Small and Medium Enterprise in Nigeria

As in many other countries, the small and medium enterprise (SME) sector in Nigeria is considered vital to job creation and broad based economic development. Consequently there is now renewed interest in understanding the factors that influence the growth of SME's, thus improving the sector. This book presents finding on various internal and external factors obtained from a study carried out with 523 SME owner/managers operating in various cities in Nigeria in order to understand challenges and future prospects of the sector. The study reveals that small and medium enterprises face a combination of factors which work in hindering their growth and development. It is anticipated that the study can provide SME policy makers and advisory services with guidelines to improve the growth of the SME sector in Nigeria. In addition, it is hoped that the study will assist SME owner/managers recognise those factors which may influence their firm growth and take appropriate measures to address them.