Effect of Ease of Doing Business and Entrepreneurship Training on Sales Growth of Small and Medium Enterprises in Gboko Metropolis, Benue State, Nigeria

Abstract

The study examined the effect of ease of doing business and entrepreneurial training on sales growth of SMEs in Gboko metropolis, Benue State, Nigeria. The study employed a survey design and hence made use of a structured questionnaire (Four Likert Scale) designed by the researcher to gather data. Four research questions and four hypotheses guided the study. Reliability (Cronbach Alpha) estimate of 0.941 was obtained for the questionnaire. With the aid of Taro-Yamane formula, two hundred and forty-eight (248) SME Managers operating in different sectoral activities were sampled from 650 registered SMEs in Gboko metropolis. Data were analysed using mean and standard deviation, while four hypotheses were tested using Analysis of Variance at 0.05 level of significance. Findings showed that ease of doing business and entrepreneurship training has a significant effect on sales growth of SMEs in Gboko metropolis of Benue State. The research questions were answered using mean and standard deviation, while hypotheses were tested using Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) at a 0.05 level of significance. The study found that all the p-values were less than 0.05, indicating that both variables were statistically significant in affecting sales growth of SMEs in Gboko metropolis, Benue State. The study concluded that both variables have a significant effect on sales growth of SMEs in Gboko metropolis of Benue State. The study suggests, among others, that Government should facilitate productive dialogue with private sector investors to remove barriers to doing business by deploying approaches that promote market access across the country.