PROBLEMS AND PROSPECTS OF ESTABLISHING SMALL SCALE ENTERPRISES IN NIGERIA (A CASE STUDY OF SELECTED BAKERIES IN ENUGU URBAN)

ABSTRACT
It also paid attention to the foundling of the small-scale business in Nigeria. Whereas
failure of the large-scale import department assembly to propel the country into a
satisfactory course of industrialization necessitate the demagnification of strategy to
embrace the promotion of small-scale enterprises achievement under the new strategy has
not been adequate with expectations of the stated objectives which were economic growth
and development through the mobilization of available local resources, employment
generation and industrial dispersal as well as mitigation of rural urban migration. Out of
a population of eighty drawn from the selected bakeries, sixty seven were selected as the
sample size using statistical sample tools (Taro Yamani). A questionnaire was designed and
distributed to elicit information from the sample population; also data was sourced through
primary and secondary sources. These data collected were presented and analyzed by means
of tables and percentages. The hypotheses adduced were tested using such tools as chisquare.
It was observed that to achieve economic growth and development to use, such as
increasing availability of credit by raising interest rate ceiling and permitting a “spread”
that makes it worthwhile for banks to lend to small-scale business or by increasing the
number and range of investment etc. problems of small-scale business will be a thing of the
past.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
The contribution of small –scale business in fostering economic growth and
development has been well articulated in different areas of this study .the specific
attention on them based on their expected impact and potential contribution on
broad and diversified production base, as well as their accelerative effect in
achieving macro objectives pertaining to full employment, income distribution and
the development of local technology. They are particularly most conducive for
diffusion of management skills and emulation of indigenous entrepreneurship
overtime.
Small business provides financial opportunity and a chance to develop
wealth. It is a place where creative, motivated individuals can use their talents and
expertise to the fullest, because it provides satisfying careers and job opportunities
and it’s also the back bone of the market economy of the word. Every big business
starts as a small business, and it started with an entrepreneur (small business),
who at first, earns little or no profit. It was the new ideas of small business that
brought about Ekene Dili Chukwu Transport, the FAN Milk, Nnewi “Tokumbo”
parts, and even the many commercial banks in Nigeria. Untried ideas become
annulations that become concepts that changed the business world. And so it goes.
Small business is the basis for the economic well being many developed nations
including USA/Japan.
Entrepreneurship is what makes a small business successful.
Entrepreneurship occurs when an individual develops a new venture, a new
approach to an old business or idea, or a unique way of giving the market place a
product or service by using resources in a new way under conditions of risk. Small
business triumphs and entrepreneurship are closely related to it. It is difficult to
separate them.
The unemployment situation in the country coupled with the new
government instinctive towards easing social tensions among unemployed youths,
through the programmed of the National Directorate of Employment (NDE), were
intended to lure a lot of unemployed Nigerians, including graduates into self
determination through self employment. Graduates and school leavers are now
realizing that government and the established private companies are not ready to
come to their aid directly, through paid employment due to the dividing state of
the economy. Short of the alternatives, Nigerians including our graduates are
therefore launching themselves into various small-scale business ventures, such as
cottage soap and cosmetics production, fairing, restaurants, fast food, publishing,
writing, block making, garri processing, food processing, refuse disposal, taxi
driving, cleaning services, weaving, baking tailoring, advertising and other same
business venture which depends mostly on local raw materials. The determination
to succeed is also fast becoming the order of the day.
Government has been playing appreciative role in promoting the survival
and growth of small-scale enterprise in recognition of them flexible and adaptive
nature as well as their re-generative power in promoting economic growth and
development. Government also encourages people to establish their own small
business so as to reduce the problem of unemployment in the country and also
reduce the problem of importation of goods, more so, to produce exportation
products.
Government in believing that a dynamic and growing small manufacturing
sub-sector can contribute significantly to the implementation of a wide range
development effectives, has thus enunciated various policies to encourage their
proliferation and make them veritable engines of growth and development. In the
third and for the development plans and the on-going three years rolling plan,
priority has been accorded industrialization with greater emphasis on small-scale
enterprises. The basic activities of government policies as maintained in the
monetary and fiscal policy measures, are to improve the financing and other
supportive services of small-scale business by expanding and improving access to
credit and infrastructural facilities, reducing their production costs, boosting their
profitability, enhancing their survival and growth capacities as well as expanding
their contributions to non-oil exports by making their products competitive in the
export markets.
Hardly could any major industry succeed without the services of smallbusiness
enterprise. The major goals of any profit oriented business are to make
profit. A company will make more profit if statistics its customers need better
them the competitors. Therefore in the contribution of small-scale business,
bakeries would produce what the customers want and by so doing they maximize
profit and only bakeries that are effective and efficient can satisfy customer’s
needs. In reality, it is possible to run a business without profit for a time, but it is
not possible for to survive for one day without customers. Customers are the
central theme of any business. Without a total commitment to them, contribution
to economic growth and development will have limited and brief effects.
1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
Bakery is in the production industry the quality of products rendered by
our Bakeries have been attracting criticisms from people in all works of life. The
civil servants, business men and the general public are all very critical of
production of cookies like bread, chi-chin, cake, meat pie, boons etc. The
complaints ranges from those of poor quality of products, poor packages, high
prices, poor delivery, shortage of skilled manpower which affects productivity and
restrain expansive the use of potassium bromated which National Agency for food
and Drug Administration Commission (NAFDAC) banned for health purpose.
Most bakeries do not put their customers in the prime place as they
supposed to be. There is now keen competition and to compete means to
contribute to economic growth and development. Dickson (1971:4), agreed with
this view when he said that small scale enterprises are ploughed by inadequacies
and serious miss-uses of business records and business information. The problem
of poor or wrong location of an industry affects its production. Such as nearness to
raw materials, market, sources of power and access to supply of labour and
transport facilities etc.
Government incentive in industries has previously directed to public
investment neglecting private initiative. But a diversified and self-sufficient
economy must take into consideration the importance of private sector in capital
formation.
1.3 OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY
Based on the fact that one cannot build a house on a platter of gold without
encountering one or two hassles here and there, so in the genesis and revelation of
this work as the researcher encountered several problems the course of writing,
which ranges from lack of time, financial and material constraints to the inability
of reaching all members of the sample due to transport problems and even those
reached tend not to render full co-operation thus the total number of people
interviewed became smaller.
Other limitations which the researcher encountered in the course of writing
are that some of questionnaires distributed to the respondents were not returned
despite one or two reminders sent to them, while those that were delivered by
hand were non-challantly filled. As such, there have been criticisms about the
bakery industries in the way they render services to their customers. i.e. They do
not see the customers as king lot in terms of national output and employment.
Moreover, Nigeria has various policies on small-scale enterprises in recent
National development plan and also in the structural Adjustment programmed
(SAP). The researcher wants to carry out a research on what bakeries do and the
role they play in economic growth and development the researcher also wants to
have an idea base either to support all the sources about the poor impression
people have on how to improve their production so as to contribute effectively in
national economic growth and development.
Bakeries can do more individualized jobs for customers and thereby attract
them on the basis of specialty product quality and personal services rather than on
the impersonal of price or mass production of largely identical business. Based on
the above, the need for studying this topic is to show the effectiveness of smallscale
business in national economic growth and development.