to determining the sample size of 385. A questionnaire was designed using structured questions to obtain primary data from respondents in Ilorin metropolis, Kwara State. A total of three hundred and eighty-five (385) copies of the questionnaire were administered, out of which three hundred and sixty-eight (368) were complete and found usable. The formulated hypotheses were tested using multiple regression analysis and correlation with the aid of SPSS v21. The study’s findings revealed that; street entrepreneurship transformative measures significantly affect SMEs’ profitability with an R value of .863, using correlation a strong positive relationship between this street entrepreneurship transformative measures and customer retention of SMEs with .932 having psychological and personal factors as the highest. Hence, the study concluded that all transformative measures of street entrepreneurship significantly affect profitability, customer and retention. Therefore, it was recommended that state government should consider giving out financial aids to street entrepreneurs and empowerment and assist the transformation of existing street entrepreneurship ventures into SMEs.


Introduction
Street entrepreneurship is a centuries-old phenomenon that predates the development of the city.
It has long been the lifeblood of towns all over the universe. For centuries, street entrepreneurship has flourished as a profession (Bromley, 2000). Travelling entrepreneurs marketed their products in communities by walking from household to home during the ancient and mediaeval periods. They frequently exchanged with their neighbours (Bhowmik, 2012). In recent times, street hawking or vending in developing countries has attracted a rising interest amongst researchers and policymakers. Issues related to health, social, cultural, and economic implications have contributed to researchers' growing interest in this area. As a result, families that cannot afford the expensive cost of housing in metropolitan areas are compelled to live in townships, where they are exposed to various health, ecological, and socioeconomic dangers. Considering the foregoing, women, men, teenagers, and even adolescents sometimes succumb to roadside selling activities to provide for their households, notwithstanding the unfavourable social-economic circumstances (Ekpenyong & Nkereuwuem, 2011).
According to current information, female traders are numerous than male traders of perishable items, which are more susceptible to spoilage or be impounded than other products. According to other studies, women street sellers usually earn less than males in several cases, less than half as much (Roever, 2014). Furthermore, figures reveal that in Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad, Kenya, Mali, and Tunisia, street selling accounts for 15 to 25% of the total unorganised sector in cities and provides 46 to 50% of merchandise exports value created (Skinner, 2008). Multi-domestic corporations, especially local organisations have discovered the effectiveness of reaching customers using street vendors in terms of organisation and channels. According to available data, over 60% of what MNCs purchase in Nigeria passes through the hawker route without reaching the end customer. Entrepreneurship will tend to increase in magnitude and significance in emerging nations as informal entrepreneurs grow. This prospect has been recognised by formal businesses, systematically integrating unorganised associations into their marketing efforts. With more career possibilities, increased customer reach, a higher quality of life, and enhanced product innovative capabilities, it's a win-win scenario for the nation's economy (Uchenna & Johanna, 2014).
On the other hand, the government is still trailing behind; street vendors are still viewed as hindrances that should be removed at all tiers of government. This impression appears to affect their regulations, making life more difficult for the typical street vendor. Nevertheless, at this point in Nigeria's economic development, the government could not afford to overlook the rising relevance of roadside hawking in boosting the country economically. When developing regulations that legally acknowledge the unorganised economy, including street vendors and their operations. South Korea used this strategy, creating systems that ensure street vendors are identified using method leads, updating street hawking and rendering it a formally enforceable sales mechanism. This demonstrated to be a watershed moment in South Korea's development, and it might be for Nigeria if embraced. As a result, corporations and governments must think outside the box to participate in unusual sales networks like a hawker. In ways that strengthen the advantages of entrepreneurship and take Nigeria efficiently to reach some of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, such involvement should be quick and inventive (SDGs) (Uchenna & Johanna, 2014).
It is believed that around N1,000,000,000 is exchanged in hawking each month in Lagos state alone. The hawker entrepreneurship is firmly structured, with its own set of conventions and laws and societal norms that guarantee it fulfils the requirements of the bulk of the population, despite its random character. Recent research has revealed that hawkers' significant informal economy activities are not always unlawful, contrary to popular belief. Nevertheless, because of the vagueness of laws and regulatory organisations' operations, street vendors' actions in emerging countries like Nigeria appear to be mainly beyond the official restrictions.
Street vendors market their products along significant thoroughfares within municipalities, and they spend a variety of fees to both government agents and unofficial tax inspectors (Uchenna & Johanna, 2014).
Given the rising attention in hawkers, one may show how they contribute to creating Microenterprises, SMEs, particularly in emerging nations. Entrepreneurs on the street are components of the unorganised sector, which deals with delivering their products and services.
Numerous Nigerian communities depend on street vendors to supplement their income. Nigeria is blessed with entrepreneurship prospects; nevertheless, the implementation of ineffective strategies by various administrations and at various moments has hampered the full exploitation of these prospects. More so, a dearth attention has been reported about the street entrepreneurship can be transformed into SMEs in literature. The present study tends to empirically test the street entrepreneurship practices in Nigeria can significantly promote SMEs' formation. The study examined the effect of street entrepreneurship transformation on SMEs' performance, explicitly emphasizing the operators in Ilorin metropolis.

