Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) play significant role in economic development of the country. There are approximately 3200,000 SMEs in Pakistan contributing significantly towards the improvement of the socio economic conditions of the country. The nationalization process began on January 2, 1972 in Pakistan was a policy measure programme with objective to improve the economy of Pakistan. This process began after the separation of East and West Pakistan therefore economic development could vary during these periods. The objective of this study was to review the development of SMEs in general and apparel SMEs in particular before the nationalization process in Pakistan. This was an exploratory study and data was collected through secondary sources provided. The study was qualitative in nature. The deductive approach was used for the data analysis. This study found that importance of the small and medium enterprise realized in the early years of independence. The common issues and challenges during this period were lack of financing facilities, raw material availability, outdated machines used for the production, marketing, market knowledge, location of SMEs, modernization and expansion of SMEs, to improve the technological, economic and social conditions, development of relationship between small and medium enterprises. The issue issues and challenges of textile and apparel sector were not different. The solutions were provided to solve these problems yet at the end the problems were same. Overall non serious attitude of the Government of Pakistan towards the development of small and medium enterprise was observed during pre nationalization period.
Industrial, SMEs Development, problems of SMEs, Challenges of SMEs, Remedies for Apparel, Textile
