An appraisal of performance of small scale enterprises in community development (a study of selected smes’ in Udi local government area of Enugu state, Nigeria)

This study is aimed at examining the appraisal of performance of small scale enterprises in community development, using selected SMEs’ in Udi Local Government Area of Enugu State Nigeria as focused study. The other specific objectives include: to ascertain the extent to which different small scale business development programmes have been able to lessen the unemployment problem in the community, to ascertain the extent small scale business has improved standard of living in the community and to identify factors militating against SMEs in community development. The research design utilized for this study was the quantitative research design while the population includes all the 220 registered small business in Udi Local Government Area of Enugu State (According to SMEDAN). A total of 110 copies of questionnaire were administered to the target sample. Both the stratified and the simple random sampling techniques were utilized during the course of the study. The hypotheses analyses were done through chi-square technique. The findings show that small scale business development programmes have significantly lessened the unemployment problem in the community, that small scale business have significantly improved standard of living in the community, and that there are significant factors militating against SMEs in community development such as financial problems, management problems, inadequate basic infrastructure and unstable policy environment. The study recommended among others that Government, chambers of Commerce and other non- Governmental organizations should regularly organize seminars for potential and actual small and medium enterprise operators, where they should be educated on how to plan, organize, direct and control business activities.