Statement of Research Problem
SMEs, without a doubt, remain the locomotive of economic growth like Nigeria (Agwu & Emeti, 2014). Street entrepreneurship plays a crucial role in exploring entrepreneurial opportunities, thus engaging individual operators in productive activities, creating sources of livelihood, and promoting a household standard of living. However, there have been lots of mixed feelings and controversies on the operations of street entrepreneurship in Nigeria. Presently, Lagos States in Nigeria enacted laws to regiment the operations of street entrepreneurship. In contrast, others ban the operators completely because they have been considered a nuisance on the street. It was believed that the situation has continued unabated that is causing debates among the nation.
Whereas roadside entrepreneurship can provide a sustainable source of income, several merchants, particularly those selling fruit and nutritious foods, face poor profits and significant dangers. For individuals who labour on the roadways, possessing an unsafe workplace is a major issue. Entrepreneurs face frequent difficulties such as a shortage of warehouses, robbery, and inventory deterioration. In addition, several roadside sellers are subject to discrimination, asset seizures, and displacement due to a lack of understanding of roadside trading regulations and the difficulty of obtaining permits. According to the Integrated Environmental Management System (IEMS) study, most licensed entrepreneurs experienced difficulties locating a safe selling area.
Those who followed the rules have their wares taken on occasion. As a result, the research is looking into the influence of street entrepreneurship on the performance of SMEs.

. Street Entrepreneurship
A street trader is a member of the unorganized sector who does business on the roadways. Meanwhile, it was once referred to as a particular action inside that 'informal' sector. Therefore, the concept of street dealing is appropriate except where it indicates the actual appearance of dealers working from a roadside," writes Witt (2000). Street business is an entrepreneurial practice by underprivileged people who operate individually due to the absence of finance to supplement earnings and social assistance to meet basic family requirements (Mitullah, 2003).
Roadside selling is defined by Lyons, Brown, and Li (2010) as any non-criminal economic activity that requires access to public spaces, such as market transactions, trading using designated points, and hawking through the roadside.

Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs)
SME is defined in the United States as a company with less than 500 employees, among other things. According to SMIEIS (2006), SMEs are businesses with a total investment of not less than $1,500,000 but not more than $2,000,000, including short-term financing, even excluding land costs, and a workforce of not less than 10 not moreover three hundred. SMEs may be defined in Nigeria by the central bank from various perspectives. Various approaches have defined SMEs, including a tiny percentage of workers, lower funding or yearly reporting turnovers, small size inside a sector, and ownership management. SMEDAN (2005) uses the following indicators to define SMEs: have 10 to forty-nine workers and a five to forty-nine million Naira annual sales, whereas medium-sized enterprises have fifty to one hundred and ninety-nine employees and a fifty to four hundred and ninety-nine million Naira yearly revenue.
In Nigeria, SMEs include a wide range of commercial development. The conceptualisations demonstrate that no singular idea defines SMEs; meanings differ throughout sectors and the world.

Transforming Street Entrepreneurship into SMEs
Small and medium firms must prepare for such short-, medium-, and long-term foundation of respective businesses to avoid becoming forced out of existing entrepreneurs by large corporations. Entrepreneurial orientation (EO), according to Zortea-Johnston, Darroch, and Matear (2012), Entrepreneurial orientation (EO) shall push the economy with goods and services differentiation, innovative products, and the establishment of the organisation's market strengths. According to previous studies, EO is commonly regarded as a five-dimensional variable concentrating on creativeness, risk-taking, proactiveness, independence, and competitive aggressiveness. This study focuses on essential aspects of entrepreneurial orientation, socioeconomic, political, and legal factors, along with human and behavioural factors that influence SMEs' success.

