In a piece published on The Conversation Africa, an online resource centre, Dr. Anthony Abiodun Eniola, a senior researcher at the Landmark University, Omu-Aran, Kwara State, said: “The small and medium scale enterprise (SME) sector plays a critical economic role in both developed and developing countries. It is a significant source of job creation and contributes to innovation and technological growth.”
“In Nigeria, SMEs account for 96% of all businesses and 87% of employment in the agriculture and manufacturing sectors. However, in the last five years, they have contributed just 48% of the national GDP. This figure is skewed by the dominance of oil in the country’s economy. But the output of SMEs in Nigeria could be better,” he stressed.
According to him, “The low output of SMEs in Nigeria suggests they may be failing to secure customers because of the quality or price of products and services, and the speed of delivery. It’s possible they could benefit from applying total quality management, a philosophy aimed at continuously improving processes, products and services by focusing on customer expectations. This strategy might help businesses meet consumer demands and offer better customer service.”
He said that: “Not many studies have examined the association between total quality management and performance in SMEs, particularly in developing countries,” adding that a research his team carried out in the country found that “SME owners and managers found it difficult to align their organisational culture with their efforts to improve their businesses; and that a culture that gave more consideration to the client was likely to boost the performance of the business.”
AfriWomen understands the tedious challenges that Small business owners in the country go through daily especially in the area of administrative structuring and financial management. And that is why it has continued to organise many entrepreneurial trainings and seminars for small scale business owners in a bid to enhance their access to innovative financial solutions, so that they too can contribute more to Nigeria’s GDP as those in Australia contributes 57% to their country’s GDP.