Influence Of Entrepreneurial Characteristics On The Growth Of SMES

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are catalysts to national economic growth and development because of their considerable input towards poverty reduction, GDP growth and job creation in both developed and developing countries. Though exact data are not easy to obtain, about ninety-five percent of enterprises across the world are SMEs, amounting to about seventy percent of private sector employment. In addition, SMEs are identified to be key players in wealth creation, innovation, industrial restructuring and economic development and growth. SMEs also contribute appreciably to the industrial system in matured economies. A huge number of giant industries started from SMEs and some of them even depend on SMEs. For example, some SMEs are very active in numerous fields like, small-scale productions and the service companies. In every nation, SMEs represents a huge and economically important sector of potential businesses. SMEs contributed to more than half of the national output in some low income countries. In Nigeria, SMEs employ about eighty percent of the total labor force, contributing about fifty-two percent to national GDP growth. SMEs are sub-sectors of the industrial sector which play crucial roles in industrial development (Emmanuel O and Daniya A. (2012). They are generally acknowledged as the key engine of economic development. In line with this acknowledgement, there has been formulation of industrial policies around the world and Africa in particular on how to stimulate economic growth through the development of SMEs. Both developed and developing countries focus on SMEs because it is believed that they bring large economic benefits in terms of job creation and income generation. Particularly, in developing countries. Another advantage of small firm is that they are associated with more flexible production routines (Alex Coad and Jaganaddha P T 2012). SMEs are important not only because they create jobs but also because they employ unskilled workers, who are overly abundant in these countries. Like many other developing countries, Nigeria has recognized the relevance of SMEs for economic development Abstract: This study examined the influence of entrepreneurial characteristics on the growth of small and medium enterprises in the textile industry in Nigeria. Both descriptive and inferential data analysis methods were used with owners/managers and employees of selected textile industries in Nigeria as case study. While simple random sampling was employed in selecting respondents the instrument used was likert scales based on questionnaire ranging from strongly disagree to strongly agree. Questionnaires were distributed to the respondents and one hundred and sixty seven were successfully retrieved and analyzed. SPSS was used in the analysis of the data. The results showed that need for achievement has a significant effect on the growth of SMEs. There is a statistically significant relationship between innovation and growth of SMEs. There is a statistically significant relationship between self-efficacy and growth of SMEs which indicates a correlation between entrepreneurial characteristics and the growth of textile industries in Nigeria. The study concluded that acquisition of entrepreneurial characteristics should be emphasized. The practice where firms copy one another is imbalance with innovation and selfefficacy necessary for firm growth. Firms must be possessed with improvements, receptive to new challenges and adopting wide range of new ideas.