Contemporary business environment is hastily changing worldwide and prompting
enterprises to change their way of doing business, failing which they run the risk of being
knocked out of the market in which they operate. Quite a number of nations, more especially
developing ones, are still being faced with a daunting task of reducing their high levels of
poverty and unemployment. The significant role that is played by Small and Medium
Enterprises (SMEs) became the centre of attention for many nations worldwide because of
their ability to stimulate economic development through the reduction in poverty, creation of
job opportunities and generally contributing remarkably to the Gross Domestic Product
(GDP).
However, despite the positive roles and remarkable contributions made by SMEs globally,
they still have an alarming failure rate, even though there are numerous government
initiatives and support schemes to empower them to be competitive and sustainable. Hence
the motivation behind this study was to investigate the factors that affect the sustainability of
SMEs in the manufacturing sector of Gaborone, Botswana and also to find out the factors that
can equip SME owners to remain competitive in the manufacturing sector in Gaborone and
eventually to cover all other areas in the economy of Botswana.
For the same reason, the study was piloted in the city of Gaborone, Botswana with a total
population size of 100 SMEs. However due to the vastness of the area and convenience
purposes the sample size of this study was 80 SMEs of which were drawn from the database
extracted from Gaborone City Council. Furthermore the approach that was followed in this
particular study was mostly quantitative and partially qualitative. The technique applied was
a standardized closed-ended interview and partially open-ended questions. The design of the
questionnaire was made simple in such a way that the questions do not consume the precious
business time of the respondents. In addition, the data that was collected was analysed using a
statistical package for social sciences where tables, cones, bar/pie charts were utilised for
ease of interpretation of the data.
The findings of the data collected revealed that SMEs lacked financial support, managerial,
marketing and financial skills in order for them to be competitive and sustainable. They also
revealed that the government of Botswana was not doing enough in terms of the sustainability
of SMEs in Gaborone as most of the respondents were complaining about the rigidness of the
government laws and regulations pertaining to SMEs.
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It is therefore, anticipated that the outcome of this study would benefit SME owners of
Gaborone area in that they will be knowledgeable on the factors that affect their enterprises
not to be sustainable and remain competitive in the manufacturing sector.