Small and Medium Enterprises and Poverty Reduction in Rubavu District, Rwanda.

ABSTRACT This study is entitled” Small and medium entreprises and poverty reduction” was conducted in Rubavu district exactly in selected SMEs oriented in agrobusiness, livestock and handcraft. The main objective that guided this study were to determine the profile of respondents in terms of gender, age and education level, working experience; to examine the activities of SMEs selected in Rubavu district; to establish the level of poverty reduction in SMEs selected; to examine the problems faced by employees in SMEs selected. The descriptive research design method was used in this study. It involves using questionnaire in collecting data from the respondents. The population concerned by this study was 213 employees of selected SMEs in Rubavu district. Using Sloven’s formula, the sample size was 138 employees. Respondents were selected through a sirnp~e random sampling process. The research analysis was based on their answers provided through questionnaire. The SPSS was used to analyze all data. The data were expressed into tables and were processed using frequency distribution and means. The research findings stated that accessibility to health insurance, education, saving, houses conditions, saving are indicators shown that poverty has been reduced. Moreover, the key challenges regarding employment issues in the SME sector are inadequate communication, not having real concerns about their workplace safety, the provision of safety equipment, lack of job security at the workplace. The study concluded that SME5 has impact positive in poverty reduction. It recommends reinforcing the existing SMEs’ development policy to policy makers.