ENTREPRENEURSHIP SUPPORT PROGRAMMES AND SMEs PERFORMANCE IN OYO STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

This study examined the effect of entrepreneurship support programmes on Small and Medium scale Enterprises performance in Oyo State, Nigeria. Entrepreneurship support programmes was captured through Youth enterprise with innovation in Nigeria (YOUWIN) and National Directorate of Employment 0NDE)), while SMEs performance was measured through sales volume, development of new production capacity, number of employees and number of branches. A Survey design was employed, through the administration of structured questionnaire on a sample of three hundred and sixty seven (367) top and management staff of the selsected SMEs operating in the state. Three hypotheses were formulated and regression analysis was employed for the analysis with the aid of SPSS version 20. The study observed that Youth enterprise with innovative in Nigeria and National directorate of Employment individually and collectively have significant effect on the performance of SMEs in Oyo State, with coefficient and probability value of (β1= 0.845, p<0.05 and β2= 0.916, p>0.05) respectively. The study further revealed that entrepreneurship support programmes have a combined adjusted coefficient of determination of 0.789 (Adj. R2 = 0.786) which implied that entrepreneurship support programmes account for 89% variation in the performance of SMEs in Oyo State, Nigeria. It is concluded that entrepreneurship support programmes play a significant role in enhancing SMEs performance in Oyo State, Nigeria. It is recommended among other things that the government as well as other SMEs supporting entities should improve their business development services, so as to enhance the performance of SMEs.