ABSTRACT

The study was carried out to examine the financial Problems and Survival Strategies of Small Scale enterprise in Aguata  Local Government Area of Anambra State. The purpose of the study is to find out the financial problems and survival strategies of small and medium scale enterprises. Four research questions and four null hypotheses were raised. The sample size was 140. The questionnaire was used to collect the data. Frequency tables, percentages, and z-test were used to analyse the four hypotheses. The result revealed that small and medium scale industry face a lot of financial problems and these problems are mainly as a result difficulty in raising capital. These problems have hampered its survival. In view of these findings, the researcher made some recommendations to these problems.

INTRODUCTION

        Since Nigeria attained independence in 1960, considerable efforts have been directed towards the nation’s industrial development. The initial efforts were government-led through the vehicle of large industry, but lately, emphasis has shifted to Small Scale Industries (SSIs) following the success of SSIs in the economic growth of Asian countries (Ojo, 2003). Thus, the recent industrial development drive in Nigeria has focused on sustainable development through small business development. Prior to this time, particularly judging from the objective of the past National 4-Year Development Plans, 1962-68 and 1981-85, emphasis had been on government-led industrialisation, hinged on import-substitution. 

 Since 1986, government had played down its role as the major driving force of the economy by a process of commercialization and privatization (Beyene, 1999). Emphasis, therefore, shifted from large-scale industries mainly to small scale industries, which have the potentials for developing domestic linkages for rapid and sustainable industrial development. Attention was focused on the organized private sector to spearhead subsequent industrialization programmes. Incentives given to encourage increased participation in these sectors were directed at solving and/or alleviating the problems encountered by industrialists in the country, thereby giving them greater leeway towards increasing their contribution to the national economy. 

Interest in the role of Small Scale enterprises in the development process continues to be at the forefront of policy debates in developing countries. The advantages claimed for Small Scale enterprises (SSEs) are various, including the encouragement of entrepreneurship, the greater likelihood that SSEs will utilise labour intensive technologies and thus have an immediate impact on employment generation (Ayozie&Latinwo, 2010); they can usually be established rapidly and put into operation to produce quick returns; SSIs development can encourage the process of both inter- and intra-regional decentralization (Ogujiuba et al., 2004); and, may become a countervailing force against the economic power of larger enterprises (Salami, 2003). More generally the development of SSIs is seen as accelerating the achievement of wider economic and socio-economic objectives, including poverty alleviation (Safiriyu and Njogo, 2012; Ayozie and Latinwo, 2010; Udechukwu, 2003).

The role of finance has been viewed as a critical element for the development of Small Scale enterprise Previous studies have highlighted the limited access to financial resources available to smaller enterprises compared to larger organisations and the consequences for their growth and development (Hossain, 1998; Wattanapruttipaisan, 2003; Berger and Udell, 2004; Ogujiuba et al., 2004; etc). According to Valverde et al (2005) bank, credit play a crucial role in providing external financing to Small Scale Industry (SSIs). But in Nigerian context, this crucial source of finance for Small Scale Industry is apparently non-functional (Kadiri, 2012). This is evident in the ratio of loans to Small Scale Industry to Commercial banks’ total credit, which shows that a meager 0.16% of commercial banks’ total credit was granted to Small Scale Enterprises in the last quarter of 2011 (CBN, 2011). More worrisome is the fact that this ratio has been falling over the years and continued unabated in the post-consolidation era (Iorpev, 2012).