This study “Promotion of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the development of Okehi LGA, Kogi State was undertaken to find out the extent to which the SME sub-sector in Kogi State has performed its critical role of driving the country’s industrial transformation and development as it has done in some states in Nigeria and also to identify what impedes its development so as to proffer remedial measures. The study examined the performance of the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) sub-sector of the Nigeria Economy, poverty reduction in the rural community in order to play the crucial role it is expected to play. A total of 55 SMEs were randomly selected from a cross section of a population of 60 SMEs spread among local government areas of Kogi State covering virtually all forms (Sole Proprietorship, Partnership, Private Limited Company etc and kind of services manufacturing, processing, educational etc) of business were part of the study. Through a simple random sampling process four banks, a microfinance bank inclusive were selected for the study. Two sets of questionnaires were constructed for the SMEs and Banks and administered on the participants. The responses to the questionnaires were complemented with the personal interviews of the key operators by the researcher. The responses of the participants were analyses using statistical package for social science (SPSS) which generated frequency distribution, means, variances, correlations, analysis of variance etc of the responses. The main hypothesis of this research were tested at 0.5 level of significance using chi-square statistics with a view to identifying the level of entrepreneurship development occasioned by the promotional effort of government and other organizations in Kogi State. The challenges faced by the SMEs and the relationship between the form and nature of the business enterprise and its sources of funding for its operations in the state are also statistically and hypothetically identified, poverty reduction, employment creation among others.
The main strategy for the establishment by the entrepreneurs of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and its promotion by various sectors, is to enhance job creation, promote economic growth, reduce poverty. The importance of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in any economy cannot by overemphasis. They constitute the smallest unit of business. They predominate in most sectors of the economy occupying every available space such as form enterprises in the rural areas, provision store, bakery, pure water production, garri processing or food processing industries.
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