Impact of COVID-19 on Financial Performance of Micro-Enterprises in Nigeria

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on financial performance of Micro-Enterprises (MEs) in Nigeria. This study adopted the documentary and survey methods. Questionnaire was used in gathering the primary data. The population of this study is MEs in Nigeria. The target population is MEs in Rivers State. The accessible population is MEs in Mile 3 Ultra-Modern Market, Diobu, Port Harcourt. Using a purposive sampling technique, a sample of 160 MEs was selected and 136 responses were retrieved. The questionnaire was distributed and retrieved in August 2020.  Regression analysis and correlation matrix techniques were used to test hypotheses. This study found that the COVID-19 pandemic has a negative and significant impact on revenue of micro enterprises (MEs) in Nigeria with credence to Mile 3 Ultra-Modern Market, Diobu, Port Harcourt, Rivers State with the coefficient of determination R² that exhibited an average coefficient of 0.56 and a significant P-value of 0.05. The study further found that COVID-19 has a negative and significant impact on the inventory and profit of MEs in Nigeria. Hence, concludes that there is a significant and negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the financial performance of Micro Enterprises(MEs) in Nigeria. Therefore, recommends that owners of MEs should develop resilience through the adaptation of emerging technologies in order to drive sales, manage inventory properly and boost profits. Furthermore, governments should offer palliatives to MEs such as grants, soft loans, waivers of levies and taxes, subsidies to assist in driving better financial performance for MEs.