Small and Medium Enterprises: Issues and Challenges

This research studies the issues and challenges facing SMEs. It investigates into the various legal and policy frameworks set in place by governments for SMEs to proliferate, identify the problems encountered by SMEs to start up, to bloom and to boom. The market also has a very important role to play on the supply side. The market should within the limits set out by the legal and regulatory framework provide the logistics necessary for the market itself to function in a Pareto efficient situation, that is, nobody is made better off at the expense of someone else. On the demand side there are the other economic operators who avail themselves of the facilities and logistics set in place by Governments and other economic agents from the market to add value to the economy. One of these economic agents is the SME sector. The other issue therefore is whether the SMEs did avail themselves of the necessary competencies to manage their business so that from the demand side no stone was left unturned for SMEs to start, grow up and flourish.