Abstract

The growth and development of small and medium enterprises have been a focus for policy

makers and researchers in the developed and developing countries. One major issue that has been

inhibiting the ability to assist this important sector to achieve higher performance is lack of

competencies on the part of the entrepreneurs. This study therefore investigates the effect of

entrepreneurial competencies on the performance of small and medium scale enterprises in

Kaduna state. Survey research design was employed in the study which is cross sectional in

nature. Primary data was collected through a self-administered questionnaire issued to the

respondents using stratified and simple random sampling technique. The data was collected from

a sample of 174 out of a population of 201 owner managers in Kaduna state. Descriptive and

inferential statistics were used to analyze the data collected for the study with the aid of

Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 20. Multiple regression analysis was used

to test the hypotheses formulated for the study. The findings revealed that entrepreneurial skills

and entrepreneurial characteristics have significant positive effect on the performance of SMEs

in the state. It was also found that entrepreneurial motives have insignificant effect on the

performance of SMEs. The study recommended a need for combined efforts between

governments at all levels and NGOs towards not only funding but also initiating management

training and development programmes for the entrepreneurs in order to enable them acquire

necessary skills, enhance and appreciate their inborn personalities and abilities.

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CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background to the study

The contributions of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to economic growth and

development of nations have been widely acknowledged and well documented by

researchers and policy makers globally ( Kalpande, Gupta & Dandekar, 2010; Shastri,

Tripathi, & Ali, 2011; Martey et al., 2013). Countries all over the world constituting

the developed and developing ones have moved away from the former approach to

economic growth and development which focu