Review of performance of SMEs ’s in Nakawa Division

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to investigate the state of Small and Medium enterprises in Nakawa division. The components of this study related to SMEs included the establishment, global and local context, performance and sustainability. A cross sectional survey design was adopted where qualitative data was collected with the aid of a structured, self-administered interviews from a sample of 387 business owners, senior and middle managers in the SMESs in Nakawa division using simple random and purposive sampling. The qualitative data collected was captured and analyzed non-descriptively into meaningful shorter sentences through content analysis. The findings of the study revealed that majority had no prior interest in running business but rather pushed into business due to lack of formal employment, majority of the respondents were between 25-35 years, majority of the SMEs that participated in the study were dealing in restaurant and food processing and capital was found out to have a major influence on the performance of SMEs. It was also found that SMEs with strong internal management systems and good managerial expertise have a higher likelihood of performing better than those without such systems and skills. However, the Study finding indicate that majority of SMEs started with low production volume due to stiff competition and lack of customer awareness and most of the entities use credit as the source of funding. The study recommends that SMEs should adopt innovative thinking to expand product base and modify existing products. SMEs should also invest some resources to market research, there is need for women empowerment considering the fact that the majority of small businesses are owned and run by men and that SMEs should actively engage in business environment-oriented planning.