www.ijird.com February, 2021 Vol 10 Issue 2 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INNOVATIVE RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT DOI No. : 10.24940/ijird/2021/v10/i2/SEP19049 Page 92 Evaluation of Branding as a Tool for Entrepreneurship Success 1. Introduction The world is now in a communication dispensation and everyone is continually exposed to information. Competition rate has sprout up in the business world and many companies want to stand out amidst of competition and reach their customers via new and traditional media, computers and recently, even in our pockets through our mobile phones. Developing a successful brand system in the market world is a great challenge for new enterprises. A strong brand can lead to persistent competitive advantage on the market. Thus, the role of the brand is becoming increasingly important in order to differentiate themselves towards competitors (Isaksson, 2005). It is widely known that new ventures lack internal structures; identity and resources and therefore they face many different challenges. One of the great challenges is to reach out to their audience by establishing a brand. It is known that establishing a successful brand enhances the possibilities for customer acquisition and retention to build favorable reputation. Marketing and especially branding can be seen as the interface between a small company and its external environment (Isaksson, 2005). Entrepreneurs face a host of decisions in handling marketing tasks. These range from major decisions such as what product features to design into a new product, how many salespeople to hire, or how much to spend on advertising, to minor decisions such as the wording or color for new packaging. Among the questions that entrepreneurs ask (and will be addressed in this text) are: How can we spot and choose the right market segment(s)? How can we differentiate our products or services? How should we respond to customers who press for a lower price? How can we compete against lower-cost, lower-price rivals? How far can we go in customizing our offering for each customer? How can we grow our business? How can we build stronger brands? How can we reduce the cost of customer acquisition and keep customers loyal? How can we tell which customers are more important? How can we measure the payback from marketing communications? How can we improve sales-force productivity? How can we manage channel conflict? How can we get other departments to be more customers oriented? ISSN 2278 – 0211 (Online) J. Adeeko Assistant Lecturer, Department of Entrepreneurship Education, Bamidele Olomilua University of Science and Technology, Ikere-Ekiti, Nigeria O. B. Oyekunle Research Assistant, Centre for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, University of Ibadan, Nigeria O. Osunade Associate Professor, Department of Computer Science, University of Ibadan, Nigeria Abstract: This study evaluated branding as a tool for entrepreneurship success. The study is delimited to bakeries in Ikeji- Arakeji Area in Ori-Ade Local Go vernment of Osun State, Nigeria. The study is guided by three research questions and seeks to know the effects of packaging, customer’s taste and product’s price on the growth of bakeries, rate of patronage, volume of sales and customer’s choice. Five companies producing bread and two hundred bread customers are considered. A descriptive survey research design is used to determine the effects of branding on the success of entrepreneur among companies producing bread products. The data collected is analyzed using simple frequency counts, percentage mean and standard deviation. The results from the study revealed that unique packaging has ability to increase customer’s patronage and that an increase in patronage results into an increase in sales which in turns impacts business growth. The results also revealed that customers buy more of bread from which they derive high satisfying taste. It is also shown in the results that quality of bread is not determined by price and that people tend to buy more of the bread that are carrying lower prices irrespective of their quality. Going by the results obtained, the study concluded that adequate and unique branding influence entrepreneurship success. The study therefore recommends that firms should endeavor to improve their branding system as this will enable them to remain relevant in market and stand the phase of competition. Keywords: Packaging, entrepreneurship, taste, Nigeria