Paper short abstract:

Our study investigated governments’ engagement of Chambers of Commerce and Industry (CCI), an association of businesses, to promote public policies for M-SMEs, and how such engagement help strengthen policy outcomes in the aspects of taxation, business registration and access to finance.

Paper long abstract:

With high prospects in achieving the SDGs, the Micro, Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (M-SMEs) sector contributes to social prosperity and drives innovativeness that leads to improved production. However, limited access to credit and inability to get registered have led to a bulk of African M-SMEs being clustered in the informal economy, thereby inhibiting government’s development planning process for them and exacerbating tax burdens on a few. Our study focused on how governments engage Chambers of Commerce and Industry (CCI), an association of businesses, to promote public policies for M-SMEs, and how such engagement help strengthen policy outcomes. We focus on CCI as an amalgam of private sector leaders, and argue that their coordination and mobilisation efforts can help to strengthen policies relating to M-SMEs in the aspects of taxation, business registration and access to finance. First, what role do CCIs play in policy making for M-SMEs’ sustainability in these areas? How effective are government’s coordination efforts in liaising with CCIs towards mobilising M-SMEs? How influential are CCIs in facilitating bottom-up strategies that help specific government policies in the identified areas? What challenges currently limit these processes and how can they be addressed? We drew data from three sources: interviews with relevant CCI and government officials whose responsibilities relate to the subject, Focus Group Discussions with beneficiaries of programmes targeted at M-SMEs and questionnaires administered to 200 M-SME owners in Osun and Oyo states. Our findings indicate perpetual underutilization of private sector leaders in promoting government’s sustainability strategies for M-SMEs.