The role of small and medium sized enterprises for economic growth.

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The role of small and medium sized enterprises for economic growth, was undertaken to find out how SME sub-sector in Nigeria has performed and its impact on the economic growth of the country.

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are the backbone of economies in advanced industrialized countries, as well as emerging and developing countries, as they are a key source of economic growth, innovativeness, and poverty reduction. SMEs constitute the dominant form of business organization, accounting for over 95% and up to 99% of enterprises depending on the country.

OBJECTIVES

THEORITICAL FRAMEWORK

Over the years, having worked for different successful companies in Nigeria which are considered small players in the industry, I have developed a keen interest in understanding how these small businesses actually affect our economy. The growth of SMEs have been said to combine the strategies of poverty alleviation and industrialization into a unique package that is beneficial not only to entrepreneurs but to the country at large.

Therefore SME can be seen as a tool for both national development and personal growth. As a person who would love to become an entrepreneur in future, I believe that the knowledge gained from this research would not only help me better understand the status of SMEs in Nigeria but would also equip me in strategizing when I intend to start up.

PARADIGM OF THE STUDY

This thesis is sectioned into Three chapters as shown in Figure 1 below. Chapter one introduces to us the trends in Nigerian economy since independence. Chapter two provides extensive literature on small business from global to the Nigerian economy, their form of organization and current status. Chapter three contains details of the study location, research methodology and findings. Chapter four contains my recommendations and concluding remarks.

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

This thesis would investigate the answers for the following questions.
1. Has the presence of Matori SME village brought economic growth and infrastructural development to Matori community?
2. Is doing business at SME level profitable in Matori community?
3. Are SMEs significant employers of labor in this community?
4. Is the Profitability of SME business in this community independent of the nature of goods and services on sale?

5. Has the profitability of small businesses in Matori led to increased presence of banks and financial institutions and subsequent increase in SME loans and incentives by the Banks?
6. Is the presence of Matori SME village directly linked with increased number of IT based business in the Matori community?
7. Is there need for the government to encourage and develop more opportunities for SME level business elsewhere in Lagos State?
8. Do my findings support the existing theory in the field?

LITERATURE
and
Study Source

This chapter presented professional literature and studies reviewed to give insights to the content of the study. Literature and researches that yield implications and relevance to the subject matter being investigated were also included in this chapter.
Several literature and studies have been made in the Philippines and outside the Philippines with direct and indirect bearing on the subject to be studied in this investigation.

Foreign Literature

FOREIGN ARTICLES

LOCAL ARTICLES

FOREIGN READINGS

Http//.com.ph

Google.com

Internet

Book's

Library

RESEARCH DESIGN

Matori is a community in Mushin Local Council Development Authority in Lagos state. It is a middle to low class community and thrives on the merchandise offered for sale and services rendered by small business holdings. Most businesses are strictly retail outlets, however some involved in the manufacture of leather sandals, vulcanizing of tyres, metal fabrication, carpentry, tailoring rendering of computer services, just to mention but a few.

RESPONDENT

Primary data for this thesis was obtained through questionnaires designed and administered to small business owner in Matori SME village and spare parts market in Matori. 200 questionnaires amounting to about 25% of the sample size of business in the area (806) was administered to business owners in this community.

RESEARCH INSTRUMENT

The Package has the capabilities of executing such high-level analysis as analysis of variance (ANOVA), chi-square tests, multivariate analysis, correlation and regression analysis, tests of statistical hypotheses, time series analysis, estimations, confidence interval estimation, comparison of several means, goodness of fit tests and analysis of contingency table, etc. Considering that the data collected are largely categorical in form, the chosen SPSS package the researcher considered was very ideal for use in the data processing and analysis 3.4 Limitations of The study Certain Limitations were encountered in the course of this study.

Key among these includes: Unavailability of Data: One of the greatest challenges the researcher encountered in this study relates to access to and collection of hard data due to extreme data gaps and paucity. This compelled the researcher to limit the study to Small and Medium Scale Enterprises thus excluding Cottage and Micro Enterprises whose challenges though comparable, could be fundamentally different from those of SMEs.

The Cottage and the Micro Enterprises have been acclaimed to have significantly impacted on the grassroots by way of poverty alleviation and reduction. On a quite related note, there also appears of late to be a lot of Non- Governmental Organizations, Bilateral and Multilateral Agencies and Organizations, which focus their attention on and channel their support and donations towards the Micro and Cottage Enterprises in order to contribute towards poverty reduction. Research has also
proved that Micro and Cottage Enterprises have a better credit rating than the SMEs. In some places Micro Credits have less than one percent (1%) average default rate while the same cannot be said of SMEs.

THANK YOU!!