Description:
The purpose of the study was to assess the contribution of Staff training to the
Economic growth of SMEs at Magomeni ward in Kinondoni District, Dar es salaam.
The study took a descriptive and case study designs. Ten SMEs were selected where a
total of fifty employees were involved for data collection by use of questionnaire.
Observation and interview were used for additional information. The collected data was
sorted out and coded, a likert scale of three levels was used to for ranking questionnaire
responses where response were Agreed, neutral, disagree. Data was analyzed using the
frequency tables and graphs. The analysis was done according to the respective
objectives.
The findings showed that the level staff training is reasonable though more efforts need
to be taken to make it more formal and planned. The level of economic growth of SMEs
was also found to be relatively reasonable although some economic growth aspects like
profits, acquisition of new technology and formation of mergers were highly realized
than the acquisition of new firms and return on investments. The contribution of staff
training to the economic growth of the SMEs included competent management, risk
mitigation capacity, reduced turnover to enhance competitive advantage and
enhancement of new technology utilization.
The study was concluded that staff training contributes highly to the economic growth of
SMEs by enhancing growth strategy competence to the management, equipping the staff
with growth related risk mitigation skills, enhancing the effective utilization of new
technology, enhancing flexibility and commitment reducing turnover rate for ensuring
competitive advantage. It was therefore recommended that staff training should be more
formal and planned. Nevertheless multiple methods of training should be considered to
make training more effective in terms of HR outcomes of skills development, ability to
work, motivation and positive attitude building.