The role of SMEs in rwanda from 1995 to 2010

DECLARATION

I Clotilde MUKAMUGANGA hereby declare that this dissertation entitled «the role of small and medium enterprises on Rwandan rural development» is my own work and it has not been submitted anywhere for the award of any degree.

Clotilde MUKAMUGANGA

Signed.....................................

DEDICATION

To the Almighty God for his blessing,

To my late parents with my whole family for their endless affection,

To my brothers, my friends and beloved relatives, I dedicate this dissertation.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like first to acknowledge and thank Almighty God for loving and blessing me since my birth until now.

I thank particularly Dr. Martin MUGENZI who devoted part of his time to the supervision of this work. His invaluable guidance contributed to the successful completion of this dissertation.

I recognize my late parents who cared for me since the time of birth .I would expend my thanks to all people and best friends, especially, my sister Dancille NIRAGIRE and her husband Mr. Olivier RWAKAZINA and their families who more contributed to the achievement of this dissertation.

Thanks go to my friends and colleagues classmates in the economic department especially my boyfriend Paterne RUKUNDO for making my student life enjoyable.

May God bless them in whatever they do!

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

COMESA: Common Markets of East and Southern African states

EAC: East African Community

EU: European Union

GDP: Gross Domestic Product

IFC: Investment Facility Climate

ISO: International Standard Organization

KBO: Kagera Basin Organization

MINAGRI: Ministere de l'Agriculture

RDB: Rwandan Development Bank

SMEs: Small and Medium Enterprises

SPSS: Scientific Packages for Social Sciences

USD: United State Dollar

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION i

DEDICATION ii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT iii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS iv

TABLE OF CONTENTS v

LIST OF TABLES viii

LIST OF GRAPHS ix

APPENDICES x

ABSTRACT xi

CHAPTER I. GENERAL INTRODUCTION 1

1.1. Introduction 1

1.2. Background of the study 2

1.3. Statement of Problem 3

1.4. Purpose of the study 3

1.5. Objective of the study 4

1.5.1. General objective 4

1.5.2. Specific objectives 4

1.6. Research questions 4

1.7. Hypothesis 4

1.8. Identification of study variable 4

1.9. Scope of the study 4

1.9.1. Scope in space 5

1.9.2. Scope in time 5

1.9.3. Scope in domain/ field 5

1.10. Significance of the study 5

1.11. Interest of the study 5

1.11.1. Personal interest 5

1.11.2. Social interest 5

1.11.3. Scientific interest 6

1.12. Organization of the study 6

CHAPTER.II. DIFFERENT LITERATURES ON THE TOPIC 7

2.1. Introduction 7

2. 2. Definition of the concepts 8

2. 2. 1. Rural development 8

2. 2.2.Small and medium enterprises (firms) 8

2.3. Growth of small businesses 10

2.4. Competitive advantage and the small firm sector 12

2.5. Promoting small and medium enterprises 13

2.5.1. The government contribution 13

2.5.2. The business and civil contribution 14

2.6. Finance sector and SMEs 15

2.7. The Importance of Agriculture in Development 15

2.8. How Small and Medium Enterprises can drive Africa's economies 17

2.9. SMEs as part of crisis recovery 18

2.10. General Review of small and medium enterprises in Rwanda 18

2.11. Rwandan rural sector 19

2.11.1. Problems of Rwandan rural areas 20

2.12. Definition of Small and Medium Enterprises in Rwanda 20

2.13. Failure causes of small and medium enterprises in Rwanda 22

2.14. Problems encountered by small and medium scale enterprise in Rwanda 23

CHAPTER III .RESEARCH METHODOLOGY AND PROCEDURE 25

3.1. Introduction 25

3. 2. Research design 25

3.3. Sources of data 26

3. 3. 1. Primary data 26

3. 3. 2 Secondary data 26

3.4. Study population 27

3. 4. 1. Population determination 27

3. 5.Sample size and selection techniques 27

3. 5. 1. Stratified sampling 28

3. 5. 2. Simple random sampling 28

3. 5.3. Purposive sampling 28

3. 6. Data collection methods and instruments 29

3.6.1. Questionnaire 29

3. 6. 2. Interview Schedule 30

3. 6.3. Documentation 30

3. 7. Data processing and analysis 30

3. 7. 1 Editing 31

3. 7. 2 Coding 31

3. 7. 3. Tabulation 32

3.8. Study limitations 32

CHAPTER IV.DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION 33

4.1. Introduction 33

4.2. Presentation of urwibutso enterprise 33

4.3. Urwibutso enterprise's historical and evolution 33

4.4. Status of urwibutso enterprise 34

4.5. Geographical situation 35

4.6. Principle mission of urwibutso enterprise 35

4.7. Objectives of enterprise 35

4.8. Basic activities of enterprise 36

CHAPTER V: SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS 48

BIBLIOGRAPHY 50