Issues, Challenges and Prospects of Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) in Port-Harcourt City,

Abstract

The paper discussed Issues, Challenges and Prospects of Small and Medium Scale
Enterprises (SMEs) in Port-HarcourtCity, Nigeria.This was informedbythe high rate of
unemployment in the society and the poor performance of SMEs in employment
generation. While the research questions addressed theextent to which poorfinancing,
inadequate social infrastructures, lack of managerial skills and multiple taxation constitute
major challenges in the performance of SMEsbetween October 2012 and November 2013,
it assumes that government intervention throughthe provision of financial assistance,
social infrastructures and favorable taxation policies will reverse the trend.The paper
adopted descriptive research design using 120 randomly selectedregistered operators of
SMEs in Port-Harcourt City.Data collected were analyzed using descriptivestatistics while
formulated hypotheses were tested using z-test. Results from the data analysis indicated
thatpoor financing, inadequate social infrastructures, lack of managerial skills and multiple
taxation were major challenges confronting SMEs in Port-Harcourt City,thus
recommended: provision of soft loans to SMEs operators,government guaranteeing of
long-term loans to SMEs operators, establishment of SMEsfunding agency,public/private
sector partnership in infrastructural provision,capacity building for SMEs operators and
provision of tax incentives for SMEs operators.

Keywords: Small and Medium Scale Enterprises,SME operators,Port-Harcourt City,
Nigeria.