Small Medium Scales Enterprises Performance Variables
Small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) play a critical part in every country's financial strength. SME's contribution may be evident in products development and service delivery and innovativeness and assisting large corporations in their operations (Akanbi, 2013). Therefore, businesses are constantly aware of its effectiveness since it affects whether or not they can thrive in today's highly competitive business climate. Colase (2009) provides a comprehensive explanation of the term "effectiveness." He considers the term "effectiveness" being a "bagword" since it "involves a wide range of concepts like revenue, prosperity, returns, efficiency, effectiveness, and attractiveness."

Performance in Terms of Profitability
Profit maximization is a critical goal for a company to stay in a trade and compete against other businesses in the same sector. It is an essential requirement for a company's long-term existence and prosperity and a requirement for its various financial objectives (Gundry & Welsch, 2001). Profitability is a key metric for assessing a company's success and is essential in its accounting information. It indicates the company's potentials to create revenues at a particular market price, potential funding, and capital structure over a given period. As a result, the profitability of businesses and the methods for increasing it have sparked heated arguments in the research. They have maintained relevance in the fields of business, banking, accountancy, and management. Profitable businesses produce values, recruiting employees, are more inventive, ethically aware, and contribute to the whole economy through tax payments. Companies with high productivity rates can positively and efficiently contribute to income production and general economic growth (Obamuyi, 2003).

Performance in Terms of Customer Retention
Customer satisfaction is a crucial component of any organisation's strategic goals, regardless of its type; nevertheless, it is more described in enterprise organisations. It can be utilized by identifying the requirements of the consumers and providing needs to satisfying bundles to fulfill and appease these needs to a larger level, thereby creating and sustaining consumers' loyalty (Ibojo, 2013).
Customer satisfaction is the cornerstone of every company's capability to keep its current clients (Khan & Hussain, 2013). He believed that happy consumers are more likely to have a favorable association with the company. Due to this, more SMEs now ensure their actions and inactions are geared toward ensuring consumer pleasure. Consumers would perceive the prospect of combining their loyalties with the company, considering an ongoing purchase and repeat purchase of its goods and services. It may be simpler to preserve in Nigeria than it is to attract new consumers (Abdullahi, 2004). Whenever somebody reaches their first purchasing choice, the company trying to sell has merely begun, but everybody is subject to the purchaser's regret. Company owners must be striking while the iron is hot to assuage their clients' worries and demonstrate that they are concerned through activities. Consumers must be persuaded of why they chose the correct choice to do business with the seller over the rivals (Umar, 2012).

Theory of Social Behaviour
Kunkel (1970) presented a behavioural model of entrepreneurship. This study adopts the Kunkel social behavioural theory to present a more comprehensive analysis of the supply of entrepreneurs in an economy. According to Kunkel's theory, the approaches perform is a key predictor of the actions of persons who are strongly susceptible to the overall treatment plan encompassing the people's surroundings. Therefore, there is a need to adjust specific elements that impact humidification to affect and affect people's behaviour.
This theory is most relevant to the study because it discusses the street entrepreneurship transformation's circumstances and how it affects their performance.

Empirical Review
Omotosho & Ola (2021) The study investigated the experiences of young female traders in terms of risks and abuse in the course of the trade in South-west, Nigeria. One hundred and twenty (120) copies of questionnaires were distributed to the respondents selected through two-stagesampling techniques. Six (6) in depth interviews and four (4) key informants interviews were used to complement the quantitative data. Finding revealed that a majority (76.7%) of the street traders were teenagers and came into the trade through their parent/guardians. Majority (90.0%) of the respondents were aware of the risks involved; verbal and physical abuse also constituted a part of their experiences in the trade and this was often used to force them into sexual intercourse. As regards how they handled the risks and abuse, majority discussed with colleagues while some kept quiet regarding their experiences. However, in depth Interview (IDI) revealed that quite a number of them have adjusted to the experiences and may not be willing to share their experiences if not under pressure. Averting the risks associated with street trade might be challenging considering the attitude of the victims and their significant others regarding how they handle these risks and abuse.
Magaji, & Sarka (2020) investigates how teenage hawking affects the child"s development and the nation at large. It probes the socio-demographic characteristics of the teenage hawkers, their reasons for hawking, the nature and source of their motivation and their level of awareness of the dangers of hawking in Kagarko, Kaduna State, Nigeria. The data for this study was sourced from both primary and secondary sources. A sample of 152 teenage hawkers in the study area was randomly selected for the study. The questionnaire was used in eliciting for the information and the data was analyzed with the aid of Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) for mean, standard deviation and skewness. The findings among others revealed that most of the teenage hawking in the area is been done by the females (82.9%), with a mean age of 13 years. They were mostly from large family who are mostly polygamous. Their major reasons for hawking were to assist their parents in buying household items to use when getting married and to augment their parents' income. Over 89.7% are aware of the dangers involved in hawking. The researchers therefore concluded that teenage hawking has negative influences on children's educational development which in turn affects the national security as education is said to be the engine of development.

