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FACTORS AFFECTING THE PERFORMANCE OF SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES IN THE TOWN, RIVERS STATE
Abstract: Interest in the role of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the development process continues to be in the forefront of policy debates in developing countries. The role of finance, management skills, macro-environment factors and infrastructure have been viewed as a critical element for the performance of small and medium-sized enterprises. Therefore, this study sought to evaluate the factors affecting the performance of SMEs in the town. The study adopted a survey research design and employed a stratified random simple sampling. Primary data was collected from 262 study respondents using structured questionnaires.The data was analyzed descriptively and inferentially and presented through figures, tables and percentages. The findings indicate that; that access to finance had the potential to positively affect performance of SMEs; management skills were found to positively and significantly affect performance of SMEs; macro environment factors were found to significantly affect performance and Infrastructure did not significantly affect performance of SMEs in the study area. The study results also indicated that as number of years in operations increased the performance increased. The study recommends that banks should improve access to finance through offering f better lending terms and conditions and collateral requirements; focus on acquiring appropriate management skills such as financial, marketing and entrepreneurial skills and effectively strengthen the macro environment in order to increase their performance. Key words: Small and medium-sized enterprises, Performance