SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES AND EMPLOYMENT GENERATION

SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES AND EMPLOYMENT GENERATION

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1       Background of the Study

Small scale enterprises are catalyst in the socio-economic development of any country. They are a veritable vehicle for the achievement of national macroeconomic objective in terms of employment generation at low investment cost, the catalytic roles of SSEs have been amply indigenous technology. The catalytic roles of SSEs have been amply displayed in many countries such as Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, India etc. SSEs contribution substantially to the Gross Domestic products (DGP), export earnings and employment opportunities of these countries.

Using the definition of central Bank of Nigeria (1993), SSEs can) be defined as an enterprise, whose total cost, excluding cost of land but including working capital, is above N10 million.

Financial growth on the other hand may be defined as a gradual and steady change in the long-run which comes about a gradual increase in the rate of savings and population (Schumpeter 1934).

Simply put, Economic Growth is an increase in per capital income over a long period of time or over a business cycle.

A person is said tobe unemployed if a job is not available when he is willing and able to work at the prevailing wage rate.

The Federal Government of Nigeria has long recognized the need to promote the development of SSEs in order to stimulate employment, mobilize local resources, reduce migration from rural to urban area and disperse industrial enterprise more evenly across the country. This is why the government has established institutions to provide both financial and non­financial services to SSEs. The roles of SSEs will be examined in this work in relation to employment generation and financial growth in comparison to that of large scale.