The Role of Small and Medium Enterprises on Alleviating Unemployment and Poverty inNigeria

Abstract

The study examined the role of small and medium enterprises in ameliorating unemployment and poverty reduction in Nigeria. The study used quantitative method based on survey research design. Structured questionnaire was used for data collection from the respondent. The targeted population of the study was 73,081 SMEDAN 2017, which comprise of small and medium enterprises in Nigeria. The sample size was 398 determined using Taro Yamane. the study made use of simple random sampling techniques. Linear regression analysis was adopted to test the hypotheses through the use of SPSS version 25. The findings of the study revealed that there is a positive significant relationship between
Small and Medium Enterprises financing and unemployment and poverty reduction by SMEs in Nigeria. Hypotheses two revealed that Government interventions programs has positive significant effect on SMEs roles in unemployment and poverty reduction in Nigeria. The study concludes that small and medium enterprises contribute significantly in unemployment and poverty reduction in Nigeria, particularly when they are well finance, and government interventionist program are properly implemented at all levels. The study recommends that Government should make a legislation that will compel financial institutions to direct most of their lending to the informal sector dominated by small and medium enterprises in Nigeria, as this will help to grow their businesses, and create more room to employ more Nigerians and reduce poverty. More interventionist programmes should be created and proper implementation should be ensured so that the real sectors of the economy the SMEs have access to the support been provided by Government to enable more entrepreneur to access them, as it will widen the net of SMEs to create more jobs and reduce poverty.