Enrolment options
Small and medium enterprise strength comes from the ability of smaller firms to react quickly and flexibly to adapt to market realities and to take advantage of opportunities that would not be an advantage to larger firms. Small enterprises grow to medium enterprises as they are increasingly able to develop the resources to expand out of their local economic system. Thousands of small companies operating at the micro level, taking advantage of local resources and opportunities, form the base of a healthy economy by providing local services, jobs and supplying or processing for larger firms and markets.
Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and micro enterprises in Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries account for over 95% of all firms, 60-70% of employment and 55% of GDP and create the majority of new jobs, indicating the impact SMEs have on employment. In contrast, currently over 80% of Rwandans are engaged in agricultural production. The SME sector, including formal and informal businesses, comprises 98% of the businesses in Rwanda and 41% of all private sector employment — though the formalized sector has much growth potential with only 300,000 currently employed. Most micro and small enterprises employ up to four people, showing that growth in the sector would create significant private sector non-agricultural employment opportunities (Ministry of Trade and Industry, 2010). Therefore, the broad objective of this course is to enable the students develop the competence and skills to identify some strategies for developing and managing small and medium enterprises with a focus on agribusiness sector.