Relationship between Cooperative Societies and Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMES) in Ondo State

Small and medium scale enterprises are major contributor to the growth, development and an employment in most developing nations of the world.Their contributions far outweigh the importance placed on it by development stakeholders, as it is bedeviled by inadequate facilities, poor management, high production cost, high cost of capital and inaccessibility of loans and advances.This they try to overcome by belonging to cooperative societies, which is a self-help approach to alleviating the challenges encountered in an attempt to maintain a productive and sustainable business.The objective of this study is to conduct a conceptual review on cooperative societies and its relationship with Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) in Ondo State.The study outlines the importance of cooperative societies as facilitator of the performance of small and medium scale enterprises.The study used social exchange theory, social capital theory, collective action theory and democratic theory to explain the relationship between cooperative societies and SME's.The study employed secondary data, collected from journals, textbooks and government reports.The study found that many challenges impact the performance of SMEs such as insecurity, inadequate infrastructure, inadequate funding, poor management structure, low level of technology.It was also discovered that cooperative societies contribute to SMEs through provision of funding, advisory services, tools and equipment, extension services.This study concludes that cooperative societies and SMEs are partners in progress and such government should provide an enabling environment, adequate infrastructural facilities, progressive policies and adequate monitoring of their activities to ensure conformity to global standard.