Abstract:
Small Scale Enterprises (SMEs) contribute a substantial part to the development of every
country especially in the developing countries. In Ghana, they were established before the
development or the coming out of large sized and modern size industries. SMEs have
attracted much attention in development studies in recent years. In Ghana, the activities of
the small scale industrial sector confirm the important role they play in the national
economy. Despite the contributions of the SMEs to local economic development, they are
faced with many problems. SME operators in Wa Municipality are faced with a number
of challenges. Some of these challenges are difficulties with accumulating start-up capital
and loan from financial institutions to start up their businesses. Again also, small scale
operators are highly constrained in terms of their managerial abilities due to their low
background of education. They lack simple book keeping skills that will help them track
the progress of their businesses. In addition the field survey revealed that SMEs have
limited access to capital and operators’ inability to register their enterprises and also insure
them against all forms of risk; limited access to credit by operators; that affects plans that
have implications on the growth and expansion of their enterprises and operators inability
to compete in the formal sectors with their compatriots who are more formal and operating
on relatively larger scales for contracts awards. The study recommends, among other
things, the need for the recognition and subsequent formulation of specific and responsive
policies and strategies aimed at fostering the growth and sustenance of the small scale
sector at the local levels of governance in the study area. It recommends the need for them
to build reliable and up-to-date database on small scale businesses based on which
informed and responsive decisions can be made to address the challenges of operators.
Description:
A Dissertation in the Department of MECHANICAL TECHNOLOGY, Faculty of
TECHNICAL EDUCATION, Submitted to the School of Graduate Studies,
University of Education, Winneba in partial fulfilment of the requirement for award
of Master of Technology (Mechanical Technology )
JULY, 2016