Implications of Sources ofFinance on the Growth of Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) in Nigeria: An Evaluation of Selected Agricultural SMEs in Nigeria’s Nassarawa State

Abstract

The study observed that most SMEs in Nigeria have limited or no access to different sources of finance and also lack the basic knowledge to having the right blend of finance from different sources that can help achieve different growth objectives. Thus, it evaluated the implications of sources of finance on the growth of SMEs in Nassarawa State, Nigeria. The study used 131observations obtained from SME owners or managers that were purposively selected from four different agro related SMEs including crop farming, fish farming, poultry farming and agro input traders. The multiple regression was employed and the study discovered that the different sources of SME’s finance have significant and positive implications on the overall growth of SMEs in Nigeria, but that some sources have more implications on some particular growth indices than the others. Thus, it was recommended that SMEs’ owners and managers must be diligent and strategic in the choice of source of finance in order to efficiently attain particular growth objectives. Furthermore, SMEs’ owners and managers should improve their knowledge on financial structure in order to get the appropriate combination of finance from the different sources that can help attain growth objectives efficiently.