THE ROLE OF THE TRADITIONAL AFRICAN FAMILY SETTING ON THE PERFORMANCE OF MICRO, SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES IN NIGERIA (MSMES): THE CASE OF BAYELSA STATE MEDIUM SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES

Abstract

The study was commissioned to determine the role of traditional African family settings in the performance of Bayelsa's micro, small, and medium enterprises. Indeed, to some extent, micro, small, and medium enterprises have played a crucial role in driving the economic and industrial transformation of Nigeria. In other words, MSMEs are the lifeblood of any economy, and hence hindering factors ought to be taken care of to experience sustainable growth and development of the economy. Of course, traditions and customs somewhat play a significant role in the success and dearth of any business, and MSMEs are not immune from the interference and the constant challenges associated with traditional African family settings. The African family settings in most parts have contributed to the success and collapse of MSMEs. To this end, the study applied a descriptive survey research design methodology to scrutinize and give analytical views on existing works of literature and concepts surrounding the role of traditional African family settings as well as the performance of micro, small, and medium enterprises in Nigeria. After a thorough analysis, it is very clear that there is budding and enormous potential and opportunities for MSMEs in Nigeria and, as such, they can be seen to be the engines of growth, wealth creation, industrialization, or employment generation that are geared towards the reduction of poverty. Also found were the features of African family settings and challenges, which are quite extraordinary and uniform across the African regions. Nonetheless, there is some uniqueness to these African family settings that are familiar and evident in the Nigerian context. Interestingly, after giving an analytical point of view with regards to African family settings and challenges, it is significantly clear that African family settings and challenges are very instrumental in determining whether an entrepreneurial venture is successful or not. It recommends that promoters of MSMEs should ensure the availability of managerial capacity and acumen to manage the role of the traditional African family settings as regards the performance of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in Nigeria.