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Abstract: This research-based paper examines the impact that the national small enterprise development agency, established in line with policy, has had on employment creation and on the uptake of entrepreneurial pursuits amongst the youth in Nigeria. The potential extensive impact of the small, micro, medium enterprises (SMMEs sometimes also referred to as SME or MSME) sector in nation building cannot be over emphasised. SMMEs’ contributions include job creation, expanding the means of sustainable livelihoods and ensuring impartial distribution of wealth amongst citizens. The implementation of impactful SMME policies also allow increased savings for future investments and for the effective utilization of the nation’s raw materials. Furthermore, proper implementation of SMME policy also boosts the sources of income to government through tax income and contributes significantly to nations Gross Domestic Products (GDP). The locus of the present research is the Small Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) which has been mandated and empowered by legislation as a principal agency to stimulate the development and transformation of the small enterprise and informal sector of the economy. The specific site studied was that of its operations in Akure and environs, Ondo State, Nigeria. The research relied extensively on the meta-analytic technique in examining the official and unofficial reported impact of the policy as overseen by the agency towards achieving the stated aims for its establishment. The core dimensions of the investigation included (a) the extent to which the guiding policy is implemented as intended from a monitoring and evaluation point of view, (b) the impact of the policy on employment creation that benefits the teeming youth of the country and (c) ultimately, the extent to which the policy and the agency have been effective in overall enterprise development. By adopting a monitoring and evaluation approach, the preliminary findings appear to be pointing to a number of unforeseen, and in some instances, self-inflicted negating factors that appear to be inimical to the achievement of the desired objectives. Since the goal(s) of enterprise development are always on-going, this paper proposes the adoption of a longitudinal monitoring and evaluation (M &E) framework in order to ensure that what is planned for or intended is actually what is achieved as far as the impact of SMME on youth employment and enterprise development in Nigeria is concerned. In order to accomplish its core objectives, this research, collected limited primary data while relying extensively on available secondary data and records. In addition, a structured, personal in-depth interview guide was drafted to collect additional, corroborating data from officials of the small business development agency. Keywords: Small, Micro and Medium Enterprises, Nigerian National Policy, Youth Employment, Small Enterprise / Business Development. |
