Financial Inclusion and SME’s Growth in Ojo Local Government Lagos State, Nigeria

This study looks at the connection between the growth of SMEs in Lagos State's Ojo local governments and financial inclusion. As part of their overall strategy for economic and financial growth, many emerging economies aim to promote financial inclusion, which gives low-income households and small businesses greater access to financial services. Some fund providers refuse to lend to people who don't have collateral, which limits people's and businesses' ability to reach higher income brackets. A survey research design was used to direct the investigation. Five SMEs and five financial institutions that was operational between 2007 and 2017. The acquired data's outcomes were examined using to assess the three (3) developed hypotheses; the Ordinary Least Square (OLS) analysis method is used. The benefits of the Pearson Correlation (r = 0.9243; α = 0.01) test, which shows a substantial positive relationship between financial inclusion and SME growth, are attested to by the research findings. As expected, there is a positive link between the variables, and the estimated result of 1.2305 indicates that financial inclusion and SME have a positive relationship. This aligns with the priori anticipation. It is determined that there has been a broad usage of SME credit, with many enterprises taking out bank loans, as SMEs credits have expanded on the supply side. Bank loans are the most popular form of external finance and trade credit on the demand side. The study makes several recommendations, including the implementation of strict policy measures to increase SME financial inclusion, which will support financial stability and economic growth in Nigeria, and the need to close the significant difference between deposit and lending rates in order to promote savings.