Dzisi and Ofosu (2014) investigated the impact of advertising techniques on SMEs'
competitiveness, brand recognition, and sales growth in Ghana. A survey approach was used to obtain data. Using stratified random sampling, 363 SMEs were chosen from a population of 900.
The results offer significant insight into the link between brand management and SMEs' effectiveness in a globalised emerging economy for stakeholders and SMEs operators.
Thebe and Ncube (2019) use the Bulawayo Metropolitan Province to investigate the direction of roadside entrepreneurial in Zimbabwe. According to the findings, roadside entrepreneurial is evolutionary in nature and serves only financial sustainability. Furthermore, there is a widespread lack of institutionalised backing and commercial acumen to drive street entrepreneurial efforts towards sustainability effectively. Roadside entrepreneurship provides an excellent chance towards job generation and long-term lives.
Akanbi (2014) looked examined how contextual variables, personality characteristics, and selfefficacy influenced small business development among university students. The study was conducted using a correlational research approach. The study's findings were examined, and it was advised that when dealing with difficulties about entrepreneurship intention among students, counsellors should be considered the established characteristics.
The research by Amoah-Mensah (2016) looked at the methods used by roadside vending or hawkers in Ghana to achieve a competitive edge. The study reveals that hawkers use 10 approaches, including networking, myriad homogenous sales strategies, the selling of comfortable commodities, "dying and resurrecting" (strategic exit and return into a business), frequent shifting of products and services, and commercialization, based on 6 focus group discussion held with hawkers in 2 sub-metropolitan gatherings (Bantama and Tafo) in Kumasi, Ghana.
Furthermore, the 2015 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) ranked Nigeria among the world's largest enterprising economies. According to the survey, 35 of every 100 Nigerians (or more than a third) are involved in entrepreneurial behaviour. The notion that entrepreneurship is connected to wealth creation is founded on fundamental perception, rational thinking, and economics inference: entrepreneurship is defined by actions that providing the ability into economic possibilities. Entrepreneurial continuous improvement and transformation, resulting in increased profitability and sustainability (UNCTAD, 2004) Akande (2014) investigated the impact of entrepreneurship on the economic wellbeing of Nigerians in the Ilorin Metropolitan Area. A sample of (50) small business owners was picked from a list of registered SMEs-Owners in Ilorin using random sampling procedures. In Ilorin, fifty (50) copies of the questionnaire were conducted and delivered to small business owners in the South local government. The study's findings reveal that SMEs operations have a favourable and significant impact on the economy's survival. The study's conclusion and data gathered from this effort verify that entrepreneurs' activities contribute to a nation's economic progress.
Additionally, there is a link between entrepreneurship corporate strategy and performance. With the rise in the firm's age, small size enterprises provide at most a 50% improvement in operational and financial performance. Small-scale businesses and employees have a good link. The more entrepreneurs that are formed, the more adolescents are employed. Nduka and Duru (2014) studied the dangers of roadside hawking in Aba, Nigeria's city. The socio-demographic features of street vendors and the health and social consequences of a roadside hawker, and the causes that contribute to it are all investigated. Descriptive crosssectional research was performed among 300 street vendors in Aba, South-East Nigeria, who were chosen by simple random selection from main streets, popular marketplaces, and key car parks. In-depth interviews and observations of respondents were conducted, as well as the use of interviewer-administered questionnaires. Interviews were taped, and excerpts were organised into topics. Underemployment and unemployment were shown to be variables in hawker behaviors in this research. Roadside hawking offers many dangers and obstructs educational progress. Policy formulation against roadside hawking and poverty reduction through job creation is recommended to reduce roadside hawking in Nigeria.

Methodology
The study population is large and unknown, Cochran sample size formula was adopted to define the sample size of 385. Questionnaire was designed using structured questions to obtain primary data from respondents in Ilorin metropolis, Kwara State. A total of three hundred and eighty-five (385) copies of the questionnaire were administered, out of which three hundred and sixty-eight (368) were filled correctly and found usable. The multiple regression analysis was engaged in experimenting with the hypotheses developed with the aid of SPSS v21.

