Challenges that hinder the sustainability of small and medium scale enterprises in East Gojjam Zone, Northern Ethiopia

Small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) play a major role in the vitalization and growth of national economies as they create job opportunities, foster stability and the creation of regional economies, and produce high value-added goods.The contributions of SMEs for socio-economic development are generally acknowledged, but they faced many obstacles that limit their survival or sustainability. This manuscript tries to identifythe challenges of small and medium enterprise's sustainability in East Gojjam Zone.A retrospective and cross-sectional study design were used for licensed SMEs in the East Gojjam zone over the period between September 2009 and May 2018.Among 650 enterprises considered in this study 330 (50.8%) were censored (sustained enterprise) and the rest 320 (49.2%) were terminated (failed) enterprises. The main challenges for the sustainability of the SMEs in the study area are lack of infrastructure (electricity, clean water, and workplace), scares of resources or finance to expand the enterprise, lack of marketing linkage or access, lack of knowledge and poor access to technologies, unfair tax request by the revenue office and weak support from the government enterprise office. Efficient training and support on issues like financial reporting system, marketing, and sales promotion, customer relations for SMEs manger, and members should be given frequently.