The study of Financial Impediment to the Sustainable Growth and Development of Small-Scale Enterprises Operating in Plateau State, Nigeria employed a descriptive survey design. The study covered only the central senatorial zone in the state with five local governments namely; Pankshin, Mangu, Bokkos, Kanke, and Kanam local government. The population for the study was 206 made up of 57 and 149 registered entrepreneurs and employees of small-scale enterprises in the six local governments in central senatorial zone of Plateau State. Since the total population of the proprietors and the employees are small and manageable no sampling was carried out. The instrument for data collection was a structured questionnaire titled ‘Financial Impediments to Small-Scale Enterprises Questionnaire’, (FISSEQ). The questionnaire items were developed based on the information gathered from the literature reviewed. The questionnaire was subjected to face-validation by three experts. Two of the validates came from the Department of Vocational Teacher Education, University of Nigeria, Nsukka and one of them is from department of Vocational and Technical Education, Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, in Kaduna State. The reliability of the instrument was done using Cronbach Alpha (α) method. The coefficient result yielded 0.86 which was used to establish the internal consistency of the instrument. The researcher with the help of three research assistants administered the questionnaire to the respondents. The data collected for the study was analyzed using mean to answer the research questions and standard deviation to determine the closeness or otherwise of the responses from the mean, while t -test statistic was used to test the null hypothesis of no significant difference at the probability of 0.05 level of significance at relevant degree of freedom with the use of Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). It was found out that inaccessibility of credit facility, government financial regulatory policies, and poor financial management practices impede the growth and development of small scale enterprises in Plateau State. From the findings of the study, it was recommended amongst others that government and other financial institutions operating in Plateau State should make credit facilities available to all categories of small scale enterprise and should ensure adequate monitoring of how the small scale enterprise utilized the funds.

Business exists in different forms and sizes. A business can be undertaken on a small scale, medium scale or large scale basis. Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are seen as driving forces that promote and contribute immensely to the economic development of any country. Small-Scale Enterprises (SSEs) are the backbone of an economy as major contributors of job creation and play an important role as efficient providers of intermediate goods and services to large firms (Muhammed, 2010).

The concept of Small-Scale Enterprises (SSEs) varies from country to country, region to region and from agencies to agencies. Different authors often use different parameters such as the number of employees, sales volume, turnover and capital to differentiate small, medium and/or big scale enterprises (Ahmed, 2006). However, these parameters do not provide uniform benchmark for all industries. Furthermore, what is a big capital today may become small in years to come (Aremu and Adeyemi, 2010). Consequently, there are as many definitions of SSEs as there are scholars and institutions. Makhbul (2011) stated that small scale industries (SSIs), small scale businesses (SSBs), and small scale enterprises (SSEs) are some of the terms that are used interchangeably to describe small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs).