THE CONTRIBUTION OF SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES TO POVERTY REDUCTION IN RWANDA CASE OF SELECTED SMEs LOCATED IN GISOZI SECTOR

Abstract

The research of this study is “The contribution of Small and Medium Enterprises to Poverty Reduction in Rwanda. Case Study: Selected SMEs Located In Gisozi Sector, Gasabo District, Kigali City Period of the study: (2020-2023). The general objective of this study was to assess the contribution of small and medium enterprises to poverty reduction in Rwanda. The specific objectives of this study, to examine the challenges faced by SMEs in the effort towards poverty reduction of its members, to find out at which SMEs contribute to poverty reduction of its members in Gisozi Sector.to reach on those objectives and based on problem statement of study, two questions were formulated: to what extent level SMEs contribute to poverty reduction of its members in Gisozi District?,what are the challenges faced by SMEs in the effort towards poverty reduction of its members?,to be able to answer these questions, again two responses have been anticipatively formulated:the challenges faced by SMEs are cost of technical services; lack of qualified staff; financial access; lack of information and lack of raw material,the contribution of SMEs on poverty reduction of its members in Gisozi district are improving net income, monthly savings, health of its employees, education, nutrition and changes on shelter of its members..The sample for the study consisted of 40 respondents. The researcher used universal sampling technique for data collection. The analysis of frequencies, percentages, means, standard-deviation were presented in the tables. Data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics and 10 regression analysis in particular using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software. agree that competition as the challenge faced SMEs and 12.5% strong disagree that raw material as the challenge and other respondents representing 20.0% strong agree lack of adequate business plans and the need to show good sales and 5.0% The respondents on this question of SMEs located at Gasabo district challenges had common answer which is marginalization of some families or some group of society where they said that women and men didn’t have equal chance, researcher have confirmed the first hypothesis” The challenges faced by SMEs are cost of technical services; lack of qualified staff; financial access; lack of information and lack of raw material are effectively applied”.The table 4.8:shows that the contribution of SMEs on health of its employees before working with SMEs 30% of respondents uses Mutuelle de Santé but after the users of MUSA increased up to 70% of respondents, According to the research, the correlation of 0.748 (74.8%) is located in the interval [0.50-0.75[categorized as positive and high correlation. As the significant level is at 0.01 (1%), the p-value of 0.000 (i.e. 0.0%) is less than 1%. This leads to confirm that there is significant relationship between SMEs and poverty reduction of SMEs located at Gasabo district especially Gisozi Sector. researcher have confirmed the second hypothesis” The contribution of SMEs on poverty reduction of its members in Gisozi district are improving net income, monthly savings, health of its employees, education, nutrition and changes on shelter of its members are effectively applied