Roles of Small and Medium Scale Enterprises in Community Development: Evidence from Anambra South Senatorial Zone, Anambra State

This study examines the roles of small and medium scale enterprises in community ???development: evidence from Anambra south senatorial zone, Anambra state. Specifically the study provides empirical evidence on: socioeconomic characteristics of the respondents; reasons for going into SMEs; sources of financing SMEs; role of SMEs in community development and factors militating against SMEs in community development. The researchers distributed 55 questionnaires to the respondents that make up the sample size. The research questions were answered using mean rating under the modified four-point likert scale.Result of the investigation reveals that SMEs play the following role in community development: Generation of employment; Service provision; Improve living standards and poverty alleviation. Consequently this study therefore recommends that: government should re-introduce the small business credit scheme so that beneficiaries can use them to run the micro, small and medium enterprises; government, chamber of commerce and other non-governmental organization should regularly organize seminars for potential and actual small and medium enterprise operators where they should be educated on how to plan, organize, direct and control their businesses; micro, small and medium enterprises operators’ should device effective marketing strategies; this includes such promotional strategies as advertising, good management customers relations at all times and there should be re-introduction of soft loans for small and medium business by the government and financial institutions.