SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES: PROBLEMS AND PROSPECTS

ABSTRACT

The study is an assessment of the problems and prospects among Small and Medium Enterprises in Benin City, Edo state. The study thus investigated the performance of the Small and Medium Enterprises sub-sector of the Nigerian economy, its problems and prospects and recommended measures to make the sub-sector virile and vibrant in order to play the crucial role it is expected to play.  A convenient size of ten (10 SMEs) across different sectors of the economy such as fast foods and restaurant services, supermarkets and transport services were sampled. The findings of this research point to two main causative factors as to why SMEs are performing below standard. One is “internal” and relates to our attitudes, habits and way of thinking and doing things while the other relates to our environment including our educational system, culture, Government lackluster approach to policy enunciation and poor implementation among others. The solution to the problems of Nigerian SMEs can only be realized if both the leaders and citizens concertedly work together. It was also found out that there is a relationship between inadequate or non-functional infrastructure and performance of SMEs; that there is a relationship between bureaucratic bottlenecks in the administration of Government incentives to SMEs and performance of SMEs; that there is a relationship between access to funding/credit facilities and performance of SMEs; that there is a relationship between ineffective management and performance of SMEs; and that there is no relationship between the widespread corruption and harassment of SMEs by some agencies of Government and performance of SMEs.