Small businesses remain the engine of growth in an economy such as Nigeria's economy. The objective of this study was to explore the high failure rate of small businesses during the first 5 years of business activities in Nigeria. The research design for this study was a multiple case study. The targeted population was small-scale entrepreneurs from 3 facilities in the soybean processing industries in Ibadan, Nigeria. The cognitive theory was the conceptual framework for the study. The data collection process was semistructured in-person interviews of 3 successful soy processing business owners. The data analysis process was conducted following the Rowley 4-step process and used the within-methodical triangulation that resulted in thematic answers to the central research question. The process of analysis included: grouping data, regrouping data based on themes, evaluating the information, and recognizing emergent themes. The five themes that emerged from the data were (a) education and training, (b) effective strategies for business profitability, (c) flexible financial strategy, (d) market positioning and, (e) efficient infrastructure. The data were cleaned and transcribed using software to code the features to identify the similarities of data used in the study. From the findings of this study, the implications for positive social change include the possibility to increase the survival rates of small businesses during early years of operation, reduce unemployment, increase tax receipts for the government, and catalyze economic activities, reducing poverty levels.

This study seeks to assess the correlation which exists between exchange rate of Nigerian naira and Unites States dollar and oil price on the basis of monthly data from 1999-2009. The research employ the fundamental variables which were assumed to be the monthly spot crude oil price, monthly exchange rate of Nigeria naira and monthly exchange rate of United States dollar. The empirical result adopted the ordinary least square using regression analysis and also the correlation model which shows that there is a weak/negative relationship between exchange rate and oil price as there are other factors that brings about changes in oil price other than the exchange rate. The activities of cartel pricing policy and oil speculators too have come to greatly affect the price of crude oil, and it will be interesting to examine the impact speculators have on the change in price of crude oil against the normal drivers of crude oil price.