Analysis of Hypotheses Results
The analysis of the result is based on the objectives and hypotheses formulated in chapter one of this research

Test of hypothesis one
Street transformative entrepreneurship measures have no significant effect on the profitability of SMES. The model summary presented in Table 1 shows a multiple correlation coefficient of .929, indicating a strong positive relationship between street entrepreneurship transformative measures (i.e political and legal factors, economic factors, psychological and personal factors and sociocultural factors) and profitability. It further presents an R 2 value of .863, indicating that street entrepreneurship transformative measures explain 86.3% of the variance in profitability. In contrast, the remaining 13.7% could be explained by other factors not included in this model.   Based on table 3, when "street entrepreneurship transformative measures" are constant, "profitability" is at 8.646. However, with every improvement in "Psychological and personal factors", "Socio-cultural factors", "Economic factors" and "political and legal factors", "Profitability" will vary by .558, .396, -.107 and .096 respectively.

Test of hypothesis two:
There is no significant relationship between street entrepreneurship transformative measures and customer retention of SMEs. The correlation matrix presented in Table 4 shows Pearson's correlation coefficients of .932, .915, .870 and .888 respectively for "psychological and personal factors", "socio-cultural factors", "economic factors" and "political and legal factors". These indicate a strong positive relationship between this street entrepreneurship transformative measures and customer retention of SMEs in Ilorin metropolis. The table further presents sig. values of .000<.05 indicate that the relationship between the dependent and independent variables is statistically significant. The implication is that improvement in all street entrepreneurship transformative measures will significantly increase customer retention of SMEs in Ilorin metropolis. Based on these, the second proposed study hypothesis, which states that "There is no significant relationship between street entrepreneurship transformative measures and customer retention of SMEs" is therefore rejected, while its alternative is accepted. Therefore, there is a significant positive relationship between street entrepreneurship transformative measures and customer retention of SMEs.
Furthermore, we can also deduce from the result that of all transformative measures, a psychological and personal factor has the highest correlation coefficient of .932 which implies that it would contribute more to improvement in customer retention of SMEs. While economic factor with the least correlation coefficient of .870 contributes less significantly to customer retention of SMEs in the study area. This could result from a declining economic condition in Nigeria as an unfavourable environment within with the businesses operate.

Conclusion
It is essential to draw out certain conclusions based on the major findings of this study. The major conclusions are as follows: All Transformative measures of street entrepreneurship have a significant effect on the profitability of SMEs in Ilorin metropolis except the economic factors. This implies that to actualise profitability through improvement in transformative measures, economic conditions must be favourable for businesses operating in the study area. This is because, to achieve a significant improvement in profitability of any business, prevailing economic conditions in the business environment play a crucial role.
It is also the conclusion of this study that there is a significant positive relationship between transformative measures of street entrepreneurship and customer retention of SMEs in the study area. This implies that improvement in the ability of the SMEs to retain customers could be achieved with improvement in transformative measures in the area. This is because improvement in these measures would help the businesses to operate in such a way that would ensure easy customer retention.
It is further concluded based on the findings of this study that there is a statistically significant positive relationship between transformative measures of street entrepreneurship and the market share of SMEs in Ilorin metropolis. Consequently, with improvement in transformative measures, there is a high tendency for the market share of SMEs to increase significantly.
Lastly, this study also concludes that transformative measures have a significant positive effect on the transformation of street entrepreneurship into SMEs. Property deviant has a significantly negatively effect on organisational trust. The implication of this is that positive mindset and personal quality of the entrepreneurs as well as positive states of economic, socio-cultural, political and legal factors in the business environment would assist manifestation of transformation of street entrepreneurship into SMEs.

Recommendations
A critical assessment of the effect of street entrepreneurship transformation on small and medium enterprise performance in Ilorin metropolis produced the findings presented in the previous section. However, based on the findings, the following recommendations were made: i. The state government should create a business environment that favours business development and easy transformation of street entrepreneurship ventures into SMEs. This could be done by lowering the taxes leveled on those businesses and offering attractive interest rates that motivate such businesses to source for required financial assistance. Also, the state government could consider giving out financial aids and introduction of well implemented empowerment programmes capable of facilities business development and assist transformation of existing street entrepreneurship ventures into SMEs. ii. In addition, it is also important on the part of the street entrepreneurs to ensure that they build trust through relationship, learn from customer complaints and improve key performance indicators (KPIs) such as Response time, Conversion rate, Funny drop rate, Actions engagement and Communication freshness for propelling the success of their ventures, thereby enabling them to achieve desirable performance level for actualising their transformation goal.