IMPLEMENTING THE NEW PARTNERSHIP FOR AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT (NEPAD) BY PROMOTING THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE SME SECTOR IN THE CONTEXT OF CAPITAL MARKETS IN AFRICA

by Chief Dennis O. ODIFE
(Article Reference: Document No.18, November 2002)

The SME/SSI Sector in Africa
The SME (Small and Medium-sized Enterprises) sector is potentially the largest and fastest growing area of economic activity in Africa. It also has far greater potential for employment generation than either the government sector or the rather weak private sector in most of Africa. It is also often referred to as the informal sector and is seen as different from the organised private sector. Quite obviously, attempts to encourage the growth of the private sector in Africa are likely to be more successful if they target the SME sector as their starting point. More importantly, attempts to achieve African ownership and leadership of NEPAD require rapid and massive mobilization of this sector.

This is however likely to be both a daunting task and a challenging one. Many countries have tried over the years to promote and to support their SME sectors with different degrees of success. The rising poverty rate in most of Africa indicates that perhaps a lot still remains to be done.

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