Impact of Small and Medium Scale Enterprises on Economic Development in Ekiti State: A Firm Level Analysis

The study investigated the impact of small and medium scale enterprises on economic development of Ekiti State.Primary instruments were employed in order to achieve the objectives of the study and data were sourced through structured questionnaire.The study made use of Pearson Correlation, ANOVA and Chi-Square to analyze the data generated from the respondents.The study revealed that small and medium enterprises promote self-reliance for economic development in Ekiti State; as well as helps in the linkages with bigger industries for economic development in Ekiti State.The study also revealed that small and medium enterprises leads to creation of jobs for the teeming population in Ekiti State as well as enhances wealth creation and foster equitable distribution of income and bridging the inequality gap.Small and medium enterprises promote foreign exchange earnings, helps in poverty reduction and enhances wealth creation.Based on the findings and conclusion, the study recommended among others that; Ekiti State government should organize State enterprise forum which would focus on the contributions of SMEs in the State, government should adopt policy measures that will make the SMEs in Ekiti State to have access to government support in form of affordable loans and government should adopt both demand-driven as well as supply driven approaches to SMEs growth towards contributing to economic development in Ekiti State.