SMEs in sustainable development: Their role in poverty reduction and employment generation in sub-Saharan Africa

Oluwayemisi Adebola Abisuga-Oyekunle, Swapan Kumar Patra and Mammo Muchie

African Journal of Science, Technology, Innovation and Development, 2020, vol. 12, issue 4, 405-419

Abstract: Poverty alleviation has been positioned high on the international development agenda following the adoption of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in 2000. African countries initiated various missions to establish sustained economic growth by increasing productivity with an ultimate goal of poverty reduction. The significance of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in poverty reduction and employment generation is widely acknowledged. Despite the high failure rate amongst SMEs, particularly in the African context, some are striving with excellent results and are demonstrating signs of growth, innovation and sustainability. This paper explores the development of SMEs as a strategic measure for job creation in sub-Saharan Africa. It examines the role of SMEs in achieving sustainable employment in Africa. This study will benefit governments in Africa, getting them to focus on the development of the SMEs, and guiding them on how best to integrate SME development to achieve poverty alleviation. The recommendations proposed in this study may be helpful in policy formulation, business operation and regulatory practice for sustainable growth and development in the sub-Saharan African context.

Date: 2020
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/20421338.2019.1656428 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:rajsxx:v:12:y:2020:i:4:p:405-419

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/rajs20

DOI: 10.1080/20421338.2019.1656428

Access Statistics for this article

African Journal of Science, Technology, Innovation and Development is currently edited by None

More articles in African Journal of Science, Technology, Innovation and Development from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().