Effect of Entrepreneurial Orientation on the Growth of Small and Medium Scale Enterprises SME(s) in Benue State Nigeria

The SMEDAN(2012) at various levels have formed different policy incentives aimed at boosting the growth of small businesses in order to reduce the level of poverty and enhance economic development. However, Small and Medium scale Enterprises (SMEs) operate in turbulent environments which call for great tenacity on their resources in order to take advantage of emerging opportunities. In spite of these measures, the growth rate of SMEs in Nigeria continues to decline and some go out of business within the first five years of operation. The study thus examines the effect of entrepreneurial orientation on the growth of SMEs in Benue state. The design of this research was a descriptive survey research; while multiple regression technique was adopted for the test of hypothesis. The populations adopted for this study were registered SMEs operators in Benue state, whereas a sample size of 328 SMEs operators was used. Findings from the study showed that innovativeness has a negative and insignificant effect on SME growth in Benue state. However, it was discovered from the study that risk-taking has a positive and significant effect on SME growth. This means that SMEs operating in Benue are daring, understand risk-taking and how it works and consider risk-taking a positive attribute in their business growth. The study also depicts that proactiveness has a positive and significant relationship with SME growth in Benue state. SMEs in Benue state are thus encouraged to adopt innovative measures at enhancing their SMEs growth by inspiring employees to discover their creativity via welcoming new ideas from workers regardless of their location. The study recommends that proprietors of Small and Medium Enterprises in Benue State are encouraged to increase their risk-taking horizon. The proprietors and the management of Small and Medium scale enterprise should adopt a proactive approach to their businesses. This may be achieved by introducing new products before competitors, anticipation of future demand and influencing market environment respectively.